Page 65 of The Iron Earl

She stilled, her back tensing, going impossibly straight.

“Evalyn?”

Her head tilted to the side, but she didn’t look back to him. “It’s from the time I asked my stepfather who my real father was.”

He rounded her on the bed so he could see her face. Her cheeks had gone ashen. “You don’t know who your father was?”

“No.” She met his look. “My mother never told me, at least not that I can remember. From the whispers of the servants, I gathered it was forbidden to talk about him.”

“So you asked?”

Her lips pulled back in a tight line, almost as though she was going to refuse to talk. She swallowed hard, her gaze averting from him and landing on the fire. “I did. Once. I asked my stepfather what my father’s name was, and he didn’t explode, didn’t yell. Not like I was bracing myself for. He just silently went to the fireplace where a row of daggers hung over the mantel, took one down and then dipped the end of it in the fire.

She paused, her eyes closing for a long moment. “I thought he was contemplating because he was so calm—trying to figure out how much he was going to tell me. Instead, he turned around, paced behind me for a moment, then flattened me to the table—his arm across my shoulders holding me captive and he swiped that into my skin.” Her hand lifted to point down over her shoulder. “His initial. He carved his initial into my skin—telling me there was only one name I ever needed know.”

“A bloody ‘F.’” Rage like he never knew swirled in his gut. His eyes flew across her back, each white scar he found singeing into his mind. His finger jabbed at the left side of her back. “And this one?”

She spun on the bed, grabbing his hand out of the air. “Lachlan, if we had to go through the story of every single scar on my body, you would burst into a flaming ball of fury.”

“I would burst into a flaming ball of hatred.”

Her head shook, her fingers tightening on his wrist. “We can’t do that. They’re not worth it. They’re not worth the memories.”

“They are a part of you, Eva, and I need to know all of you. Everything that made you.”

“Lachlan—”

“Not all at once, then.” He attempted to lessen the angry rumble in his voice. “We go through them, one by one. Every time I have your body naked, I get one story.”

“And then we never speak of them again?”

He nodded. “Deal?”

She sighed, her lips pulling to the side in a decided frown. “Deal.”

He leaned forward, capturing her frown under his mouth, kissing her until it softened, pliable to him. The stiffness of her body eased and she leaned into him.

Not quite yet.

He pulled away. “Wait. Onto your foot before you drive me to all distraction.”

He turned from her and scooted along the bed to her feet. Picking up her heel, he held the length of his hand to the sole of her bare foot. The raw skin of blisters and the scabs were healing faster than he thought they could. Though he’d made sure she’d pointedly stayed off her feet as much as possible in the last days.

His fingers stretched over the tips of her toes and he nodded to himself. “I still need to find you proper fitting boots. My sister or mother’s may match your size.” His fingers left her foot and he snatched her hand, pulling it to his lips and trailing a lascivious circle with his tongue on the inside of her wrist.

A flash of raw desire cut across her gold-green eyes. “And next?”

“Next I want you to toss that shift far, far from the bed and let my hands wander all over your naked body. Give me a respite—make me forget about the blasted trial and my blasted grandfather and your blasted stepfather for just a few minutes.”

A smile, so wantonly shy it made his heart thunder, crossed her lips and she moved to her knees, her eyes pinning him. “That, I can attempt to do—on one condition.”

“What?”

“That you let me accompany you to the trial tomorrow.”

“You don’t want that, Eva.” He shook his head. “You don’t want to have to hear the horror of what happened. I don’t want you to have to hear it.”

“If I’m there, then I won’t have to attempt to drag what happened out of you. I’ll already know—know why you’re angry. Please, Lachlan. It will help me to understand.”

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