Her Dark Knight's Redemption

His favourite room filled with tapestries, silks, comforts and stacks of books. Because it was hard on the bindings and parchment, he never placed the books upright if there were enough tables to support them. As his only true family, he liked to take great care with them.

Her eyes didn’t gleam with greed as Cilla’s or with awe. Instead, she looked curious. He should have met this thief in one of the bare rooms on the other side of the house. A room that wouldn’t have revealed anything of himself. She now knew more of him then he of her. Since the fateful day he’d overheard his family’s intentions to kill him, he’d never revealed anything of himself.

It was the child in his arms. Any act he did from this point on wouldn’t be as he had done in the past. The game had changed.

Another turn of her gaze around the room. Another one of him. ‘Why have you brought me here?’ she said.

Her voice. Direct with an elegant lilt to her words. A common demeaned thief should have spoken with guttural accent like Cilla. Instead, she held almost a cultured accent that both intrigued and confounded him. It was a boon. A dark-haired woman with a pleasing accent and desperate to survive. He didn’t deserve it, but Fortune favoured him greatly this morning.

Aliette had been afraid of only one thing her entire life. Darkness. As a child, she knew shadows hid bad people. As an adult, she avoided them for in a building’s crevice was inevitably a man with a knife. Around a corner would be a guard or a hand to grab what food she’d scavenged.

At night, when Darkness came, she huddled in whatever sliver of moonlight she could under her bridge. Night was always worse, for she’d fall asleep and remember that, when she woke one morning, her family had left her in the night.

Darkness was cruel. And though logically Aliette knew the man before her stood in daylight, his surroundings were clear and every feature of him was there for her to see, every instinct in her clamoured the opposite.

This man before her was shadow and night. He was Darkness.

Dishevelled raven hair, dark tailored clothing and a black gaze lit with a feral light. He was clutching a child wrapped in a tattered white gown that drooped almost to the floor.

Blood. Unmistakably blood was streaked across his clothing and his cheeks. Mud splattered along his breeches, his arms and thickly encrusted on his boots as if he had tromped through freshly turned graves.

The child’s crumpled swaddling was also streaked with dirt and blood, and it remained unnaturally quiet and still. As if it was dead...or pretending to be. She couldn’t see its face for the man held it far too tightly to his chest.

Would it escape if he eased his grip? Perhaps it was a changeling he’d dug up for some ritual.

The room was no comfort from her thoughts. The sumptuous surrounding only confirmed her certainty that this man was Darkness. For Darkness was powerful and encompassed everything. Perhaps kings could surround themselves with such opulence, but she couldn’t imagine they possessed such extravagance as this man.

Too long had it been since she had been to church, but she fervently wished she was there now so she could beg for sanctuary and stand under a hundred candles. To beg for Helewise, Vernon and Gabriel as well, though they weren’t in this room with her.

For she had feared Darkness all her life and finally he bared himself to her. His ruthlessness apparent in the savage edges of his cheeks and square of his jaw. His arrogance drawn by the refinement of his nose and arch of his brow. But the eddying dark grey of his eyes, the lush frame of lashes and soft curve of his mouth bore him a cruel beauty. If this was how Darkness deemed to personify itself, it wasn’t safe for any of them.

Because Darkness enticed.

‘Why have I brought you here?’ he said. ‘It is an interesting question that you ask.’

Fanciful thoughts she couldn’t stop that beat with the hammering of her heart. The low rumble of his voice did nothing to help her. Neither did the fact he found the question on whether she lived or died interesting.

‘An important one, I think,’ she said.

One brow raised. ‘Extremely, but most do not dare ask it.’

The others he brought to his lair? Aliette shook herself to stop her errant thoughts. She wasn’t a child anymore, and this was daylight. Despite the warning hairs on her neck, he could be no more or less than a mere man with a child. Mud, blood and gold aside, he was human and not the most important one in her life. Gabriel, Helewise and Vernon were above such fears. She needed to, she must, return to them. Whatever this man wanted, she wanted it over. She’d been gone long enough. Gabriel might leave the house and search for her. If so, Ido could snatch him for gaol.

