Twilight Magic Read Online Free PDF Page B

dismissed. Best we go before he changes his mind.”
    Emma glanced over her shoulder to see Bishop Henry speaking earnestly to King Stephen, Earl William standing nearby. None of them appeared in the mood to be interrupted—or merciful.
    Darian might be right. Approaching King Stephen about Nicole now might not be a good idea. Besides, in order to speak to the king, she would have to shake off Darian’s hand, and she doubted she could manage that without calling more undue attention to herself.
    The crowd parted to allow them to walk toward the door. Lewd comments accompanied insolent bows. She ignored the rabble, preferring to focus on the man whose stride became quicker as they neared the doorway, making it nigh impossible for her to keep up and maintain a modicum of dignity.
    The insufferable wretch! She understood his upset, which she shared. She hadn’t planned to marry him, just save his ungrateful hide! At the least he could allow her a measure of deportment!
    In the antechamber she flung off all pretense of dignity and jerked her arm from his hold.
    “Perhaps I should have allowed Bishop Henry his way!”
    His smile twisted with scorn. “I hear that if one pays the hangman well, he will ensure a quick death and hasty burial. Instead, I face a lifetime of suffering.... What the hell were you thinking, woman? What demon possessed you to conjure up that ludicrous tale?”
    Before she could respond, he stepped back two paces and ran an assessing gaze from her face down to her toes and back again, a blatant, knee-weakening appraisal of her attributes.
    “Not that I would have minded sharing your pallet last night,” he said. “Had I known you wanted me, I would have been most pleased to oblige.”
    Emma knew he meant to give insult, but sweet mercy, he’d unwittingly given her assurance he found her attractive, worthy of bedding.
    Still, she returned his scorn. “Had I known you were in need, I would have issued the invitation. You were free to accept last night, were you not?”
    His spine straightened and his eyes narrowed. “I did not murder de Salis, if that is what you ask.”
    “So I believed, or I would not have come forward.” “Enough to brazenly lie?”
    “Enough to force me to act before the king hanged an innocent man!”
    He tossed his hands in the air. “You do not even know me. Why risk your own neck?”
    She couldn’t tell him about her visions or of how long she’d known of him. He would think she’d gone completely witless, or worse. A witch. A demon. So she told him part of the truth.
    “I might not have if I had remembered the Church’s penance for fornication, or if I thought my selfless act might be unwelcome and go unappreciated.”
    He didn’t have the courtesy to look abashed. “My thanks. Now tell me what I am supposed to do with you.”
    Take me to bed. Become my lover.
    She came close to blushing at the wayward bend of her thoughts. One day, he would become her lover, as fate decreed, but not in the next few minutes.
    “We are supposed to leave court.”
    “And go where?”
    Earl William clamped a hand on Darian’s shoulder, startling them both.
    “Go to Kent,” William told Darian. “You can stay at Hadone until we deem it safe for you to return.”
    Darian’s mouth twisted in distaste. “Someone killed de Salis with my dagger and I need to find out who.” Then his shoulders sagged. “Hellfire. The king still has my dagger.”
    William wagged a finger. “Let the murder be, for now. Already Henry is trying to convince Stephen that he made a mistake in believing Lady Emma. Neither of you should be in the city if Henry is successful. I will get your dagger back. Both of you gather your belongings and be prepared to leave within the hour.”
    Then the mercenary captain smiled and bowed to her. “Felicitations on your marriage, Lady Emma.”
    Stunned, Emma couldn’t think of a thing to say except, “My thanks.”
    Chuckling, William headed back toward the royal