Never ever cause her harm, Toric.
Yes, Father.
“I asked them to find you and make certain you were safe,” Gray explained to her. “It was the first time I’ve spoken to them in fifteen years.”
She nodded and he was glad he avoided her anger. He turned to go to the window to close it while Toric was here, but he felt a little lightheaded. What was this? He felt like laughing. He didn’t but the thought occurred to him. He remembered his friends and it seemed as if they forgave him for getting so many of them killed and then abandoning them—he had abandoned them. He stopped and turned to look at Toric still perched on his shoulder.
You are human, Father, the raven said before he spoke.You were very young—
Gray shook his head and said out loud as well as in his head. “That’s no excuse. Toric, I denied our friendship. I denied all of you.”
For our safety, Father. If you denied us, it was for our good, so that more of us didn’t die. As I said, you are human. It is what humans do. They sacrifice themselves for their children and their friends.
Gray looked to where Miss Darling still stood by the door. She knew he was communicating with Toric. He wanted her to stay the night. But she wasn’t his wife, and her name would be dragged through the filthy streets. If she didn’t find her door, she would have to live with whispers and pointing fingers. If she didn’t find her door, would he keep her close? Would he ask her to be his wife? He smiled and then chuckled softly at the preposterous thought. Him! Married! Never! At least, that’s what he told himself since he had become an adult. And now, to fall for a woman who was more welcome than the sun after a harrowing night on the battlefield, a woman who could disappear through a door, never to return.
No. He wouldn’t laugh or smile. Life didn’t deserve to see him happy.
“Gray,” she said his name softly across the room. “It was a heavy load for a boy to carry alone. Now your friends are back to help you.”
Damn it, he didn’t mean to smile yet again. How did she know the thing to say to give him hope and help him feel better? “Come,” he said, ready to do anything to help her find her way home, even if it meant breaking his barely held together heart. “You need to sleep so you can get an early start finding your key and your door tomorrow.”
He wasn’t prepared to see her leave, but it didn’t matter as long as she was happy.
It’s what humans did.
Chapter Seventeen
Aria descended thestairs the next morning with the marquess on her mind. It hadn’t been any better during the night in bed trying to sleep. She may have fallen asleep for a minute or two but dreams of him opened her eyes and made her breath quicken. The scariest part was that she was disappointed when she woke up and he wasn’t there, in her bed, staring at her with his lagoon-colored eyes as if she was his and he loved her beyond reason. She could close her eyes now and feel his fingers tracing her jaw, her chin, her lips.
It wasn’t real. It would never be real. Once they found the key and the closer she came to opening the last door in the castle, the closer she came to finding a way home. If the door wasn’t here, she’d search every inch of the forest. She thought of her dear brother. Conn had had such a zeal for life. Now, he was an empty shell. Her heart broke as it had all night every time she thought of the key. They had to find it.
And what if she did get home? Who would believe that she’d traveled back to the past and met a man who could communicate with animals? He could. She had no doubts anymore. He’d clearly been communicating with the giant raven last night when the bird flew into his room. She still had trouble coming to terms with it. He did have some responsibility in the Gable’s father’s death. When he was ten. No wonder he had not only stopped communicating with the animals, but he had also convinced himself none of his memories of them were real and let himself forget them. Would she forget Gray? She had no picture of him. If she spoke of him, they would admit her into a mental hospital. It would be as if he never existed.
Should she turn around and go search for the key again? Should she rush to the marquess? She’d run into Elspeth Gable when she left her room and was advised that Sarah was in the dining hall with the marquess.
Uncomfortable with Sarah and the marquess together, Aria hurried forward toward the hall. Even as she went though, she realized they would spend more time together after she left. Sarah would likely have his seven sons. Ugh! She wanted to slap her palm into her head. She had no right to be jealous—
She looked up from the wall she’d walked into and found Timothy Cavendish smiling down at her. She truly didn’t like him. He didn’t seem as if he’d changed much in fifteen years. He was still a sniveling bully-wanna-be.
“Ah, Miss Darling,” he greeted with a sneer. That was another one of the things she didn’t like about him. He didn’t smile. He sneered. “No doubt, you are looking for my brother.”
She refrained from reminding him that Gray wasn’t his brother. She was thankful for it, too. “I’m on my way to the dining hall. If you’ll excuse me, Mr. Cavendish.”
“It is truly a shame, Miss Darling,” he said when she stepped around him and continued on her way.
She knew she shouldn’t have, but she stopped. “What is?”
“You are standing on the wrong side. I could give you everything and more.”
Her jaw almost dropped as she turned to him. Was he really—? No, yuck. She couldn’t finish the thought. All at once she saw him without his ugly personality to get in the way. His long dark hair was curled around his ears and the rest in the back was twisted into a thin braid. His eyes were dark gray and too small on either side of his long, pointy nose. His permanently mocking lips were thin like two worms.
“I assure you, you have nothing I want.”
“That was the wrong thing to say, Miss.”
She took a step closer to him and glared at him through narrow eyes. “Are you threatening me?”
He loosened the knot of his cravat. “You sound quite confident in your boldness. What makes you so? Hmm? Do you think the marquess will protect you from the worst that can happen?”