‘Whatever it is you want of me, tell me now and have done with it.’

‘So much haste.’

‘Yes,’ she said, ‘but not for my death.’

A quirk to his lips. ‘Most of us aren’t hasty for death.’

Us. He wasn’t Darkness. Of course he wasn’t. But he was dangerous. He had enough wealth and power to drag her here with no interference.

‘Why am I here?’ she repeated.

He adjusted the child in his arms. She saw tiny fingers curl, but little else. For a child, it was unnaturally quiet.

‘Do you have a family?’

She couldn’t answer that and remain safe.

His brow rose at her silence. ‘Do you have a father? And a mother?’

This was personal. ‘Why do you ask?’

‘You keep asking me questions...thief.’

She couldn’t have heard him correctly. Surely this wasn’t about something so trivial as the baker. ‘Were those your loaves of bread?’

‘Parents. Answer me.’

She shook her head. ‘No parents. Is this over the bread? Did you watch me take it?’

‘I watched you being caught.’

Relief that he hadn’t seen Gabriel steal gave her courage to ask more questions. ‘And that had you bring me here.’

‘You know what would have happened to you if that watch guard took you away?’

‘Do I look a fool?’

‘You’re the one caught for mere bread—perhaps you didn’t know the consequences.’

Living the way she had all her life, she always knew the consequences. ‘It’s not mere bread when it means life and death.’

‘Ah, yes, the important question. I don’t want your death.’

‘Rape, then.’

A curl to his lips as if she insulted him.

‘I’m a woman. You’re a man. Why else did you force me here?’

‘Not. That.’

His answer was short, curt, the tone as if he found her question distasteful.

Aliette refused to be embarrassed. She was poor, street born and bred, her clothes barely serviceable. But some of it she purposefully created. She needed to smell, to grind dirt into her skin and clothes to deflect leers and lust. Life would have been easier if she was a boy. When she’d become old enough she’d thought to disguise herself, but by then she was all too easily recognised. So a girl, now a woman, she remained.

She should be pleased her filthy appearance worked as it had all her life. He didn’t want her death, or her body, and he purposefully saved her from gaol and losing her hand.

‘In truth, what—?’ he began to ask.

‘Why are you holding the child?’ she interrupted.

Chapter Six

He looked perplexed. ‘Because I have not put her down.’

A girl. Aliette had no reason to trust he wouldn’t harm her, but he had held his hand so far and it was enough for her to truly pay attention to the man before her...and the child. ‘What’s wrong with her?’

Alarm crossed his strong features. ‘Nothing.’

‘She’s too quiet. Is she asleep?’

He looked down at her. ‘Her eyes are at half-mast.’

Awake, but listless. ‘Is she with fever? Sick? Has she spit up?’

‘I don’t—’

She took a step forward and raised her arms. ‘Give me that child.’

‘No.’

He said the single word so evenly and decisively it was as a sword striking down.

It stopped her short, her arms outstretched, her stepping foot braced in the air.

‘You may not take her,’ he said.

Where were her finely honed survival instincts? This was not a man to be ordered about. She lowered her arms and foot and stepped back. ‘I only meant—’

‘Save me from well meaning intentions,’ he said sardonically. ‘That’s not why you’re here.’

She could not keep her eyes only on the man. She was a fool. Maybe he was Darkness. But for some reason, instead of heeding the warning in his expression, in his words and deeds, she stupidly took her eyes away from him.

It was the child. Jarringly innocent in this darkened luxurious room, a clamouring instinct had welled up and overtook her good sense.

If she survived this, she’d blame Helewise and Vernon. Gabriel as well, for he was frequently sick and needed her care. He’d been unused to street fare and exposure. It had taken him weeks to toughen to the degree he had.

‘You haven’t told me why I’m here.’

‘I will, in my time.’

