“I-I can’t do this now.” She shook her head. “I just found out who you are. It’s happening too fast.” She ran to the door.
He let her go. Heard the door slam shut. Dammit. How could he win her heart when he was a danger to her? And why had her accent changed when she’d become upset?
* * *
“My dear child, you’re trembling.” The duke led Luciana toward the big armchairs in front of the hearth. “Come and relax by the fire.”
Too upset to sit, Luciana began to pace. Jensen had escorted her to the library, claiming her father wished to see her. She’d been too distraught to disagree or even reply. How could she have let her accent slip? And the Lord Protector had noticed! Her heart thudded in her chest. Had he accepted her flimsy excuse?
She pressed a hand against her pounding heart. He’d still called her Tatiana. He couldn’t suspect. Why would anyone suspect? No one knew Tatiana had a twin sister. She was safe. She had to be.
Taking deep breaths, she attempted to calm herself. It wasn’t easy, though. Everything was happening too fast. It had been only two weeks and two days since she’d met her father. During that time, she’d focused most of her energy on successfully pretending to be her sister. She’d worried about her betrothal to the Beast, but it had been a vague and ominous thing in the future.
But now, the time had come. From now on, the deception would require she do much more than speak like her sister or wear her sister’s gowns. It was she, Luciana, who would become the Lord Protector’s wife. It was she who would risk death by being close to him. And every time he called her by her sister’s name, she would be reminded that she was living a lie.
Red and black. The Telling Stones were still mocking her. Two weeks after her prediction, she had met a tall and handsome stranger. Red hair and a black horse. And each time she’d seen him, she’d fallen deeper for him.
Should she rejoice that she was marrying the man of her dreams? Or should she mourn that the marriage would never be real? He would never know he was marrying Luciana. And he could never touch her. Or kiss her. She’d never have children. In order to keep her deception a secret, she’d never be able to see her sisters again.
She brushed away her tears as she continued to pace. This was not the time to feel sorry for herself. She needed to be strong. And alert. So she wouldn’t make a mistake with her speech again.
The library was the most wondrous place in the entire castle. Two stories tall, it took up the top two floors of the keep and half of the eastern side of the square-shaped castle. The huge cavern of a room housed over a thousand books, and the sight and smell of them reminded her of home and the workroom at the convent.
She paused in the middle of the room and closed her eyes, letting the scent of books surround like a warm, peaceful cocoon. Knowledge is the true power, her father had told her when he’d first shown her this room. And wisdom is knowing when to use it. Or when not to.
She had more knowledge now. She knew the king wanted to kill her and her father. She knew her betrothed could kill her by simply touching her. He claimed he would never hurt her, and she was inclined to trust him. In her heart, she wanted to.
A prick of shame needled her. Trust worked both ways. Why should he ever trust her when she was deceiving him?
To be honest with herself, she’d been attracted to him from the moment she first saw him. But she had to also admit that his strange power was frightening. What she needed now was the wisdom to make the right decisions without letting fear or attraction cloud her judgment.
“Feeling better?” her father asked softly.
She nodded. “A little.”
He strolled to the sideboard and poured wine into two goblets. “I gather you met Leo.”
“Leo?”
“Leofric of Benwick. He asked me to call him Leo.” The duke smiled. “He seemed very friendly and down to earth. None of the arrogance of his uncle, the king.”
So Father approved of her betrothed? Luciana strode toward the sideboard. “He admitted his touch can kill.”
“Without his gloves, yes, so he’s very careful. We had a long talk, and he explained a great deal to me. He’s Embraced, and his gift is…” The duke shook his head. “I can’t imagine having to live with something that horrendous.”
She winced. “How does his gift work?”
With a frown, her father passed her a goblet. “He described it to me briefly. Whenever lightning strikes him, it fills him—”
“What?” Her hand trembled so badly she set the goblet down. “He’s been struck by lightning?”
“Repeatedly. Since the age of five. He said there was no escape from it.”
Her heart squeezed in her chest. By the goddesses, the pain he must have endured over the years.
“Remember the storm on the Isle of Moon?” the duke asked. “When it passed to the mainland, he was struck by lightning. So he is full of power right now.”
He’d mentioned that his power was strong. And she recalled how she’d felt the energy emanating from him in the tower room. No wonder he could do things other men could not. “He retains power from lightning?”
Her father nodded. “He harnesses it. The power makes him incredibly fast and strong. He can attract or repel metal objects, and he can shoot lightning bolts from his fingers.”
She swallowed hard, recalling his admission that his touch could kill her.
“Leo assured me that he knows how dangerous he is,” her father continued. “Even with his gloves on, when his power is this high, if he touches someone’s skin they can possibly receive a shock or, worse, lose consciousness. That’s why he rarely ever touches anyone.”