Double the Love by Barbara Cartland

Author:Barbara Cartland
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-1-78213-688-0
Publisher: Barbara Cartland.Com
Published: 2015-05-12T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER SIX

The Prince was out hunting.

Ariana had been awakened at dawn by the barking of dogs and the neighing of horses.

Rising and drawing on a shawl she had gone to the window and looked down.

There were about twelve huntsmen below including the Prince.

She realised that she had not seen so many people at Castle Dukka before and the Prince had warned her that the huntsmen would return to dine with him and she would be expected to attend.

Since the trip to Glinica and the meeting with Lulé at the Fair, Ariana had felt sick with longing for Lorenc and this longing was exacerbated by her daily encounter with his mirror image.

There were times when she desired to throw herself into Stefan’s arms, simply because he looked as he did.

Yet whenever Stefan did embrace her, his bloodless lips made her shudder with revulsion.

He had questioned Ariana about the fortune-teller in a manner that suggested to her that Gezim had made an unfavourable report to him on the subject.

He wanted to know what the gypsy woman had told her and by protesting innocent curiosity and by repeating word for word what she knew that Gezim had overheard, Ariana managed to allay the Prince’s suspicions.

Nevertheless she wished that she could be free of her maid, whose spying nature she detested.

She decided that henceforth she would slip away from Gezim and Bujar as often as possible. She could not leave Castle Dukka and its grounds without either of them accompanying her as chaperone, but within its bounds she was surely free to wander.

While the Prince was on his hunt, Ariana put some food into a handkerchief and hurried away to explore the estate. This proved to be vaster than she had supposed.

Indeed it was hard to know where the estate ended and the surrounding landscape began.

Sitting now on the bank of a stream to eat her slices of cold hock and black bread, Ariana realised that she had not felt so free since first setting foot in Castle Dukka.

The Castle was a prison and the Prince her jailer.

Dukka was in so remote a part of the country that there was no way she could flee. Even if she did escape from The Castle, where would she go?

The Prince had paid for her. He considered her his property and he would pursue her to the ends of the earth.

Seeing a pair of black swans appear on the water, Ariana threw pieces of bread to them. They circled warily and then stooped their graceful necks to eat.

Ariana gazed sadly at them. Swans paired for life, but each chose the other one freely, whilst she had allowed herself to be bartered over and sold.

“Lorenc!” His name now escaped her lips, almost despite herself, but loud enough for the swans to raise their heads from the water and stare her way.

“Lorenc!” she cried again carelessly in despair and it then seemed as if the sound hovered in the air like the dragonflies over the stream.

Another sound was returned to her like an echo, a soft mocking call from amidst the trees.

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