Angel's Assassin (28 page)

Damien’s jaw clenched. “Because I was ordered
to kill her.”

And then, Damien watched apprehension fill
Aurora. Understanding. Horror. She saw him for who he truly was.
For the vile monster he had always been. And Damien hated himself.
He hated who he had been, who he had become. Who he was. He hated
that he took all those lives instead of facing Roke’s wrath. But
most of all, he hated hurting Aurora. “I wanted you to know the
truth. I wanted you to see me for who I truly am. I am not
honorable or noble. I never can be.”

A sob tore lose from her lips.

Damien stared at her agony. He wanted to wrap
her in his embrace and beg her to forgive him. But it was too late.
“I would change it all for you if I could,” he whispered, his words
strangely thick.

She recoiled from him as his victims had,
shrinking from him like a wilting flower. He had been so desperate
to be close to her light, to her goodness, that he forgot who he
was. In the face of her gentle smile, he forgot the pain he brought
to others. In the light of her love, he began to believe he could
be different. Noble. Honorable. Instead, he brought his darkness to
her.

Disgusted with himself, Damien turned his
back to her. “Come. I will see you safely back to your father.”

He walked toward the cave entrance, waiting
for her to don her chemise. When Aurora joined him at the entrance,
Damien looked up at the sky.

It had stopped raining.

They rode back to Castle Acquitaine in
complete silence. Aurora remained stiff and distant.

Guilt weighed heavily on Damien’s shoulders.
He wanted to explain. He wanted to make her understand. But he knew
no words he said could ever make what he had done right. He was
tainted with evil. He could never be good. He had been a fool to
let himself believe, to hope.

He knew that in failing his mission, Roke
would send assassins after him. He would never be safe. He did not
want that. He wanted to be truly free. And he knew he had earned
his freedom, many times over. He earned every day of happiness he
could get. And there had been none. Not one. Not until he came to
Acquitaine and laid eyes on Aurora. She brought him happiness.

And he brought her pain.

He knew the truth now. Aurora meant
everything to him. He would see she was safe. That she could live
the rest of her life safely. In peace. A peace he would never
know.

His freedom was no longer as important as she
was.

As they neared the gates of the castle,
Damien threw a blanket over her shoulders, tugging it down over her
face. “You’ll be safer if no one knows you’re here.”

She said nothing, avoiding his gaze.

Damien called up to the guards and they
allowed him entrance. He maneuvered the horse through the courtyard
leisurely. His eyes darted all about them, searching. He wanted to
be as quiet and unobtrusive as he could. He left Imp at the front
of the keep and dismounted, then offered Aurora his hand.

She slid from the large horse without taking
his offer of help and hurriedly entered the keep.

Damien followed her into the castle, trying
to ignore the sting of her slight. She headed for the Great
Hall.

Damien caught her arm and shook his head. He
quickly led her through the corridor and into the stairwell. He
guided her up the stairs and down a hallway, bypassing her
chambers. He turned down another passageway and almost collided
into a servant. He pushed past the startled girl, Aurora in tow. He
wanted to look at Aurora, to make sure she was all right, but he
dared not for fear the sight of her tragic understanding would be
his undoing.

He moved down the corridor. He couldn’t look
at her. He wanted to remember her smile, her eyes lit with
happiness. He needed to remember his image of an honorable, brave
man reflected in her eyes. He was afraid if he looked at her now,
he would see disappointment and scorn and… hate. He didn’t want to
see those emotions in her eyes.

They came to Lord Gabriel’s solar. Damien
eased the door open and pulled her into the room. She would be safe
here. There would be no assassin lurking in this room. They would
not have expected her return and even if they had, her father’s
solar would not be a place they would look for her.

Damien paused in the doorway when he spotted
a figure near the dying hearth.

Lord Gabriel sat in a high backed chair with
his head bowed in his hands. He looked up when the door opened.

A mere heartbeat passed before Aurora lurched
forward.

