Page 37 of Trapped By Vengeance

“What kind of mandoI want?” I whisper as I stare at the column of his neck. Surely,hehasn’t been so foolish as to fall for me.

“We should have run away together like you asked,” he whispers. “I could have eloped with you like a gallant rogue from your bards’ songs. But I can’t provide for you.”

I am utterly speechless as Konrad pulls away enough to lean his forehead on mine, the water streaming around us. “I can’t.” His voice speaks to a broken heart. “I can barely provide for Eloise. Can barely protect her. I couldn’t protectthem.”

And just like that, we’re back in the memory I tried to distract him from, the dead littered around us.

My mouth parts, and I consider how to distract him again. Then words tumble from my lips as though it weremydreamscape andIwere the one lacking in inhibitions. “What if I didn’t need you to protect me and provide for me? What if we could protect and provide foreach other?”

Konrad looks at me with as much confusion as I feel, as though he’s never considered that possibility. I certainly never did until this moment stolen from reality in a waterfall.

Now it seems less like a platitude spoken to comfort him and more like a promise to myself. A dark promise of forbidden things I have no right to long for.

But I’m not the only one filled with longing just now.

Slowly, delicately, without the hunger that drove him before, Konrad leans his head toward me. “I wish . . . I wish I weren’t your villain.” Konrad’s eyes slowly drift closed, and his lips find mine.

And I’m not sure how I know how to paint this kiss in my mind, because it’s something that I’ve never truly felt before.I’ve always been cherished by myvaterand desired by other men.

But never until this moment have I feltdelightful.

Chapter Seventeen

Konrad

Warmth and the scent of bleeding heart fills my senses. I smile sadly as I’m lured out of my dream.

Pleasant comfort brims my soul, and I wish I could go back into the dream. It was something about Valda and me in a waterfall and being a lot more pleasant toward each other than usual. Alotmore pleasant.

But in the back of my mind, I know I have responsibilities, so I peel my eyes open.

Valda is lying beside me, propped up by her elbow as she studies me.

My mind crashes through a dozen scenarios as it tries to recall how we came to bein this predicament when I’m pretty sure the waterfall was a dream.

Oh— Three Heavens— did my face betray any expressions while I dreamed of kissing her?

“Good morning,” she murmurs, her tone low and sultry, like we trulydidshare that moment in the waterfall and not a blanket in a cave.

“G-good morning.” Clearing my throat, I sit up and gather the stray strands of hair to tie back again. Anything to do with my hands except reach for Valda like in my dream.

As if the little vixen can sense my thoughts, she stretches dramatically, twisting her torso so I can see that lovely, pale skin.

I quickly avert my eyes, my fingers uselessly gathering my hair.

Eloise is carefully sorting berries and leaves onto four platters without a care in the world while I feel myself crumbling.

Good. That is as it should be. I just never imagined it would be a woman making me crumble and not the overwhelming weights of guilt and grief.

My gaze drops back to Eloise’s work. Wait, four laden plates . . . Does that mean one is for Sir Pigeon?

I’ll have to be careful to get only my plate in the future. I’m not eating off the same dish that a bird has.

Suddenly, cool fingers push my hands away from my hair. They pull off my leather band before gathering all my hair in one handful.

“Valda?” I whisper, as if that could be a question. Who else could have gotten behind me in this cave? Who else has a touch that is so alarmingly cool yet tempting at the same time?

“You seemed to be struggling.” Valda combs her fingers through my hair, and my spine relaxes. Then she takes the comb to it. Mayhap I was too hasty to roll my eyes about her bringing it . . .

---