Page 39 of The Warrior Priest (After the Rift #1)

I barged through the service door into the cavity beyond. I knew the house’s layout from the night I’d escaped, so was ready for the short landing. I managed to stop before plunging down the narrow staircase. The young maid on the second step screamed again.

The housekeeper slapped the girl across the mouth. “Shut it.”

The maid started to cry.

The housekeeper raised her hand again, but I grasped her wrist.

“No,” I snapped. “You’ll never intimidate a young woman again.”

The housekeeper’s top lip curled with her sneer. “There was always something different about you, something wrong . I told him he should kill you before you caused trouble. He’ll regret not listening to me now.”

“You terrified me once, but I’m not afraid of you anymore.”

“Because you have him protecting you.” She jerked her head at Rhys.

“Because I’m stronger than I was then. And it’s true, I have friends that give me confidence, who support me when I need it.”

She tried to wrench free, but I shoved her back against the wall. Whether she hit her head, or whether the change in me from the time I’d lived there shocked her, I didn’t know, but she stared at me, wide-eyed.

“I believe assault is a crime,” I said. “Fortunately, the sheriff is still here and there are witnesses.”

“I was just calming the girl down. You scared her when you burst in unexpected.”

“She screamed before we came in.” I glanced at the entrance. Someone had given Rhys a cup, which he was now handing to the shaking maid. She drank the entire contents in one gulp. “Did the housekeeper threaten you?” I asked her.

She clasped the cup in both hands and chewed her lower lip. She was too terrified of the housekeeper to disobey her.

Rhys indicated we should swap positions. I released the housekeeper then smiled gently at the young maid. “What’s your name?”

“Bella.”

“It’s nice to meet you, Bella. I’m Jac. I used to live here. You heard in the salon that the housekeeper helped my uncle imprison me?”

She clutched the cup to her chest. Her gaze flicked to the housekeeper then back to me. She nodded.

“You also know that I was born with excellent hearing. While I was out there, I overheard you telling the housekeeper in here that you wanted to speak to the sheriff. She tried to dissuade you, but you insisted. That was brave of you, Bella.”

She glanced at the housekeeper again. Others had crowded at the entrance, including the sheriff, while some of the servants looked up from the bottom of the staircase below. The housekeeper was outnumbered.

Seeing the support bolstered Bella’s confidence. She lifted her chin. “She ordered me not to say anything. She said if I told anyone what I’d seen, she’d kill me. She hit me across the face. That’s when I screamed the first time.”

“And what did you see? What did she not want you to tell the sheriff?”

“That Dreen woman came here, the one who wears trousers. She met the governor in his study. I was on the porch outside, throwing dust from my pan into the garden and the window was open. I heard them. He wanted her to bring you to him. She said there was no point because you couldn’t make his pendant work.

” She shrugged. “I didn’t understand what she meant.

I understood the next bit, though. She said she’d kill you, and make sure Master Rhys was blamed.

The governor agreed to pay her for that. ”

The sheriff disappeared.

“Stupid girl,” the housekeeper hissed. “You don’t bite the hand that feeds you.”

Bella shrank back against the wall.

“You did the right thing,” I assured her.

“I should have said something earlier, but she ordered me not to. She said I’d lose my position here, and I’ve got nowhere to go.”

Rhys marched the housekeeper out of the stairwell and handed her over to one of the constables.

Two others emerged from an adjoining room, Uncle Roderic between them.

Two weren’t necessary. He posed no threat, frail as he was.

Indeed, the constables were there more for support, since he didn’t have his walking stick.

The sheriff followed. “Found him cowering in his bedchamber.” He ordered his constables to escort my uncle and the housekeeper to the holding cells.

A heavy weight lifted from my shoulders as I watched them go. “When will his trial commence?” I asked the sheriff.

“That’s up to the magistrate, but no more than two or three days from now.”

“I’ll visit him before I leave Tilting.” I almost told him I was leaving because there were too many memories here, haunting me at every turn, but then I’d have to admit they were memories of Rhys and the wonderful times we’d spent together, not of my uncle’s treatment.

I was able to push those aside. I wasn’t able to forget Rhys.

“He doesn’t deserve your kindness, Miss Trenchant.”

“He’s still my uncle, my only family.”

Rhys’s hand touched my lower back, reassuring.

I stepped forward, breaking the connection.

The sheriff followed his men, taking the remaining constables with him. My uncle’s guards asked if they were free to go, and Rufus nodded. They, too, left.

