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Clement noticed élise. “Dame Montvieux,” he said with a tip of his head. “I am sorry if you heard us speaking about such atrocities. Please forgive us.”

She smiled. “I heard nothing,” she lied and threaded an arm through Rollant’s. “I only wanted to say goodbye to Seigneur Montvieux before it was time for him to leave. Have you finished with your ‘atrocities?’”

The three men nodded, and the priest and elder bid Rollant farewell.

“Stay alive with the great evil. We have given you a horse packed with our best food. She is tied to the gate at your ancestral home, Seigneur Montvieux,” Clement said.

“Dame Montvieux, there are dangers in the mountain forest. Do not leave the city by yourself or in the dark.”

“I will respect the rules of the village,” she said with a nod.

Both men dipped their chins to élise and left.

Rollant and élise walked to the edge of town, but Rollant said nothing.

When he finally turned to her, his eyes softened. “I hope you don’t regret your choice,” he said quietly.

She stepped closer. “I will never regret choosing you.”

“How can you be so sure?”

She tapped the ring on her finger. “It was a perfect fit.”

He chuckled. “Superstitious?” He peered down at her. “You will fit right in with the villagers.”

She stepped in front of him. “Don’t leave me here forever, Rollant. You promised you would return.”

“When it is safe,” he said. “It may be years, as I told you.”

She rolled to her toes and pulled him into a kiss. “Then I will wait,” she whispered.

His fingers grasped the side seams of her coat. She realized that was how he would hold her for the rest of her life, and it was enough.

Her arms draped around his neck. “Please kiss your wife once more to last us until we see each other again.”

Rollant pulled her against him, kissing her until she was breathless. His forehead rested against hers. “I want to stay,” he whispered. “I have always wanted to stay with you.”

“I know,” she whispered, her hands against his cheeks, shielding them in a sense of privacy. “Dream of me as I dream of you.”

The corners of his lips turned up. “Yes, my love.” His hand slipped to her cheek and pressed his lips on hers until a twig snapped, breaking their moment of serenity.

“Oh,” Hugo said and dropped his eyes. “I . . .” His voice trailed off. “I was just—” He turned to leave.

But Rollant released élise and strode to Hugo with élise trailing behind. “Please wait,” Rollant said.

Hugo debated with shifting feet but finally stilled when Rollant reached him.

“Thank you, Hugo,” Rollant said. “I know of no nobler man to protect the woman he loves from what could have befell her in this village for wedding one man while promised to be wed to another.”

Hugo’s eyes were still downcast, and a small quiver shook his body as if it could barely contain his grief.

élise’s chest heaved with unshed tears, but she stepped toward him, her hands trembling as she pulled him into an embrace, if only to comfort her friend.

“Why? élise?” Hugo asked, burying his nose into her neck.

His arms wrapped tightly around her. Rollant said nothing as Hugo’s body convulsed against hers as he stammered, “He could die tomorrow, and you’d never know it.

You’d never know, and you’d be alone. Why throw away a life with me? Why? Why would you do this?”

élise wanted to soothe his pain, but some pain was inevitable. She cradled his face. His crystal blue eyes pleaded for an answer that she had already given many times before.

“Hugo, maybe it is time to stop asking why,” she whispered. A single tear slipped down her cheek, falling to her lips. “And start seeing what is and what will never be.”

His face contorted, pain written in every line, and he pressed his forehead to hers, his breath uneven against her skin.

“I would have been good to you,” he said, his voice thick.

Hugo’s arms encircled her, and for a fleeting moment, she allowed herself to lean into him.

Rollant could never hold her like Hugo, but she had chosen the sacrifices that came with loving the cursed, immortal knight.

She would endure because it meant staying true to her heart.

“I would have given you everything,” Hugo whispered.

“I know you would have, but it’s not fair to you. I would have been a fraud,” she said with a hitch. “I gave my heart to Rollant. I never tried to hide it. I . . . ” Her voice trailed off.

“I tried to steal it back,” he whispered.

élise whispered, “But there was nothing left to steal.”

The words were as daggers. His lip quivered, and a small whimper escaped.

“I’m sorry,” she whispered through her tears. “I’m so, so sorry you are hurting.”

He didn’t reply at first, his arms tightening around her in one final, protective gesture before he gently pulled back. “I can’t win your heart,” he said quietly, his eyes downcast. “Then I’ll stop trying.”

élise closed her eyes, deciding on her next words. “You deserve someone who loves you how you deserve to be loved. Not a half-hearted version of what I can give.” She mustered a small, sad smile, her hands falling to her sides, but Hugo caught her left hand.

