Awry

42

Three weeks after the engagement announcement, Scarlet sat at the large table in the dining hall with Gabriel. Guards stood at every door and servants brought endless platters of cheese and meat.

After years of hunting and foraging for her food, Scarlet was uncomfortable being waited on at a fine table with glass goblets and large plates.

She had been raised in wealth, and was familiar with having servants and fine meals, but she still felt terribly out of place. She did not belong in a castle or at a table covered in meat.

She belonged in the trees. She belonged with Tristan.

“How did you sleep?” Gabriel asked with a smile.

Scarlet bowed respectfully. “Well, my lord.”

She had spent her first week in the castle angry at Tristan for handing her off to his brother. She’d spent the second week crying because she missed Tristan. And she spent last week plotting how to postpone her marriage to Gabriel until Tristan returned. If Tristan thought she was going to marry his brother, he was mad.

Gabriel looked around at the servants. “Thank you for our meal. We shall dine alone now.”

Bowing heads and shuffling feet made their way out of the hall, leaving only a single guard posted at the door.

“Tennius.” Gabriel looked at the guard. “We shall dine alone.”

The guard seemed perturbed, but left the room and closed the door behind him.

When it was just she and Gabriel, Scarlet took a moment to really look at him. He was identical to Tristan, right down to their perfectly placed dimples and square jaws but, somehow, Gabriel looked nothing like Tristan.

For a few minutes, neither of them spoke or ate. They simply sat.

“I’m sorry to hear your mother is ill,” he said sincerely, his voice echoing in the tall room. “We have our best healers with her.”

The healers weren’t helping at all, but Scarlet nodded anyway. “Thank you, my lord.”

Scarlet’s mother was getting worse. She was slowly becoming mad and had a fever no one could soothe. Although Scarlet spent every hour with her, trying to ease her torment, she knew her mother would die soon. And the thought made her stomach hurt. She did not know how to be herself without her mother. Without Tristan.

Gabriel took a deep breath. “How are you settling in the castle?”

“Well,” she lied. The castle was foreign and cold. She was already weary of playing countess.

An uncomfortable silence fell. Scarlet cleared her throat. “I am sorry for the obligation you have to me.” She had said it to be polite, but as the words came out of her mouth she realized how very true they were. She was sorry for Gabriel. He did not know her. He did not love her. Yet, he had agreed to marry her.

For Tristan.

Gabriel smiled at her. “I am not sorry. I have the privilege of honoring my brother with the company of a beautiful woman. If anything, I am sorry for you.”

Scarlet pressed a smile to her face. “You are kind.”

“Not hardly.” He leaned forward on his elbows with a crooked smile beneath his deep eyes. He was probably quite popular with the woman of the court. With a smile like that and the confidence he held, what woman would not swoon?

More silence.

“You do not need to like me, you know.” Gabriel leaned back with a pleasant face. “We shall wed for my father’s sake, but we do not need to be a true union. We do not even have to get along.”

She paused. “Tristan cares for you, so I have no doubt I will care for you as well, my lord.” Scarlet bowed again.

“Scarlet.” Gabriel leaned forward again, smiling at her nicely. “Do not bow to me. Not ever again. And please, for the love of God, do not call me ‘lord’. Call me Gabriel.”

Scarlet looked into his eyes. “But that would be disrespectful. It would be against the rules.”

He shrugged and tossed her another crooked smile. “I am not known for my obedience.”

“Is that so?” Scarlet watched him carefully. He looked like trouble and he smiled like sin. Cocking her head to the side, Scarlet found herself intrigued by the daring boy sitting across from her. “We may get along after all.”

And for the first time since she’d arrived at the castle, Scarlet genuinely smiled.

“We had a plan, Gabriel!” Raven’s black hair swung around her head as she turned around to yell at him while he stood in her family’s garden.

Gabriel stepped forward, trying to calm her down. “I promised Tristan—”

“You promised me!” Raven’s gray eyes looked deadly. “You and I together,” she gestured back and forth between them, “are unstoppable. You and that peasantgirl? That is just pitiful.”

“I promised my father that I would marry Scarlet—”

“Ugh! Do not say her name.” Raven paced for moment, her eyes catching on him every few steps. Then she stopped and took a deep breath. “There is still time to fix everything. Maybe we could send the peasant away, have her join a nunnery or something.”

Gabriel shook his head. “I cannot send her away. Tristan asked me to take care of—”

“No.” Raven set a finger against Gabriel’s lips, halting his words. She brought her exotic face in close to his and looked at him from under her lashes. “Take care of me, Gabriel. Do not take care of a girl who will not hold you,” she walked her fingers from his mouth to the back of his neck, “or want you,” she ran her other hand down his chest, “or kiss you….” Raven set her mouth to his, cupping the back of his neck as she pulled him down closer to her.

Gabriel kissed her back, placing his hands on her hips and bringing her closer to his body. He loved the way she tasted and the way her hands roved his back and lower….

Pulling back from their embrace, Raven nipped at his lower lip for a delicious moment. “Gabriel?” Her voice sounded small and delicate. “Do you not want me anymore?”

Gabriel licked his lips, hot from her mouth. “Of course, I want you.”

“Then you will find a way to be with me, won’t you?” She pressed her mouth to his neck.

“Yes,” Gabriel answered automatically. He would not break his promise to Tristan. But how could he resist Raven? Why would he want to?

He would find a way to be with Raven, yet still take care of Scarlet.

Somehow.

Raven kissed him more fully. “Mmmm.” She pulled back again, this time more abruptly, and smiled. “You and I will be unstoppable.”