Damien stopped her with a firm grip on her
arm. For a moment, he could only stare at her thin arm in his dark
grip, her pale skin highlighted against his darker tone. He didn’t
want her to leave him. He didn’t want to let her slip out of his
life. And yet, he knew he had to let her go. “It was Roke,” he
whispered. “He hired me to kill you.”

Aurora stood stoically.

Damien didn’t want to release her. He didn’t
want her to leave him. Even with her disappointment and her hurt,
she was at his side. If he let her go, he would never feel her
light again. He would never be able to touch her, kiss her, or
simply look at her. He knew he would never see her again, but
Damien also knew it could be no other way. He was a killer, who had
lived his life in darkness. He should count himself lucky to have
felt the warmth of light for a moment.

He opened his hand.

Aurora rushed toward her father.

Gabriel stood upon recognizing his daughter.
The two embraced, sobbing.

Damien stood in the shadows near the doorway,
far enough from the heat of the hearth to feel a chill. To feel
cold. Aurora was safe. Her father would watch over her now. Damien
moved backward toward the door. He had to finish it. The task ahead
of him was dangerous. Roke would not be easy to kill. But he had to
do it so Aurora could be safe.

Damien turned to leave. He took a step but
could not help looking back. The blanket had slipped from her
shoulders and her beautiful golden hair shone in the hearth light
like glittering gold. She was enfolded in her father’s arms with
her head on his shoulder. Her tearful blue gaze met Damien’s across
the room in a solemn, painful goodbye. Damien would remember the
glimmering agony he saw reflected in her eyes for the rest of his
life. It tore at his heart, leaving him breathless with guilt. The
sadness of losing her filled him as he turned away and exited the
solar.

A
urora
clutched her father’s shoulders. She should be grateful Damien had
gone, but she could feel nothing. A numb emptiness encompassed her
body.

“Rory, Rory,” her father repeated over and
over. “You are safe. You are safe.”

Bereft, she sought comfort in his arms,
warmth for her aching spirit. She searched for the consistency and
reassurance she usually found in her father’s arms. But today,
there was no consolation for her. Her father could not soothe her
anguished heart.

His hands tightened around her. “Thank the
Lord,” he whispered.

Aurora could feel nothing of the Lord’s
affect. There was no compassion, no forgiveness, in her soul. Only
sorrow. Damien was gone. That should not bother her as much as the
fact he was a cold-blooded killer. He took her mother’s life! All
this time his eyes were the ones she visualized in her mind,
stalking, preying on her in nightmares. Damien had been the one she
feared. His eyes were the ones that kept her awake at night. And
after all this time of seeing those eyes in her nightmares, she had
not recognized them when they appeared before her.

“What happened? How did you escape? Who did
this to you?” her father asked.

Aurora took a deep, ragged breath, mustering
bravery to face her father. “Damien…” she began, but like the
rising tide on the shores of grief, her tears flooded her voice.
His name alone brought forth a deluge of agony. Aurora shook her
head. He killed her mother. Damien was not the man she thought him
to be. How could he? How could he have done something so evil?

Gabriel pulled back to look at her, confusion
etching his forehead with deep furrows. “Damien took you?” he asked
in incredulity.

Aurora shook her head vehemently. “No. He
found me. He brought me back.” Her voice broke as she looked at the
door where Damien stood moments before.

Her father cradled her face in his hands,
gently turning her to look at him. “Then he is the most loyal man I
have ever known.”

“No!” Aurora said fervently and stepped away
from her father. “He is not loyal, nor honorable. He is a wicked,
horrible man.”

Gabriel’s wide eyes slowly narrowed in anger.
“Did he hurt you?”

Again, Aurora’s gaze traveled to the darkened
door. He had hurt her. He deceived her. He betrayed her. He… left
her.

“Aurora,” her father demanded. “Did Damien
hurt you?”

Aurora looked at her father. His jaw was set
in a grim line, his blue eyes darkening into a promise of
retribution. “He killed mother,” she confessed, her voice thick
with tears of regret.

For a moment, Gabriel stood stoically. Then,
confusion swept over his brow. “How could that be? Are you
sure?”

