page21 (1/1)
She pulled herself fro into her voice “I will never forgive you”
He drew back and his face hardened at her cold, unforgiving tone “Go, then I will not keep you against your will” When she hesitated, he said forcefully, “Go! Go before I change my mind”
She walked away quickly then, back toward the cemetery entrance But when she reached the point where the path veered she turned around for one last glance at Andre She told herself not to, but she couldn’t help it He wasn’t watching her as she had suspected Instead he was kneeling on one knee in front of the toainst it in an attitude ofdejection? She couldn’t swear to it, not from this distance, but it looked as if his eyes were closed and his lips were
It was an intensely personal uilty, as if she’d walked into someone else’s confessional She looked away before he could catch her at it and hurried toward the gate, her eatekeeper and thanked hi for him to let her out He responded with a flurry of words too quick and colloquial for her ears, and she shook her head at him, puzzled
“The king, he comes after you, yes?” he said, still in Zakharan but slowly, distinctly Juliana nodded reluctantly “He tellsabout your departure” He took a large key from his pocket and stared from it to Juliana, obviously uncertain what to do
“I don’t think he meant for you to keep me a prisoner,” she told the ate
Frustrated, Juliana knew she had two choices She could go back and fetch Andre, or she could wait here for him to show up Neither choice was palatable She didn’t want another encounter with Andre, not now Not anytio somewhere to lick her wounds in private She wanted to rebuild her walls against hi at the tomb She didn’t want to think of him as a mortal man, she realized She’d painted him as a callous villain in her mind for years, and she didn’t want to see him as vulnerable because then it would be difficult—if not impossible—to hate him
Hate? The word bounced around in Juliana’s ht her breath at the sudden realization The opposite of love wasn’t hate; it was indifference Hate meant Andre still had control over her es of love weren’t dead; they were merely suppressed Pushed down to where they weren’t a raw, open wound But those wounds he’d inflicted weren’t healed Scar tissue had for to the touch And she kept touching the them “No,” she whispered, dismayed
Chapter 5
Soft footsteps sounded behind Juliana and she whirled Andre stood there, his face wiped clean of e to twist the knife again?”
She gasped at his unexpected verbal assault and shook her head “Hehe wouldn’t let atekeeper “He said you told hiate”
“Ahhh I see” He turned to the gatekeeper and spoke softly in colloquial Zakharan
The old ate, unlocked it and swung it wide He bobbed his head at Juliana and etic s,” she assured theit wasn’t his fault “A si”
She passed through the gate and started to head back the way she canificent black stallion tethered not far away, standing quietly And just a few paces aas another uard, the one she’d wondered about when Andre came to her alone in the cemetery She knew the stallion had to be Andre’s ly to the horse’s side “Oh, you’re a beauty, aren’t you?” she whispered softly, careful not to startle the animal as she approached The stallion let her caress his velvety nose, then run her hand along his withers under his ebony mane
Forgetting for just athis was the first real siven him since she returned to Zakhar “What’s his name?”