Chapter Eight #2
Now that he had obtained the information he needed, he was ready to leave.
But then he felt the shard of stone against his chest begin to heat.
He scanned the room for the serving girl and spied a maid wiping a spill on one of the trencher tables in the back.
Long, tangled black hair made him take a closer look.
He crossed the room and stood behind her.
“Excuse me,” he said not wanting to intrude upon her mind by touching her.
The girl turned.
He bowed his head. “I thought you were someone else.”
With wide eyes, the girl quickly bobbed up and down in the fastest curtsy Alec had ever seen. Then she backed away from him and turned on her heel and made a dash for the kitchen. Alec was not surprised, however. Like the rest of the world, she believed him cruel and cold.
He turned away and started toward the wide doors that led out into the courtyard, but then he froze.
He felt the emotion of her song before the first fragile note traveled through the air to his ears.
As the sound penetrated his mind, the stone scorched his chest. His nostrils flared against the burning heat, but when he turned and saw the elegant figure standing on the high dais, the pain was forgotten.
Could the polished and painted girl be the same girl he had encountered in the hallway?
The figure on stage was clad in deep blue finery.
She moved slowly across the floor, her eyes trained above the heads of the revelers as if she stared at a distant horizon known only to her.
Her unbound dark hair curled in thick, shiny waves to her waist. Her pale skin glowed warmly in the candlelight, and her eyes were outlined in smoky color, giving her an exotic look.
Her voice rasped from her throat, low and languid.
Then it climbed clear and pure to the highest notes as effortlessly as if she sighed.
She stood there in plain sight, but her soul was somewhere above them all, flying through clouds of soft memories.
Again, a vision flashed in Alec’s mind of an older woman with warm, faded blue eyes.
He could feel the love the woman had for the girl on the stage.
And he could feel the security she had once known in the older woman’s presence.
Their bond was powerful and strong, fueling the girl’s strength.
What radiated from her soul was so different than the all-consuming fear he had felt from the girl in the hallway.
He walked forward, joining the others who had moved to get a closer look.
She slowly glided to one side of the high dais, then descended the stairs onto the main floor.
She was an angel. Her voice reached the rafters and shattered around him.
Then her powerful notes suddenly shifted and crooned into a fragile caress of sound.
Images so beautiful swirled around his mind of green forests and stormed-tossed seas.
He knew of what she sang. He could see the rugged Highland mountains and moors of purple heather.
Then, despite the demands of her own soul, she looked at the front table, and it felt as if Alec had been punched in the gut.
For a moment, he struggled to draw breath.
He had opened his soul to her song, and now her fear crashed down around him.
He fell back and grabbed the table behind him to catch his fall.
He shook his head, trying to dispel the sudden dizziness.
Her voice still reached his ears. She had not stopped her song, but he could barely hear her music above the din of her pounding heart.
Her fear had returned with all the force he had felt in his dreams. It was thick and viscous, making his limbs heavy.
On the outside, he knew his mask of cold indifference held, and yet on the inside he had to fight to push beyond her terror.
He stood his ground and harnessed his strength, barring her from his soul.
His vision cleared, and he took the sight of her in, still ensuring his own eyes revealed none of his emotions.
Her gaze remained fixed on the floor. He could feel her desire to shield herself.
But from what? From whom? Then another emotion cut its way into the mix.
Beneath her fear fury burned, fierce and lashing — the sort that was felt in the deepest places of the heart where only truth dwells.
Alec opened his eyes and looked at the source of her anger and saw the merchant, Geoffrey.
But Geoffrey appeared oblivious to everything around him other than her appeal.
Alec scanned the room. Men stared in rapture.
Lust dominated the room — so much so that he imagined if feelings had color, slow pulsing swaths of red would be weaving around the tables and benches, pouring from the men’s bodies like beckoning fingers of desire for the girl.
Each one wanting to snatch her away for himself.
Suddenly, her spirit lifted and the fear that had held him in its grip eased away.
He noticed greater boldness in her step and felt her heightened confidence and unmistakable relief.
Why her fear had dissipated, he could not guess.
She moved among the tables, her rich voice binding the men to her as she passed.
Then she approached the table where Alec stood.
They locked eyes. Hers narrowed in confusion, and then an instant later, he knew she recognized him as the man in the hallway earlier that morning.
She held his gaze. He did not look away.
He felt her fear rebuilding like wood tossed on a fire.
It sparked and grew until hot flames of it licked his insides.
Her song continued, but she backed away from him like a prey retreating from a predator.
JOANIE TURNED AWAY from Geoffrey, her voice crooning notes faithfully, but inside she struggled to keep from laughing hysterically and crying with relief.
Geoffrey had not recognized her. She was sure of it.
Eventually, he was bound to discover the nameless singer was his servant, but at least for now she was safe from his fury.
She turned away and proceeded around a cluster of tables.
The men stared at her with open admiration.
Never had she ever felt the warm eyes of a man on her.
Never had she known what it meant to be desired.
It was thrilling and terrifying all at once.
One part of her wished to flee from their unwavering gazes while another part wanted to savor the honeyed warmth of being desired.
She infused her song with greater passion.
She was singing her favorite of her grandmother’s songs about lovers forbidden to wed who fled from their families and found themselves trapped within a tempest that raged across the moors.
They were swept away by the wind and landed in a place of enchantment where love conquered all.
Emboldened by the heated gazes, the feel of silk against her skin, and the haunting sound of her own voice echoing off the high ceilings, she let her guard down and gave herself over to the game.
She boldly looked the men in the eye but fed when she met black eyes as cold and distant as the night sky ...
familiar eyes. A tremor shot up her spine as she recognized the man from earlier in the hall, and unlike Geoffrey she knew this man recognized her for who she really was.
He did not look away. His face was beautiful with full lips, high cheekbones, and deep-set eyes.
He wore his black hair long and straight unlike the rest of the men in the room.
His tall leanly-built body exuded power in the most terrifying way.
He sat perfectly still, his eyes ice cold and empty, and yet he seemed to reverberate feeling, like he was secretly shaking the room but only he and she knew it.
She started to back away. Her instinct was to flee, back to Diana, back to Geoffrey even, anyone but him and his endless, powerful gaze.
She looked away, moving to the tables on the far side of the hall.
With a last, lingering note that started out soaring from her lips but ended in a near whisper, she finished her song.
The room erupted into cheers with an intensity that shocked her.
She scurried back. Geoffrey stood with everyone else, cheering and clapping, his eyes heavy with drink and desire — he had never looked at her like that before and a warning crept up her spine.
She jerked around to find the other man in the room she feared, but his seat was empty.
He had gone. She bowed her head, her true self returning in a blush that burned her face with warmth.
She dipped into a low curtsy and turned to mount the stairs to the high dais.
She had to force her feet to walk, but her heart sprinted ahead, pounding in her chest. She rounded the screen and gasped as she met hollow, black eyes.