Midnight Eyes by Brophy, Sarah (well read books .TXT) 📕

and waved away the excuse with a dismissive, “Yes, Yes,” grimacing slightly as the sudden movements sent pain raging through his raw head.

Robert waited with coiled preparedness for William’s next move, but the man seemed quite content to stare at the floor, as if he was trying to divine answers from the stonework. Robert found his patience growing dangerously thin.

He needed this to end. Now.

“Just what the hell is going on here?” Robert asked bluntly.

A ghost of a smile played over William’s face as he lifted his eyes to meet Robert’s, his brow rising sardonically. “What a truly excellent question.” He sighed and ran a shaky hand over his face before continuing wearily. “As near as I can make out, you and I have been dragged into a rather nasty little family argument. We are nothing but bit players in a larger drama, it would seem.” William’s voice was filled with a brooding bitterness, his eyes narrowing with sober anger. “You are no assassin, are you?” he finally asked accusingly.

Robert smiled lopsidedly. “One would think you are almost saddened by that.”

William stood up abruptly and began to pace the room before answering. “Aye, I would damn well prefer you to be an assassin. If you were the treasonous dog they told me you were, I could have you executed on this very day and could be rid of you permanently. If nothing else, it would make my world less irritating. I have always liked the idea of seeing your arrogant carcass dangling from a noose.”

“Thank you,” Robert murmured.

But William didn’t seem to notice the interruption, as he was too caught up in his vague feeling that somehow Robert had cheated him on purpose by not being guilty.

“I’ve never liked you,” William continued. “You’re smug, conceited and entirely without respect. You insult me just by living. You dare to patronize me, and dare further to do it in my presence, damn you, like I am just some squire instead of your king.” He swung round and pinned Robert with a glare. “But you damn well don’t plan to kill me, do you?” he roared.

Robert pretended to consider it for a moment, daring to believe for the first time that there just might be any number of tomorrows in his future. “No,” he said finally, unable and unwilling to hide his grin.

William seemed to deflate and age before Robert’s eyes.

William then carefully averted his face, moving to look out the window once more. “I’ve been an absolute fool,” he said with soft disgust. “I have somehow managed to give myself over to an evil illusion.” William needed no reply to that statement; too consumed dealing with sad truths that Robert knew nothing of.

When suddenly he turned around, all visible grief was gone. “So what exactly do you know of Lady Imogen’s past?”

It took a second for Robert to catch the abrupt change of topic, and then he just shrugged his shoulders.

“Very little. She holds her truths very closely, like a talisman to stop any further evils. She has let only small parts of her past escape. I do know, however, that she has been kept a virtual prisoner by her brother and that that bastard has deliberately hurt and terrified her. At the same time, he has bound her to him in some way that I just cannot seem to unravel—yet.” Robert looked down at his white knuckles. “In all, I know enough so that if you leave me alone with your precious Angel Courtier for even just a few minutes, I will send him straight back to the Devil.”

William smiled darkly. “Sounds perfect.”

Robert raised a brow questioningly and William met his look blandly. “Let’s just say that Roger has become something of an inconvenience. I hope your wife continues to keep her own counsel concerning her brother, as I would rather the world remained ignorant of my own folly in this drama.”

And with that Robert had to be content. William was clearly going to say no more. Not that the details mattered now, Robert realized slowly, not when the king was all but telling him that he was removing the dark cloud of threat from their lives.

Robert felt strangely reluctant to grab this reprieve with both hands after the initial jubilation passed. He was too cautious to trust something he didn’t entirely understand and his instincts were warning him that it couldn’t really be this simple. “So, where exactly does that leave Imogen and I?” Robert asked, his muscles tensing as he awaited the reply.

William shrugged his shoulders. “It leaves the pair of you as far away from me as humanly possible,” he said succinctly.

Robert let out a surprised laugh. “Can I have that in writing?” he asked, elated, but not letting that blind him to the particulars.

“If that’s what it costs me to get you gone, I’ll do it right away.” He went to the door and bellowed for his secretary. The poor man scuttled into the room and quickly scribbled down William’s formal notice of exiling Robert and Imogen to Shadowsend.

Robert slowly got up, wincing only slightly with the pain of the movement. “I may have to beg a little more of your hospitality. Just time enough for some rest.” He looked down at the borrowed clothes. “And a bath.”

William grunted his affirmative as he heated his own sealing wax in a spoon, moving it slowly over the flickering candle. “Well, I suppose I owe Lady Imogen at the very least one rested husband. She might faint if you go to her in that condition. I’ll have one sent to your chamber now,” he said, and flicked a disgusted look over Robert’s unkempt figure.

“She is made of sterner stuff than that,” Robert murmured enigmatically as he took the paper from William’s outstretched hand.

With a small bow, Robert turned to leave. But William halted him and reached down to the table, picking up a small ring. “Give this to your lady.” William stared at the simple band intently. “And tell