Chapter Eleven
Luke walked beside Mel through the gardens. She was speaking of one of her ladies in waiting, laughing at the woman because she couldn’t embroider as well as she. Much the same Urien couldn’t fight as well as Luke, but Luke never put him down for it. Still, it was obvious through their fight that it caused Urien to blame Luke for his banishment. “Urien thought you loved him.”
Mel stopped and turned to Luke in confusion. The setting sun bathed her hair in a red tint. She tilted her head coyly. “Many men believe I am in love with them. Are you jealous?”
Luke’s mind was filled with questions, but not jealousy. Something bothered him about the fight with Urien. “Do you remember why Urien was banished?”
“Of course! Urien, Nessa, and I were in the gardens, not far from right here. He hit Nessa.” She shrugged. “I couldn’t very well allow a lesser to hit one of my own family. I told father and he was banished.” She narrowed her eyes slightly. “Why are you interested in Urien?”
Luke walked over to a tree, scowling, trying to make sense of it all. “Why would he do that? In front of you? Didn’t he know you would tell? Or Nessa? Did he think he could get away with it?”
Mel shook her head. “I don’t know. I can barely remember.” She took his hand in hers. “It’s not important.”
He resisted. “Mel,” he said, pulling his hand from hers. “It is important.”
“Why is it important?”
“Something doesn’t make sense.”
“Leave it off. It’s not important.” Mel stepped close to him. “I’m all that should be important to you.”
Luke moved away, scowling.
Mel sighed and flicked her hair. “If you don’t want to walk with me, I can find someone who will.”
Luke hardly heard her words. He nodded. If Mel wasn’t going to tell him, maybe Urien would. He started off toward the keep and the dungeon, but suddenly stopped. “Come. I will escort you back to the keep.”
Mel frowned at him. She shook her head and walked stiffly before him.
Urien sat in the darkness, chained to the wall by shackles around his wrists. Betrayed. Devastated. Alone. Mel’s refusal to see him crushed his heart. All he wanted to do was please her, make their dreams come true. She had told him of the caves; that must have meant something!
He heard footsteps in the hall and his hope ignited. The door opened and a torch was thrust into the dark cell. Urien blinked and held up his arm to block the bright light. The dark shape that entered was not Melwyn. It was a man. He slowly dropped his arm and turned away with a grimace.
Footsteps announced the man’s approach. They stopped before him. “I’ve come to ask you some questions.”
Urien sneered. Luke of Brackley. He was the one who had put him in this cell.
“Why do you want to kill Nessa?”
Urien grunted. “Why should I tell you anything?”
“You don’t have to. I just want to understand. We were all friends once.”
“And it hurts your pride to know that the woman you are to wed loves another?” Urien knew a moment of triumph when Luke scowled. “She loves me. She has always loved me.”
“Why do you think she loves you? Did she say she did?”
“She told me about the caves. The caves of the lovers.” He smiled, remembering her words. “The caves of St. Agnes. She told me that perhaps one day we would get to put our hands over the stains to seal our love.”
Luke narrowed his eyes. “When did she tell you that?”
Urien smiled in victory. “That’s why I went back. To get her. To take her away from you. To take her to the caves. But that witch, Nessa, deceived me.”
Luke squatted before him, holding the torch above his head. “When did she tell you about the caves?”
Urien cherished the moment, knowing he was twisting the dagger deeper into Luke’s heart. “When we were young. When you brought the sisters to the cave.”
Slowly, Luke stood, a frown of dismay etched into his brow.
“Mel was so angry.”
“Angry?” Luke echoed. “She was not angry when we returned from the caves.”
“You wouldn’t know. You went with Nessa. And Mel told me everything.” Urien laughed, his cackle echoing off the dungeon walls. “She loves me! She will always love me!”
Luke backed to the door of the cell. He paused in the entryway, gazing back at Urien.
Urien laughed and laughed. Luke would never have her love. She was his. She would always be his!
“She doesn’t love you, Urien. She only loves herself,” Luke said before closing the door behind him and leaving Urien in the dark.
Urien was a defeated man now. Alone. But why? Why would he kidnap Mel to take her to those caves? He stared out over the lands. He had not slept the entire eve. He could not sleep.
Nessa filled his thoughts. She didn’t love him, he told himself. He had heard her words himself. But she had to know the truth about how he felt, even if she didn’t love him. He silently cursed that day he had taken the girls to those caves. It all went back to those damned caves. Why would Mel have told Urien about the caves? And why would she be so angry? And then an idea formed in his mind. It was time to find out the truth.
Luke sought Mel out. He found her in the Great Hall, laughing with another knight. She put her hand on Sir Curtis’s chest with a deep chuckle as Luke approached. But her flirtatiousness didn’t bother him. Servants moved about the Great Hall, preparing the tables for the morning meal.
When the knight saw him, he straightened and nodded to Luke, stepping away from Mel. Mel turned and greeted Luke with a smile to stop a heart. Any other heart but Luke’s.
“A word with you, Lady Mel,” Luke commanded.
“Of course.”
He led the way to the hearth. The warmth of the fire washed over him, but did not reach his soul.
“Now you want to talk?” Mel asked, glancing back at the knight.
“Remember when we put our hands on the stain in the cave of St. Agnes?”
She scowled slightly. “You mean when we were young? How could I forget? It was so romantic, so—”
“Did you see Nessa and I put our hands on the stain?”
