The Black Knight’s Captive by Markland Anna

Author:Markland, Anna
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2020-01-28T00:00:00+00:00

Andernach

To Blythe’s great relief, Dieter’s wound healed quickly. The house became an armed camp. No one spoke of the man who had been captured in the garden, and she was afraid to ask.

One day in October, her captor took her hand as they dined together. The stirrings of desire his touch never failed to ignite flared again. “Lady Blythe, on the morrow I’ll be joining my comrades in an attack against Heinrich’s army.”

She’d half-suspected some action was brewing, but her heart plummeted. Should she beg him not to go? He would think she had lost her wits. “Why must men always fight and kill each other?”

“Liebling,” he replied softly, his eyes caressing her quivering lips, “Köln must be freed from the unjust domination of the emperor. As for us Saxons, well, the conflict has smoldered since the Great Saxon Revolt many, many years ago.”

Liebling? He keeps calling me Liebling! Doesn’t that mean darling? Perhaps I’m mistaken, and it means something else.

He was still explaining, brushing his thumb over her knuckles. “Heinrich has made attempts to confiscate Saxon counties as fiefs but has always met with obstinate resistance. On the morrow, we travel nine miles to Andernach to confront him on the plain.”

Blythe’s emotions were in turmoil. Nine miles! The enemy was a mere nine miles away. She longed to throw her arms around him, beg him not to go, tell him she loved him.

Love him? Do I love him?

He didn’t care about her. She was his prisoner.

Still, she wished his thumb was caressing another part of her body instead of her hand. If she looked up at him, he would see the wanton desire in her eyes. “Black Knight, I wish you Gottes segen on the morrow. Godspeed.”

His eyes widened. He placed his palm against her face. A tear trickled unbidden down her cheek and he wiped it away. “If I don’t return from Andernach, be reassured I’ve sent messengers to your family in England. I’m sure they’ll come for you. You’re too precious to lose.”

Her heart fluttered wildly. She could barely speak as relief and foreboding swept over her at the same time. “Not return? My family? You don’t intend to sell me? My parents know I’m here?”

He let go of her hand and straightened, a scowl on his face. “Sell you? Is that what you think of me? If your parents don’t yet know your whereabouts, I’m confident they soon will.”

She did not know what to say, stung by the anger in his voice. “I’m sorry; I was afraid. I didn’t know what you intended to do with me.”

“That makes two of us,” he blurted out, shaking his head. He rose from the table, clicked his heels together and bowed. “I’ll be gone before you rise, so I bid you auf Weidersehen now.”

She stood to face him, tears flowing freely. “Black Knight, on the morrow, you’ll leave for war.”

He saw the tears, drew her into an embrace, brushed his lips on hers and breathed, “I want to hear my name on your lips.

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