‘In the meantime—’ She couldn’t let it go. It was unwell; she was certain of it. Maybe it was the fact she had been a neglected child, or maybe it was the care of Helewise and Vernon that compelled her. Either way, she asked, ‘Is the child yours?’

He swiped a dagger from his waist. If she had taken those steps towards him, it would be buried in her belly.

‘Why do you keep asking me questions about the child?’

‘You’re...’ she swallowed ‘...you’re holding her in front of me.’

The blade looked well used and fit easily in his hand. It was a weapon this man had used many times before. He held still. So did she.

‘The child isn’t mine,’ he answered, watching her watch the blade.

Her entire life she’d lived with Death and his scythe. If it wasn’t the icy cold of winter trying to kill her, it was another person trying to survive. When threatened, she’d learned it was always the person behind the weapon she should be wary of. But this man wasn’t like another thief on the streets trying to steal a blanket. This man didn’t pull his blade to take something from her, for she had nothing. He pulled the blade because she asked about the child. He did it to protect the child—from her.

Fear from being kidnapped swirled with her usual mistrust. But his deeds ceased every emotion in her. She’d never seen a person defend a child before. Not like this. Certainly never her own parents and even a mother with a suckling infant put the infant aside if there was food to be had or a customer to pull up her skirts for.

Five winters past, it had been bitterly cold and she had come across what she thought were wadded-up old blankets. But instead of a treasure, it was a swaddled baby. Frozen, its skin pale, lips blue, with ice feathering along its tiny eyelashes. She’d cried for days afterwards. The babe haunted her dreams still. To this day she avoided that part of town in winter and found herself wary of piles in corners.

But Darkness drew a blade for a child who he awkwardly held and something ripped through her chest. She couldn’t breathe right.

‘You’ve gone pale,’ he said, sheathing the dagger. ‘Are you fainting?’

She felt far away. As if she was here, yet not in the same place she was before. As if she recognised everything, but nothing was the same. Because Darkness guarded a child from harm.

She swallowed. ‘Have you...have you ever taken care of a child before?’

‘No.’

‘Can you put her down?’

His smile curved cruelly. ‘Are you ordering me?’

He said it as though she was an insect who could talk. ‘I’m not ordering you. I...simply want to see her.’

He did a double take. Another. A cant to his head, waiting for something.

She wasn’t about to do anything else. This was enough and he made it clear it was too much. Never trusting anyone, she shouldn’t care about anything other than getting as far away as possible from this madman.

This killer. Who happened to cradle a child and was overly protective about her. But the child was too quiet. Aliette needed to see her.

‘You can place her over there, unwrap her and I can see her from a distance.’

‘You know something of children?’

‘Is that why I’m here?’

‘Hmm.’ He took two strides forward. So swiftly she braced herself for a curled fist. It didn’t come. Instead, he held the child towards her. ‘She feels warm.’

‘All children feel warm if you hold them too long.’

She took the child who, despite her length, was light, and carefully unwrapped the swaddling.

Thin, gaunt cheeks. Bone-like arms, a swollen stomach and sunken hip bones.

‘How old is she?’

His brows drew in, his eyes searching the child as if asking her to answer. ‘Around a year.’

She did know something of children and this condition, she knew it very well. Thin, emaciated. Greyish skin. Listless. An unwise anger swept through her. ‘She’s—’

‘Yes.’

‘She’s...hungry,’ she blurted. ‘You’re starving her! When was the last time she ate?’

At his mystified look, she demanded, ‘Did you give her something to drink?’

Lips clamped shut and his eyes narrowed.

‘You haven’t fed her, or given her a drink? Has she been crying? Restless?’

Another bout of silence. Aliette had no patience with it. Maybe the wealthy had time for waiting, but if she stalled or waited for anything she’d have starved to death. ‘She needs oats or bread all warmed with milk and honey.’

‘You want me,’ he said in that terrifyingly even voice of his, ‘to provide that for you.’

‘I don’t know this place. These men don’t follow my orders. How else am I to get it?’

‘This isn’t—’

‘Whatever you want of me, I won’t do it, not when this child needs me.’

