Page 21 of Dangerous Exile

“Weak?”

“Innocent.”

She sighed, her head angling to the side as she stared up at him. “I’m not as innocent as you believe.”

“No?” All of the feathers had finally floated to the ground and he kicked through them on the floor until he found his dagger by the tattered remains of the blue silk pillow. He bent down to pick it up and slipped it into the sheath alongside his boot. “What’s a drop-cove? What’s a skin? A gull? A bravo? A snaffler?”He stood straight, looking at her.

Her mouth quirked to the right side in an annoyed smile. She lifted her shoulders.

“Make no mistake, you’re an innocent, Ness. And I know Juliet meant to keep you so. She may have sent you here, but she sure as hell didn’t intend for you to be corrupted.”

“Why did she send me to you?”

“Because she’s smart. She knew I could do what she wanted.”

A slow nod bobbed her head, then she stilled, her amber eyes suddenly searching his face. “Juliet—you are enamored with her?”

“A ridiculous question.” Talen strode across the room and picked up the new decanter of brandy. The red-brown liquid slid along the inside of the smooth glass neck as he poured himself a drink and he realized he actually liked this decanter more than the one Ness broke the day before. Such fine brandy had spilled all over the floor. He’d been lucky that he’d dodged the swing of the decanter in time, or the cut glass would have sliced his forehead deep. He’d created somewhat of a monster in Ness. She now had no trouble in destroying everything in this room.

Except for the books. She’d never once endangered a book.

“Is it ridiculous?”

He picked up the glass tumbler with his left hand and turned back to Ness, leaning against the sideboard. “Isn’t everyone that meets Juliet enamored with her?”

A chuckle escaped through a smile that turned her full lips soft. “Yes, I suppose. She has a genuine charm about her that wraps one up—her soul actually cares about others, and that is a rarity.”

“Aye, it is.”

Ness picked up her teacup and took another sip, her eyes intent on him over the lip of the china. “The favor she called in on me, what made you owe her? How did she help you?”

He stared at her for a long second, then took the tiniest sip of his brandy. “I’ll tell you if you tell me.”

“Tell you what?”

He wasn’t about to let her play ignorant. “You know.”

Her lips opened in a long exhale and she looked away from him at the line of windows. No activity below, as it would still be hours before the first patrons arrived for the evening’s gaming.

A quick breath and she sighed out a whisper. “Fine.”

“Fine?”

Her gaze swung back to him. “Fine.” Her right hand holding the teacup fell to rest on her lap and her lips pulled inward for a long second. “It was my husband that did this to me, though I’m sure you already deduced that.”

Her face had pinched at the words, a flush creeping into her cheeks. Shame.

The blood in his veins instantly boiled. Why innocent women always seemed to feel shame after being beaten by a man, he’d never been able to figure.

His suspicion that she was married confirmed. Another man’s property. “Who is your husband?”

“Gilroy Docherty.” Her look dropped from him to the floor in front of the fireplace. “He’s the grandson of the Earl of Whetland and he’s a vicious, evil bastard. I knew it within the first months of our marriage, but I was stuck in a cavernous, cold castle in Scotland with him. His power and reach stretch far and wide. There was no escape. He’d always been good at bruising me in places that were easily hidden by clothes. But the last time—this last time when he broke my arm and pummeled my face he didn’t care. He didn’t care what showed to the world for he was going to kill me anyway.”

Talen’s right hand curled into a fist. “The bastard was going to kill you?”

“He was done with me. I knew it days before he attacked me. What he was planning…I could see it in his eyes. He was a spider on a web, circling for days, deciding the best way it would be to dispose of me without anyone questioning it.”

Her voice wavering, her chest lifted high. “Then when he attacked, he swore he was going to kill me. I was worthless to him, not able to give him a babe, an heir. I lost two—two in the last four years.”

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