Cherished Protector of Her Heart by Laurel O'Donnell

Author:Laurel O'Donnell [O'Donnell, Laurel]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: ODONNELL BOOKS
Published: 2015-08-27T18:00:00+00:00

The flickering torchlight washed into the cell.

Tobias looked up. He squinted his eyes against the sudden bright in his dark gloom.

Booted feet stopped just before him. For a long moment, he stared, blinking against the firelight of the torch. He held his arm up, shielding his eyes, to try to see who stood before him. Finally, he lowered his arm. “Damien?”

“No.” The voice was cold.

Tobias scoffed, recognizing the tone and the owner. “Sent you to finish me, did he? Didn’t have the nerve to do it himself?”

“What do you want?”

Tobias stared at the dirt floor.

“Why are you here?”

“I didn’t know you were with him,” Tobias admitted. “Although I should have known.”

“Why have you come to Acquitaine?”

Tobias shook his head. “It was a mistake. I wanted to see my boy. I was foolish to want to talk to him, foolish to think –”

“Save your lies for someone else.”

Tobias shook his head. “I never thought you would be like this. You were always the quiet one, the one I favored.”

“Favored?” An angry chuckle echoed through the darkness. “I remember slaps. I remember kicks and punches. You have a funny way of remembering how you favored me.”

“It was a hard time for me, boy,” Tobias answered. “Don’t dare judge me. You boys were no angels.”

“We were children. And you were too concerned with where your next drink was coming from.”

“After that weakling of a mother died and left me alone with the two of you –”

The torch dropped to the floor. Tobias’s shirt was seized and he was hauled to his feet, slammed back against the dungeon wall. Gawyn stuck his face close to his father’s, eyes blazing with hatred. “Don’t talk about her. You hear me? Don’t talk about her like that.”

Tobias studied his son’s face; his eyes were burning with angry loathing, his lips curled in a snarl. “Gawyn,” he gasped. Something twisted in his chest. “My boy.”

Gawyn released him and Tobias slid down the wall.

The torchlight rolled across the floor to just beside Gawyn’s foot. The light cast him in flickering shadows of light and dark as Tobias stared up at him.

“Why have you come to Acquitaine?”

“My boy is getting married,” Tobias whispered.

“What do you want?”

“I want to see him. I want to meet his wife.”

“Why?”

“Can’t a father want simply to see his son?”

“You lost your right to call us sons the day you sold us for a bag of gold.”

Tobias’s lip curled. “Will you do it now? Can you shove that dagger into my stomach now?”

Gawyn bent and picked up the torch. He walked to the door.

“You can’t do it. Because my blood runs through your veins. We are family.”

Gawyn stepped out into the hallway, pulling the cell door closed behind him.

“We are family!”

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