FOREVER KNIGHTS: #4 Battling Black Roses

WaterRose, Meadow Mountain, Grier Country

SEBASTIAN

Elsabet stood at the window in her chamber. Sighing, she shifted away but caught rapid movement. She squinted to see it. But the night was so black not even a moon glowed.

She headed for the large four-poster bed but the sound of a board creaking under a heavy step made her freeze. Her gaze flicked to the doorway. A smile brightened her face. Revealing perfect white teeth.

“Quandary!”

She slumped on the edge of the bed and held out an inviting hand.

Quandary rubbed the side of his large head against her palm. Rumbling softly as he sat, pressing shoulders against her thigh as he leaned into her. Caressing his slick back made his weight against her leg increase, easing into her touch.

I missed you. Bast thought. Looking at the excitement in her blue eyes upon seeing him.

If only she looked at me like that as the man. He tipped his head. Looking at her with his bright yellow gaze.

“You feel my dissension, do you?” She met the look. “I’m okay.” She scratched between his pointed ears.

After a time, he rose and walked around to hop up. Curling next to her hip. Twisting to lay aside him she wrapped her arms around him and accepted the warmth he offered.

“Do you always go with him?” She petted his ribcage, thoughtfully. “It’s so lonely when you’re gone.” She was suddenly thinking of her father and Lord Demaron.

Quandary shifted, interested in her memories. These are the type she usually stamps down.

She thought of her marriage as merely her father selling her to the highest bidder. Lord Demaron. His handsome face cloaked his deep cruelty.

Lord Demaron? Why does that name sound so familiar? He frowned. Unable to place it.

She considered herself barely old enough for that first Ball. Enthralled at the sophisticated man’s interest in her.

Bast’s face flashed before her mind as she recognized that same sophistication in him. The correlation sickened him. Because what she felt when she thought of this man was disgust, revulsion, and abhorrence.

Don’t connect me with that! His gut sunk.

She’d gone home after the first ball and her father followed her to her chamber. “If anyone, anyone at all shows you interest you must accept their offer. With your face, you won’t garner many suitors.” He’d told her, gesturing to her.

Her face! Bast was astounded. What was wrong with the man?

There was a loud knock at the door. The butler downstairs answered the door and her father left her room.

Within seconds her mother crept in. Kneeling before Elsabet. Long silver hair falling around her shoulders in a dusky cloud as she took her daughter’s hands. “Don’t listen, Sweetheart. You’re more beautiful than any other.”

Elsabet’s face brightened.

But her mother hadn’t smiled. Instead she cautioned her, “Sometimes the beauty of a woman brings forth the rage of men.”

Her mother reached into one of her deep apron pockets and pulled out a tiny black kitten. “Be careful where you offer your heart.” She placed the animal in Elsabet’s lap. The girl squealed with delight. “Only this may be safe.”

Before Elsabet could ask what her mother met, her father returned and both females withered like flowers. Her mother left the room without a word further under the watchful eye of Elsabet’s father. Elsabet hadn’t known then it’d be the last time she’d ever see her mother. That night she’d left and never came back.

Her father’s contemptuous look traveled to the bit of black fur crouched in Elsabet’s lap. “Lord Demaron will arrive tomorrow to collect you.”

“So soon?” She asked, jaw agape.

He spun on his heel and left the room.