The Black Angel by Barbara Samuel

Author:Barbara Samuel [Samuel, Barbara]
Language: eng
Format: epub, pdf
Published: 2010-12-16T22:00:00+00:00

Chapter 15

In the morning, Tynan left to make calls. Adriana found herself moving more slowly, and her thoughts returned again and again to the moment when she'd awakened to see Tynan, obviously aggrieved, with his head in his hands. And when he came to her after that, there'd been an almost desperate flavor to his embrace, as if they would not have much time together.

It did not make any sense. What was he hiding from her? She did not suspect him of lying, but at the same time, he was careful about what he revealed, and this morning Adriana felt she urgently needed answers. She thought Gabriel knew some of it, but he had not come home the night before, and she didn't relish the idea of waiting around all day for him. Though before last night she had begun to care about Tynan Spenser, now her heart was in mortal danger, and if she needed to pull away, it was best that she should know as soon as possible.

Julian, she thought. He'd spoken of writing to someone in Tynan's village; perhaps he knew something.

* * *

She recognized the guard at the Tower gates and gave him her best smile. To her surprise, he blinked as if dazzled and waved her through.

The morning was dark with autumn, and fog clung to hollows within the walls, but Adriana did not let the atmosphere distract her this time. She walked quickly and climbed the stairs to Julian's cell with a sense of purpose.

"Good morning," he said without surprise when the guard let her in, and then poked his head into the package she carried. "Ah! You're a gem."

"You don't seem very surprised," Adriana said with a smile, untying her cloak. His hair was neatly combed back from his face, and there was soap left on his jaw from shaving. Fondly, she reached up and wiped the last of it away.

"I saw you coming across the green." He took her cloak and set it on the bed, only then turning to her with a frown. "What's different about you this morning?"

She looked away, the night's journey swelling in her memory. "I don't know what you mean." Settling in the second chair at his rude table, she took out a loaf of freshly baked bread and buttered a slice. "You look well," she commented.

One side of his mouth lifted, one of the quirks of expression she had missed. In many ways, he'd always been terribly sober, and this slight wryness was as twinkling as he ever got, but she welcomed it. "You've a glow, sister," he said, and winked. "Your husband must be wooing you well."

To her amazement, Adriana blushed, and the blush made her chuckle. She batted his hand away when he would have touched her neck. "You've your secrets. Leave me to mine."

"All right, then." He broke off a hunk of cheese. "You must all be quite worried about my state of mind. I saw Gabriel last night, and your husband departed only an hour ago.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.