Beloved in His Eyes (Angel's Assassin #2)(22)

“It’s not my room.”

Again, Gawyn was taken aback at her tone. Her anger was incomprehensible. It seemed she was irritated at everything except her brother. “My pardons. I meant in this room.”

The furrow on her brow was testament to her unhappiness. She looked him over with a quick sweeping gaze. “When did you get back?”

Gawyn shook his head. “Just now. My horse is probably still in the ward.”

“You haven’t eaten yet?”

“It doesn’t matter. This is more important.”

He saw a softening in her lovely brown eyes and the furrowing in her brow smoothed. “We have sweets and fruit, if you’d like some.”

Gawyn glanced over her shoulder and saw the table near the hearth was covered with bowls of fruit and trays of sweets. Then, he looked back at her. “Justina, I don’t understand what I did to make you so cross. I’m sorry I had to leave. I really am. But the safety of Acquitaine is important to me. There are a lot of people who depend on me. And I won’t let them down.”

She looked away from him, but not before he noticed she was frowning again. Was that really what it was? That she felt he abandoned her?

“Will you come with us to see the falcons?” Gawyn asked.

She looked down for a long moment as if weighing her options. She glanced at Adam. “Yes. I will.”

Satisfaction and joy bloomed in Gawyn’s heart but beneath swirled despair.



Justina let Adam do all the talking. He had a hundred questions. She stayed behind them, trailing Gawyn and her brother. She was going to say no, that she didn’t want to accompany them. But then she thought about Adam. She didn’t want to leave him alone. Not after the terrible sight from last night. Seeing Adam’s limp body in that monster’s arms was horrifying. She wanted to know where Adam was every second of every day. That was the only reason she had accompanied them. It was dangerous, she knew. Because she couldn’t allow herself to have feelings for Gawyn. He was loyal to the killer. She couldn’t allow herself to get close to him.

Gawyn was exceptional with Adam. He easily answered all his questions, even the silly ones, without making Adam feel inadequate. Adam looked at him as if the moon rose and set with each word he said. It would be easy to open her heart to Gawyn. Adam had already done it. So, this was the last time she could come here with Adam. She couldn’t let him get hurt. Not physically and not emotionally. He hadn’t seen what she had seen. And he would certainly never understand the revenge she wanted desperately to exact.

Gawyn and Adam laughed together as one of the falcons swooped down low over their heads.

Justina gasped at the graceful way the bird flew, its wings barely batting, just gliding. Beautiful. The falcon swooped up and landed on a perch on the other side of the yard. In one of the open windows of the castle, she saw the monster watching them.

Lord Damien leaned slightly over the window ledge, gazing downward. His black hair tossed over his shoulders in a gentle breeze. He looked menacing and dangerous. But suddenly behind him, Lady Aurora appeared. She wrapped her arms around him and he hooked one of his arms around her waist to pull her close.

Justina cringed. How could she touch a killer? How could she love him? Didn’t she know his hands had blood on them?

Aurora whispered something to the monster. He grinned and bowed his head. She lifted up and pressed her lips to his. The tenderness between them was touching.

“It’s hard for Damien to be a lord. He wasn’t raised as a noble.” Gawyn had come up behind her.

“I know.” Justina looked at Gawyn. “I mean, he doesn’t look like a noble.”

Gawyn narrowed his eyes slightly and Justina turned back to watch them.

“He loves her very much, doesn’t he?” she asked.

Gawyn lifted his gaze to the window. “She is his world. She gave him a new life. I’m glad he found her.”

Justina stared at them. He loved her as much as she loved her father. As much as she... She tore her gaze from them. He still had the one he loved. Her father was long gone. It wasn’t fair.

She looked at Adam speaking to the falconer, an older man with a protruding stomach. She wet her lips and gritted her teeth, preparing herself. “You came to the farm that first night because Lord Damien sent you,” she whispered so Adam didn’t hear.

Gawyn nodded. “Yes. He asked me to ask you and Adam to dine at the castle.”

Her suspicion rose, as did the agony. It had all been a ploy. “Was that the real reason he sent you?”

Gawyn turned to her. “Justina –”

“Why would he ask a couple of commoners to dine at the castle? Why us? No. He sent you to find out.”

“To find out?” he repeated, confused.

She desperately tried to keep her composure. She did so like him, but betrayal hung around her like a dark cloud. “You work for Lord Damien.”

“Yes.”

She stared at his brown, trusting eyes. His strong chin. His furrowed brows. And her heart cracked. “Isn’t it more likely that he sent you to see what I knew?”

“Knew about what?”

“Stop it,” she commanded. “Don’t treat me like that. I fell in the street and I recognized him. I said I knew him. Isn’t it more likely that he sent you to see what I knew?”