Rufus looked past my shoulder at Rhys. “Until there’s a vote, you’re still master. You’re needed at the temple, but I understand if you want to stay with Jac.”

Rhys’s answer was simply to push past me and stride out.

I watched him leave, my throat tight, my chest aching.

It would be the last time I saw him. It had to be, for both our sakes.

He may have resigned from the role of master, but he was still dedicated to the order.

I couldn’t live in the same city as him.

Tilting was too small. I didn’t want to bump into him when I turned a corner, or worse, hope that I did.

I was tired of waiting and being hopeful that we had a future together. It was time to move on.

He’d made his decision, and I had made mine.

“He looks terrible,” Andreas said, giving me a pointed look.

“It’s the beard,” Vizah told him.

“It is not the beard.”

Rufus put his arm around his friend. “Come on, idiot.”

“Am I an idiot?” Vizah mused. “Or am I smarter than all of you?”

Rufus and Andreas exchanged glances. “You’re an idiot,” they both said.

I could have stayed on at the house. My uncle had never thrown me out and had in fact told me I could have my old room back.

But I didn’t want to stay somewhere I couldn’t trust all of the staff.

I returned to the inn. Although I had nothing to pack, the room was paid for and it was growing dark. I needed somewhere to stay overnight.

I ordered bread and cheese to eat in the room. I couldn’t stomach a single bite, however, and set the plate aside. Sitting cross-legged on the pallet, I stared into the low flickering flames in the fireplace and tried to think about my future.

The knock on the door startled me. Rhys’s voice startled me even more. “Jac, it’s me. Can I come in?”

My heart thundered in my chest.

I opened the door and stepped back. “You shaved off the beard.” The sight of his handsome face did nothing to steady my erratic heartbeat or the rush of blood to my head.

He rubbed his smooth jaw. “A number of people told me it didn’t suit me.” He stepped inside and closed the door behind him. “But there was one opinion in particular that swayed me.”

“Don’t, Rhys. I can’t do this anymore. It’s too hard.”

“I know.”

“Then why are you here?”

“Because I don’t want you to leave.”

“I have to. It’ll be easier for both of us to move on if I go.”

He’d been advancing toward me, that odd look in his eye once again. With every one of his steps, I’d taken one back.

“Stay there, Rhys. Come no closer.”

He stopped. “I can’t kiss you from here.”

“So you’ll kiss me but not sleep with me?”

He frowned. “What are you talking about?”

“You broke your oath of celibacy for Giselle, and others. Many others, apparently. Yet not for me.”

The frown cleared. “You may have an incredible sense of sight, yet you can’t see the obvious.”

“And now you insult me.”

He took another step closer. I stepped back again, almost tripping over the pallet on the floor.

“I broke my vow before meeting you because it changed nothing. With them, there was no temptation to leave the order. But you’re different.

I knew if I bedded you, I’d never go back, and I wasn’t ready to give up being a warrior priest then. ”

I’d never doubted my hearing. Not once. Until now. I shook my head, confused.

He stepped closer. “I want to be with you, Jac.”

I moved back again, bumping into the wall. “You think I’ll let you break your vow after all these years of denial? You think I want to wake up beside you and see the regret on your face?” I pointed at the door. “Go. Now. Before it’s too late.”

One side of his mouth tilted up in that mischievous smile I’d not seen in a long time. “I’m not breaking any vows.”

“I don’t understand.”

“I resigned.”

“I know, I was there.”

“Not just as master. I’ve resigned from the order. I’m no longer a priest in Merdu’s Guards.”

I stilled. “You’re wearing your priest’s tunic.”

He looked down at his clothes. “I own nothing else.”

“But… Are you sure, Rhys?”

“For someone with excellent hearing, you’re not listening,” he murmured under his breath.

“I heard that.”

“Show off.” He flashed a grin. It was precisely what I needed to see. I’d not seen him smile like that since before he became master. “I’m sure, Jac.” His voice purred, and his gaze melted me.

Now that I wanted him to come to me, he stayed still. “The brothers must be devastated,” I said.

“I’ve made many sacrifices for the order,” he went on. “Now it’s time they make the sacrifice and let me go.”

“They’ll blame me.”

“I’ve explained that I want to leave. This is my choice. You recall when I told you the order was the right place for me, that I wanted to be there.”

I nodded, even though it wasn’t a question. He knew I remembered.