“He’s an assassin,” Aurora added. “He told me
so. He told me he was not what I thought. All this time. He told me
he was not noble and not honorable. Not a good man. But I believed
he was.” Aurora’s chest spasmed with her repressed sobs. “How could
he be otherwise?”

Gabriel wrapped her in his embrace again. “Oh
my dear, dear child,” he said softly, kissing the top of her head.
“You were not wrong about Damien. He is a good man.”

Aurora pulled away. “How can you say that? He
killed mother!”

“You know he is good. You knew it from the
very first day he saved you in the village. That is why you are
having such a hard time accepting what he did.”

She shook her head, refusing to believe his
words. “Good men do not kill innocent women.”

Gabriel shook his head and a solemn, distant
expression glazed his eyes. “Margaret was far from innocent. She
was selfish and mean. Vain beyond belief. The villagers disliked
her because of her tyranny. I lost count of how many deaths she
caused because of her cruelty.”

Aurora’s gaze swept his face in surprise. He
rarely spoke of her mother and when he did, it was never in
disrespect. She knew her mother had been cruel, knew her people had
disliked her, but her father had never voiced his opinion of
her.

“And yet, she gave birth to you,” Gabriel
said, placing a gentle hand on her shoulder. “You were the miracle
of Margaret’s life. How someone so kind and compassionate could
have come from the womb of a woman like her…”

Aurora shook her head vigorously. “That does
not excuse what Damien did.”

Gabriel squeezed Aurora’s shoulder. “He could
have saved many, many lives by killing your mother. How long do you
think it would have been before she turned her hatred on you? You
are more beautiful in spirit than she ever was.”

Aurora’s gaze drifted to the flames of the
hearth. “That does not justify taking another’s life.”

“What of the peasants? They adore you. Much
more than they ever did Margaret. She would not have tolerated
that. How many innocent villagers do you think would have been
hurt, imprisoned in the stocks or whipped, because they smiled at
you and not her?”

Aurora pulled the blanket around her
shoulders, a sudden chill engulfing her. Her father was right. Her
mother would have punished the villagers if they showed favoritism
to her. But that did not justify killing her mother. “How can you
defend him?” she demanded. “He killed your wife. He is an assassin.
And yet you are excusing what he did.”

Gabriel breathed in a deep breath and slowly
released it. “God works in mysterious ways, child. We can’t always
see his plans for us.”

“It is murder, Father.”

“Damien saved you. Time and again. He
protected you. He has earned your loyalty many times over.”

“He took mother from me.” Aurora’s emotions
whirled inside her like a twisting churning tornado. She didn’t
know what to do or what to think. “How can you defend him knowing
that he killed mother?”

“Because he brought you back to me… even
after I dismissed him.”

Aurora looked up at her father. Damien took
it upon himself to find her. He had searched for her with no
promised reward. Because he cared for her. She shook her head.

Gabriel wrapped his arms around her. “Perhaps
he is a different man now. Perhaps we all are.”

Aurora leaned her head against his
fur-trimmed cloak. “He should not be forgiven. Not ever. What he
did was horrible.”

“Yes, it was,” Gabriel whispered.

“Then why do I want to forgive him?”

Gabriel stroked her hair. “Because you love
him.”

Aurora squeezed her eyes shut.

“I am very sorry to hear that,” a voice from
the doorway called.

Aurora whirled to find a dark form lounging
against the frame of the door. It moved toward them, caped in evil.
When the light of the hearth washed over him, recognition made
Aurora gasp.

Warin Roke’s face twisted in a sneer of
contempt. His small black eyes focused on Gabriel, dismissing her
as if she were insignificant. A tremor of dread shot through her as
every instinct inside of Aurora screamed at her to run. He hired
Damien to kill her. He was the one behind the attempts on her life.
He wanted her dead.

“How dare you enter without permission?”
Gabriel demanded, stepping before Aurora to block her from Roke’s
view.

Roke’s lips twisted into a disdainful smile.
“I find it dismaying to know you are defending Damien to your
lovely daughter. Make no mistake. Damien has no regard for life.
Any life.”