He looked to the child and to her. He looked to argue, the superiority of his expression one she’d seen many times when a shopkeeper thought to abuse a street urchin. She stared him down. If he meant to kick or strike her, he could join the others. She’d survived many such blows over the years.

If he intended to kill her, there was nothing she could do to defend herself, though she’d try to protect the child first. But if this was her day to die, it was simply like every day she ever lived. In truth, she wasn’t meant to have made it this long.

With another narrowed gaze, he pivoted towards the door, but not before she saw a flare of victory in his eyes.

What he thought he’d won Aliette didn’t care about, as long as the child had what she needed. She’d seen enough suffering in her lifetime—the fact that this child was surrounded by gold and silk and was still hungry she couldn’t tolerate.

Reynold left the room and closed the door. The two men who had escorted the thief were on the other side and he gave them the unusual tasks. If they wondered about the requests, they didn’t ask. He paid them not to question. Although one of them looked behind him. To see if the thief was unharmed? He would have to be dealt with later.

When they marched down the stairs, he turned to go back into the room, but stopped. The door was partially closed and the thief wasn’t looking his way, her attention fully on the child in her arms.

She was doing this walking, swinging motion and singing softly.

The morning sun filtered through the unwashed windowpanes delicately lighting its two occupants, the shimmering reds and greens of tufted cushions and the rich browns of well-polished carved furniture.

The woman was slight, not much more substantial than the babe she held. Her clothes were an odd, but practical mixture of layers. Two coarse surcoats, one much shorter than the other, over a thick, overly large chemise. She had no gown and her shoes had distinct holes. Grace’s greying swaddling dragged on the floor as the thief swept them from side to side. Both were slight, filthy, their clothes unkempt.

The room was small and the subtle distinct tang of abject homelessness, blood and fresh dirt clashed with the resonating fragrance of lavender and lemon, the warmed silk from the tapestries and the musty familiar perfume of his books.

But she was perfect. Everything about this was perfect. Hair that almost matched Grace’s and both appearing filthy from the streets. No parents to care for her. No one to suspect or question the child she held so carefully and sang to so beautifully was his.

Even more so now that her mothering instincts resurrected themselves. Against him, which both grated on and amused him.

The thief was the solution to keep Grace close to him. A woman of childbearing age in a desperate situation. She would be a servant to him and raise the child. He could then see Grace, keep her close through the years. And because the thief and Grace would be perceived as servants, his arrogant family wouldn’t perceive Grace as his greatest vulnerability.

He turned to the mercenaries taking the stairs behind him and instructed them to place the food for the babe, the woman and himself on an empty table. He’d propose to the thief what needed to be done and she would thank him profusely for saving her from gaol and poverty. It was all too easy.

Although...there was that one moment of lapse in his control which was concerning. Her request to take Grace catching him off guard. The blade was out of its sheath before he thought to draw it. An indication of how much he cared though he hadn’t had his daughter for a day.

Such action would be an anomaly from now on. People did not catch him unawares and now that he knew his feelings existed, he’d hold them in check so he didn’t reveal anything more. Until he dismantled his family, not even his daughter or the thief could know him.

Chapter Seven

Aliette was startled when the door swung open and the two mercenaries who had carted her here carried in large trays with mouthwatering food and freshly poured ale.

They set them down, one of them glancing at her from head to toe before they walked out the opened doors. A moment later, her captor entered. Silently, steadily, he closed the doors behind him and stood with no direction of what he intended for her.

But the food was here for the child, and she wouldn’t wait another moment. Whatever this man had told the kitchens, it was correct. A bowl, a mortar and pestle, cooked oats, and copious warmed milk all ready to be prepared.

Glancing at the man who hadn’t moved from the doors, she set the child down on the bench and propped her with cushions. Another glance, as she prepared the bowl and dipped the tiny spoon in the mixture.

The near silence made her heart and her breath unnaturally loud. For a clarion moment she wanted to fill that silence, but the way he held still made her think he was expecting her to question and accuse.