Mel clamped her lips together; surprise widened her blue eyes.
“I want the truth, Mel,” Luke warned.
Her lips thinned and her blue eyes snapped with fire.
“You’d might as well admit it. I have already guessed the truth.”
She looked up at him. “Then why ask me?”
“Because I want to hear it from your lips.”
“Yes. I did. But that was so long ago—”
“Were you angry when you saw it?”
Mel shrugged casually, looking around as if in thought. “I suppose I was. A little.”
“A little?” Luke echoed.
“It was supposed to be a special time between you and me. You were supposed to pledge your undying love to me. Instead, I saw you put your hand on the stain with my sister!”
Luke had his answer. She had been furious. “Did you seek revenge?”
“Revenge?” she asked, startled. “On who?”
“Me. Nessa?”
“No! I loved you. And Nessa, well, I was angry with her, but that was a long time ago. I didn’t do anything to hurt her.”
“No? Did you tell Urien how angry you were?”
Mel stopped immediately. Frozen. She eased back, her mouth open in surprise. “I can’t… I don’t think…”
“He was there when we got back, remember?” Luke asked. “He greeted us in the courtyard.”
“Of course. I remember, now. I did speak with him.”
“Did you tell him how angry you were?”
Mel flicked a hand of indifference. “What does it matter? That was so long ago.”
Luke caught her arms in a tight grasp. “You play with men’s feelings. You lead them along, flirt with them, without realizing the consequences. Did you tell him how angry you were?”
“Yes!” Mel shouted. “I told him I was angry!”
“What else did you tell him?”
“It was so long ago…”
Luke shook her. “What else did you tell him?”
“I told him everything! I told him about the caves and the stains. I told him I hated her!”
Luke released her suddenly as if the mere touch of her was like being pricked with poison.
“And why wouldn’t I? She followed me around like an annoying gnat. She had to do everything I did. She had to be like me. She had to take you away from me!”
Luke stared, horrified. It was as much his fault as hers, promising his love to a woman he was not in love with.
Mel shook her head, reaching for him. “But that was so long ago. All of that is in the past. I’m not angry anymore.”
Luke stepped away from her, away from her touch. “That was when Urien started pushing Nessa down. It was because of what you told him that he hit Nessa.”
Mel shook her head again. “I never said to hurt her.”
“You didn’t have to. He was doing it to impress you. To win your acceptance. Because he loved you. And then your father banished him not because Nessa told him, but because you told him Urien hit her. You destroyed his life. All because he thought he was in love with you.”
“No. No!” Mel shook her head desperately. “It was Nessa’s fault. She followed us to the caves. She made you put your hand on the stain. She wanted you to be in love with her!”
“I am in love with her.”
Mel gasped, her eyes rounding in shock. Another intake of breath echoed across the room and Luke shifted his gaze to see Nessa standing near the door of the kitchens. She stepped back into the shadows.
Mel shook her head and grasped Luke’s hand. “You don’t mean that. You’re just angry.”
Luke eased his hand from her hold, his gaze on Nessa. “I just realized it now. How much Nessa means to me. She is beautiful and kind and loving. She would never intentionally harm anyone.” The realization struck him like a bolt of lightning. “Not even you. Especially not you. She would sacrifice herself, her love, to make you happy.” It all made sense now. He turned away from Mel and crossed the expanse of the Great Hall toward Nessa. She stood as if she wanted to flee, but could not move. Shock was written in the anguished lines of her face. Her mouth was open in surprise. That delectable mouth. Her hands twisted tightly before her.
Luke’s heart swelled with love. All for Nessa. It had always been Nessa. “That’s why you told your father you didn’t love me. So I would marry Mel.”
“She loves you,” Nessa whispered.
Luke shook his head. “She loves herself more than anyone else.” He looked at Mel over his shoulder. She stomped her foot, her hands clenched tightly, and stormed from the Great Hall. She would find some other knight to pamper her and worship her. But that knight would not be him. “Is it true?” he asked quietly.
Nessa shifted her gaze from Mel to him. “Is what true?”
“Do you love me?”
Nessa swallowed. She glanced toward the path Mel had taken, then back at Luke.
Luke was confident now. He knew his assumptions were correct. He reached out and took one of her hands in his own. “I love you, Nessa.”
Nessa’s brow furrowed. “How can you love me? Mel is—”
He touched her cheek gently. “You are so much more beautiful than Mel.” She began to shake her head. “How can you not see that? Your eyes are stunning, your cheeks so smooth, and your lips… God’s blood, Ness! They drive me wild with want.” He tugged her against him. “Do you love me, Ness?”
Nessa sighed, as if she could no longer deny it. “I have always loved you, Luke.”
Luke smiled down at her bright eyes, his gaze traveling to those lips. “Enough to be my wife?”
“But Mel…”
“I don’t want Mel. I don’t love her. I want you. Will you be my wife?”
Nessa hesitated, her lips parted as if she were looking for the right words.
For a moment, doubt festered within Luke. Did she not want to marry him? Then she lifted her bright eyes to his.
Warmth spread across his chest; his loins tightened with desire.
“Nothing would make me happier,” she whispered.
Luke pulled her into his embrace, unable to resist kissing her. His lips swept hers, and this time she didn’t pull away. This time she was his.
The End