Page 32 of Boxed In

“And then you went back into your prison?” Olivia whispered. She reached over and laid a hand on him again. Luke could feel her warm fingers pressing over his forearm.

“Yes. I must go back until I have served out my sentence.”

“How will you know?”

“The priests will decide.”

“When you’re in the box? Are you sleeping or are you aware of time passing?”

“I feel each second dragging by.” He sighed. “It is a heavy burden.”

“That must be horrible.”

“I committed a crime, and I must live with the consequences,” he said, his tone stoic.

Olivia was looking at him with new eyes. “Was Alana your lover?” she asked.

“Making love with her was forbidden. She was a priestess. And I was a warrior.”

Olivia nodded. “I’m sorry that the two of you couldn’t . . . find happiness together.”

“We lived by the Way of the Moon.”

Luke heard the pride in the man’s voice. His own voice, he realized. He hadn’t understood Zabastian very well. He still couldn’t completely figure out the man who had invaded his body, but Olivia’s questions had helped unlock some of his secrets.

“Both men and women serve the Way of the Moon?” Olivia asked.

“Now it is only men.”

“Why?”

“Because the priests took over all the duties when the order went underground.”

“Why?” she pressed.

He gave her a quick look, then focused on the road again. “Because women are more ruled by their emotions than men.”

“That’s not always a bad thing,” she murmured, and Luke could sense her emotions rising now. She was silent for several moments, and Luke waited for her to make some cutting remark.

But perhaps she was more interested in getting information than in challenging the warrior. Or perhaps she was also understanding him better. “Have you told any of this to anyone else—since you went into the box?” Olivia asked.

“No. Nobody else ever wanted to know.”

“I’m sorry,” Olivia murmured.

“Why?”

“It added to your loneliness.”

Luke felt his stomach muscles clench.

After speaking so frankly, Zabastian sank back into himself. Maybe he was sorry he had revealed so much about his past—and his punishment.

Or maybe it was a relief to get it off his chest. He was silent as they drove up Charles Street, to the northern part of Baltimore where the houses were large and situated on wooded lots. He found the street and made sure nobody was following him as he turned into the driveway and steered the junk car around to the back of the property.

oOo

Beth paced from the front of the restored Ellicott City town house where she and her husband, Len, lived to the kitchen, then back again.

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