Legacy of Honor by Linda Hilton

Author:Linda Hilton [Hilton, Linda]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Unknown
Published: 2013-10-17T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twenty-eight

Alexandra's bravery faded a little each day, as did the hope that sustained her.

When she wakened at dawn, the prospect of a new day stretching out before her renewed her hopes and for a few hours she vibrated with energy and her smile glowed like the golden sun. As soon as her few chores were done, she took her embroidery to the porch and there passed a lazy afternoon in expectant waiting, her eyes anxiously glancing toward the mountain road for any sign of a visitor. None came, and each day the disappointment grew.

She ate her supper in silence, and afterward, in the quiet chill of early evening, walked alone to the edge of the village, to the woods that skirted the mountain and through which any stranger must come to the valley. More often than not she wept tears of loneliness and self-pity while she whispered to the mountains and the trees and the sky with all its stars of the emptiness within her.

"Where is he?" she asked. "Why doesn't he come? I'm going insane waiting like this, never knowing if or when he will come. I don't know how much more I can take."

But crying seemed to comfort her, and she made her way, dry-eyed and exhausted, in the last shadowy twilight to the Tcheradzin house and her bed. She found no comfort there, however.

It was not the knowledge of Grigori's intentions that made Alexandra avoid the family as much as possible. Though she felt ill at ease around him, in Valentina's presence she knew fear such as she had not experienced since she last saw Augustin Trabert astride his stallion, looking down at her with murder in his eyes. Hatred, unreasoning, passionate hatred, burned bright as a flame in Valentina and tinged her haughty demeanor with malevolence. Rather than provoke an argument she could not hope to win, Alexandra was determined to avoid a confrontation at any cost, though it meant sacrificing her pride. Taunts and thinly disguised insults she ignored or pretended not to understand because it was easier to let Valentina gloat than to challenge her.

Even her friendship with Tasha felt the strain. Brief conversation replaced the light-hearted chatter they had shared, and they no longer exchanged confidences in the darkness of their room. The more Tasha tried to draw Alexandra out of her cocoon, the more tightly she spun it around her.

Each morning Tasha detailed the progress Grigori had made on the house, even though she knew that in Alexandra's mind the little cottage he labored on with such devotion loomed as menacing as a gallows. She never spoke of it, never asked any questions about it, but it was never out of her thoughts for very long.

As though to make amends for the hard and cruel winter, spring lavished the valley with unexpected beauty. The oak and beech trees spun lacy webs of green to clothe their naked limbs, and at their feet the violets turned shy faces away from the warmth of the sun.

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.