“Is it because I could not afford a ring of silver?” he asked, glancing at Rollant’s ring.

élise shook her head. “No, Hugo. It was never about that, and you know it.”

He kissed the back of her hand. “I do,” he whispered. “I had to ask, though.” He fought a smile through the pain.

Her heart tore at his hurt, so she offered an observation she had made earlier in the day. “The miller’s daughter keeps looking at you, did you see?”

He laughed bitterly, shaking his head as he rubbed the back of his neck. “She’s a child.”

“She’s a woman,” élise said gently. “And old enough to know how she feels.”

He sighed and looked at her, his hand cradling her cheek one last time. “You’ll be the one I compare her to, élise,” he said. “For the rest of my life.”

But élise overlaid her hand on his and whispered with a warm smile, “When you find a woman who loves you as much as you love her, there will be no comparison.”

Hugo leaned forward but hesitated with a glance at Rollant. But at Rollant’s silence, he pressed a lingering kiss to her forehead.

Her throat tightened, and she closed her eyes, letting the moment wash over her. When she opened them, Hugo was already stepping back and turning to address Rollant.

“Even though she chose you, I—I couldn’t let the village know the truth .

. . She told me her heart was yours since I asked her to be my wife.

Even before then. Years before.” Hugo shook his head.

“I just—I never listened. I kept hoping. I kept thinking you were just an infatuation, one that would fade to nothing.” His jaw grew taut, and his hands clenched by his sides. “I blinded myself.”

Rollant stepped forward and put a heavy hand on his shoulder.

“You are a good man, Hugo. One I was willing to leave élise with; one I trusted and will continue to trust. You are the respected leader of your community. They look to you. You should walk with your head held high. Love will come to you just as it came to me. In the most random of chances, it will come. When you find a woman who loves you, she will wait for you, just as élise waits for me, and I for her.”

Hugo nodded with thinned lips. He drew a deep breath through his nostrils and blew it out. “I was honest, Monsieur de Montvieux; I will let no harm come to élise while you are away. I will not infringe on your love any more than I have. I will respect her ring.”

Rollant dipped his chin to Hugo. “You have my gratitude.”

Hugo’s quivers ceased, and a resigned grin washed over his face as his gaze darted between Rollant and élise. “I wish you the best in life,” he said before leaving them alone again.

élise wrapped her arms around Rollant’s waist. “You’re a good man, too.”

Rollant sighed. “I wish I were a better one.”

She rested her chin on his chest. “You need to believe you are a good man and deserve love. You are not alone anymore, Rollant. I am here with you even when you are away. You’ll always have me.”

He smoothed her cheeks with his thumbs and kissed her lips.

“I . . . “ He sighed with a bright smile. “I don’t deserve you, élise. That is true.” His smile faded. “And one day, you will realize what you gave up here, and once we return to Charonne, whenever it may be, I will release you from this lie.”

“It is not a lie,” she said, her brow furrowing. “I don’t understand why you can’t believe I love you and will always love you.”

“Because I am not natural, not living, not dead,” he replied. “I exchanged death for service to the crown. One, I have failed time and time again. What makes you believe I will not fail you as well?”

“Because—”

But he interjected. “I love you, élise, and will carry your love for centuries, but I refuse to believe you would give up your life for someone like me. I will cherish these days, months, years, however long I have with your belief in your love for me, but one day, I know it will end, just as all things do, just as Hugo hoped. One day, your love for me will fade to nothingness.”

She shook her head. Her words jumbled, leaving her speechless.

He tenderly kissed her, fresh tears on his lips. “I will cherish the time I do have your heart,” he repeated again in a whisper, his hot breath fluttering against her flesh. “I will never forget your love and hold it close to warm me on my darkest nights.“

He said, “I will return when it is safe. Then, you will know what the rest of your life will be like and decide if you want to rescind your ring.”

“I will never rescind,” she said as he cradled her face.

“I hope it to be true,” he murmured before placing a parted mouth over hers and kissing her with every passion she wanted.

“If I don’t leave now, I won’t leave,” he said, tearing his lips from hers. “And who knows what other curse may befall me,” he whispered.

He pulled away and walked off into the night without another word.

The sunset was in the distance as she watched him walk away toward his ancestral home, his first home, his home with Amée, his first love.

She would find his secrets there and find a way to show him his guilt, and his self-imposed penance would keep them apart if he let it.

Her fingers grazed her lips as she calmed her rapidly beating heart.

“You’re wrong, Rollant de Montvieux. You will always have me,” she whispered to herself, bringing her hand to her side in a relaxed fist, feeling the warm silver ring between her fingers.

Her back straightened, and her chin lifted.

“And one day, you will finally believe it.”