Page 12 of Dangerous Exile

She nodded, smothering the instinct to argue with him. If she had to keep her mouth shut on the matter for a safe roof over her head, she would do it.

She didn’t have any other option.

She didn’t even have her wits about her yet.

He moved forward and plucked the near-empty tumbler from her hand, then moved to a chest of drawers at the wall beside the door, setting the glass next to the decanter that sat lonely along the top.

Starting toward the door, he paused and looked back to her. “Your boots are under the bed. I imagined you would want them close by.”

Her mouth went slightly agape. He knew exactly what was in the heel of one of those boots. Of course he did. The boots didn’t match. One was hers, the other, Juliet’s. He knew Juliet. Knew that Juliet never would have sent her to London without a coin to spare. Her voice came out in a grateful squeak. “I do. Thank you.”

He offered a curt nod and opened the door, but then halted one more time and glanced back at her. “I’ve seen this. Seen women look at me like you did just now.”

“Like what?”

His mouth pulled back on the right side—not a smile, more of obscure whimsy at a held secret playing at his lips. He shook his head. “Never mind.”

She wouldn’t let him escape so easily, her words barking out before he left the room. “Like what?”

He looked to the partially open window on the far wall as a heavy sigh lifted his chest. His ice blue eyes swung back to her, pinning her. “I’m not your hero, Ness.”

She met his stare, stifling the exhausted chuckle in her throat. “I agree.”

{ Chapter 5 }

Ness stared at the last page of the book—A System of Sheep-Grazing and Management—fingering the paper between her thumb and forefinger as her eyes read each word slowly, not wanting the book to end.

She’d read through the dreadful thing four times in the last three days. But it was late, the book and the light from the fire the only lifeline keeping her away from crawling into bed where the nightmares would start.

Sheep were infinitely more peaceful than the demons that visited her once her eyes closed. So given the choice, she would spend her time with the sheep.

Three days of sitting, locked, in this splendid room. Staring at the ceiling and the cherubs so long it seemed like they’d started to float about on their own. Staring out the window that looked directly out onto the brick building next to it. So close, if she stuck her arm out the window, she could touch the red pitted bricks. Truly, the window served the purpose of an excuse to hang long, light blue drapes in the room, much more so than to let air in and out.

Thus, the sheep book had been her only entertainment.

The only person in and out of the room had been Verity, the silent maid that came and went from the room, never saying anything and only nodding or shaking her head to Ness’s questions. She’d helped Ness with her clothes and her hair, as Ness could manage very little with her left fingers barely jutting out from the top edge of the bandages.

Verity must have recognized Ness’s restlessness and had brought the book in with dinner days ago. Though Ness couldn’t complain. She would take anything at this point to keep her mind occupied and not drifting back to the horror of a week and a half ago.

Drifting back to what she had been willing to do to end it.

The key in the lock of the door behind her clicked and the door opened. It was late for Verity to be entering the room.

Talen stepped into the room, not asking permission, not hesitating at the door to see if she was properly dressed. She was accustomed to that. Her space, her body were not her own.

He strode across the room and stopped in front of her chair by the fireplace, his eyes raking her over from head to toe.

She hadn’t seen him in days, so his sudden interest, this late in the eve, was disconcerting. She’d rather thought he’d completely forgotten about her. Which wasn’t a bad thing, except for the fact that she’d been locked in the room.

Whatever he discovered in his assessment of her person, she couldn’t read in his face.

He leaned forward and picked up the book from her lap. “A System of Sheep-Grazing and Management.” The edges of his lips quirked upward. “Engrossing reading?”

“Verity brought it in. It is the only thing available to read.” She eyed the volume in Talen’s hand. “I don’t know why she thought I would be interested in sheep management.”

“She cannot read.” He flipped the book over in his hand, the rough rasp prevalent in his low voice strong tonight. “It has a pretty cover. Embossed trees and sheep and hills and some birds. I’m sure it seemed a fine choice to her.”

Of course. Verity had been kind in bringing her the book and she’d been sour on it. Shameful. Her look lifted to his face. “Verity, can she speak? She hasn’t said a word to me, she just motions.”

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