She wouldn’t give him that satisfaction. Silence had done her well in the past when she needed to hide or surprise. So she sat with the child on her lap, covered her finger in milk and honey and dabbed it on the sweet lips until she took sustenance.

The man at the door shifted, she didn’t raise her eyes. Her entire world now was this room and this child.

Another dollop and the child suckled, its incoming teeth gently scraping across her finger. Another, and another, until she sat her up and filled the small spoon.

Her dark, telling, grey-coloured eyes were distinct and explained much. Dark hair, dark grey eyes. Her captor said he wasn’t the father, but the way he watched them, and the way he’d pulled the blade, told a different story...but maybe she was wrong. She trusted her instincts, but she didn’t trust this man or anyone. Lies were too easily told.

Another shift and he strode to the chair nearest them, his dark presence and intent cloaking him. He reminded her of a raven, perched, watching, waiting.

She watched right back. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the way his thick lashes fanned his cheeks, the sardonic bowing of his top lip. The way his fine, almost beautiful hands folded in front of him as he rested his elbows on his knees. One hand perfect, the other marred by a large circular burn scar.

A growing tension threaded its way between them, but she ignored it. The child’s eyes were wide and anxious, its body curving and contorting in her arms. A franticness to reach the food she was slowly and carefully feeding her.

She knew this feeling. When she was young, and days went by between any scraps, the hunger was a living, breathing animal that clawed and scraped. If she was fortunate enough to snatch something edible, she’d consumed it between blinks. But the feeling would make her nauseous. Her body rejected what it most needed.

She didn’t want this child rejecting nourishment so she kept to the slow steady feeding, but not the entire bowl.

Standing, she adjusted the child over her shoulder. She was around a year old, but so thin and fragile. Walking, talking, comforting, she traversed the room until the child calmed in her arms and fell asleep.

The man in the chair didn’t move, didn’t speak.

She didn’t care. She’d feed this child. Feed her again in another hour, then be on her way. She wouldn’t risk more time here.

He hadn’t taken the blade to her or made any threats. He had no reason to keep her here, so, logically, he must let her go. If that didn’t work, the room was filled with enough precious items. Surely a threat to damage such beauty would warrant her release.

The child she wouldn’t threaten. She could never go through with it and the man, who watched her care, wouldn’t believe she could harm an innocent.

‘She sleeps,’ her captor said.

Aliette nodded.

‘Yet you do not ask to go.’

It was a question that didn’t need an answer. He’d let her go or he wouldn’t, either way she intended to stay a bit longer for a second feeding. She shrugged.

‘You also fed the child without feeding yourself. Two trays and you chose to feed her first.’ With a huff, he pushed himself back in the chair. His relaxed position did not make him seem less threatening.

‘This is all so...uncomplicated,’ he said.

That warranted her looking at him. She heard the mercenaries outside the door shift their positions. Trained killers positioned to threaten her or protect him. Which begged the question—what did she have that he wanted?

For what was easy for this man would never be easy for her. Over the years she’d been caught, which always revealed three options for her: fight, pretend stupidity, or plead for mercy.

None of those would work in this situation; talking of the child was her only safe choice until he exposed his purpose for kidnapping her.

‘She is a child and needs shelter, food, and gentle words. There is nothing difficult about it. It would do her well to be bathed, to have a change of clothing. She is soiled and, with the food, she will soil her clothing far worse.’

‘I have ordered her clothing and a bath. They will be available in another room.’

Aliette was surprised at his forethought and yearned to go there now. But if her stay went beyond this room she feared it would change his expectations of her. She had no intention to stay here.

‘In her condition and over the next sennight,’ Aliette continued, ‘she’ll need to be fed and cared for as I have done. Anything less and her condition will worsen. It may seem simple, but there are concerns here.’

‘Hmm,’ he said. ‘The child is a concern, but not what I meant.’

‘Then what is uncomplicated?’ she said without thought, without thinking, her mind on the supplies the child needed and Gabriel’s worry.