Chapters (76)
- Title Page
- Copyright Notice
- Dedication
- PROLOGUE
- PART I
- ONE
- TWO
- THREE
- FOUR
- FIVE
- SIX
- SEVEN
- EIGHT
- NINE
- PART II
- TEN
- ELEVEN
- TWELVE
- THIRTEEN
- FOURTEEN
- FIFTEEN
- SIXTEEN
- SEVENTEEN
- EIGHTEEN
- NINETEEN
- PART III
- TWENTY
- TWENTY-ONE
- TWENTY-TWO
- TWENTY-THREE
- TWENTY-FOUR
- TWENTY-FIVE
- TWENTY-SIX
- INTERLUDE
- PART IV
- TWENTY-SEVEN
- TWENTY-EIGHT
- TWENTY-NINE
- THIRTY
- THIRTY-ONE
- THIRTY-TWO
- THIRTY-THREE
- THIRTY-FOUR
- INTERLUDE
- PART V
- THIRTY-FIVE
- THIRTY-SIX
- THIRTY-SEVEN
- THIRTY-EIGHT
- PART VI
- THIRTY-NINE
- FORTY
- FORTY-ONE
- FORTY-TWO
- FORTY-THREE
- FORTY-FOUR
- FORTY-FIVE
- INTERLUDE
- PART VII
- FORTY-SIX
- FORTY-SEVEN
- FORTY-EIGHT
- FORTY-NINE
- FIFTY
- FIFTY-ONE
- FIFTY-TWO
- PART VIII
- FIFTY-THREE
- FIFTY-FOUR
- FIFTY-FIVE
- FIFTY-SIX
- EPILOGUE
- AUTHOR’S NOTE
- ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
- ABOUT THE AUTHOR
- Newsletter Sign-up
“Arable, I don’t know what your life has been, I don’t know how you ended up here, and I don’t know what else I can do to help you. But while I’m here … well, I’m here to help. I’m also going to chop Jon Bassett’s hand off and feed it to him, but I can only do that twice and you deserve more than two gifts.”
She bit her lip, at last her tension melted. “Thank you, William.” And then, after several emotions fought across her face for victory, “I’ve missed you.”
He kissed her.
It was as thrilling as their first kiss, new and heart-stopping, and yet simultaneously comfortable, familiar. But it cut too short when she winced, pulled back, and brought a hand to her wounds.
“I’m sorry!” he said again, covering her hands with his, hoping to protect her face from any more pain.
“It’s alright,” she whispered, a perfect private smile that made everything alright. “Do it again. Gentle.”
They both smiled through it, longer this time, and every problem in the world faded away. There was just her and this moment. He tried to remind himself to memorize it, to hold onto the details. She touched her nose to his, then her eyes flicked down. “You understand I’m still standing on a ladder.”
“I do understand that. Do you want to climb up here?”
“I do not,” she said smugly. “It’s cold up there, and you are an insane person. We could have done this in that very nice room you were just telling me about.”
“Well I thought that would be presumptive, asking you to my room.”
“It would have been warm, which is better than presumptive. This is all very cute, but it was summer when we used to do this at home, and also we’re adults now.”
William ran flush with joy. She was still very much the girl he had fallen in love with, but also so much more. There were new layers to her, hidden within the ones he knew, and it was captivating. They would only have a few weeks together at most, but at the moment it didn’t matter, because time had stopped for as long as they needed.
THE NEXT MORNING, THE world and its troubles rudely insisted upon existing again.
William was summoned to the Long Room, where a skinny banquet table only barely fit between the surrounding walls. The odd dimensions begged disbelief, as if the space were intended to be a hallway instead of a dining room, if not an architect’s joke. There was scarcely enough room behind each of the tall-back chairs to slip a body behind, but Roger de Lacy enjoyed the awkward space and its tall ceiling, which let light pour in from gutted windows above.