Medieval Wolfe Boxed Set: A de Wolfe Connected World Collection of Victorian and Medieval Tales by unknow

Author:unknow
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fiction, Medieval, Romance
Publisher: WolfeBane Publishing, Inc.
Published: 2018-11-14T18:00:00+00:00

Chapter Five

Apollo wished he’d never tried to help his king or his opponent, even in the form of Aline. His tendency to act without thinking, his willingness to be of service, had taken their tolls again.

“I can’t think of anything that would satisfy Philip,” he said. “We have nothing to offer him in return for our freedom. Thanks to my idea, he wants to make an example of us to show how the victor can show mercy to the loser.”

“My enemy becomes my friend? Ha. Is that possible?”

Was it possible? And if so, could more than friendship follow? My enemy becomes my lover? My love?

He’d loved his mother. Even his horse, Tencendur, named after Charlemagne’s horse. But he’d never felt romantic love. Could that emotion exist for him?

If he were to wed and settle down, he’d want a wife as exquisite as Aline. The brazier’s light gilded her hair, her skin was soft and smooth, and her features were finer than any Norman woman he’d met. Her vivid blue eyes were so expressive. He imagined her pretty hands and slim fingers on his skin. The image of her slipping off that night robe before she came to his bed made him yearn to think of anything else so his desire wouldn’t be evident. Milking a cow. Yes, that worked.

Surely any pleasures she’d yield would fade as he was forced to deal with day-to-day obligations of running an estate. As a youth, he’d oft heard his father complain about their overlord and irresponsible tenants who didn’t pay rents when they ought and their demands for less work and higher pay.

Aline leaned forward. The fur slipped, revealing a delightful glimpse of her décolletage.

He didn’t want to look away. He could have access to that glorious display of soft flesh and more in mere hours. That thought did make him hard.

Fortunately, she didn’t seem to notice as she readjusted the fur.

“I’d hope we could at least be friends,” he managed.

“The rest of our lives are at stake.” She paused. “Extreme diseases require extreme methods of cure, according to Hippocrates.”

Smart, and educated, too. He liked that, though such knowledge was rare in women. But…. “How does that follow?”

“I have an extreme idea,” she said, with a conniving glimmer in her eye he hadn’t yet seen. “Instead of going to your new home, you’ll help me return to England. You can say I took ill and died. That my weeks in the ravine took its toll, as it did for others.

“Then you can remain in your current position. Your king need never know the truth. We both get what we want.”

He went flaccid. He admired her cleverness, but her willingness—nay, eagerness—to be dishonest disturbed him. Even given their alarming fate. Disappointment filled him. “I told you earlier and just told my king that a man is only as good as his word. You’d be asking me to live a lie. Not only that, if we were to wed again, our next marriages wouldn’t be legal in the eyes of the Church.

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