The Heartwood Box: A Fairy Tale (26 page)

Oddly it didn’t look used, and there
was something about the handle…
.

Suddenly she felt dizzy and swayed
.
To her surprise, strong hands gripped her, preventing her from falling
.

It reminded her of when Damian caught her the day they met
—
at the picnic
.
She gasped for breath, feeling her chest tighten
.
Suddenly she was seated with her head hanging down below her knees as Damian massaged her neck
.
She kept telling herself it was absurd, but she was finding it impo
ssible to calm
down
.

How could
she behave like this!

Genevieve’s face was white as she sat up
.
Damian felt little better himself
.
He’d taken the crop from her
heartwood
box and left it lying in the dressing room as if by chance, wondering if she’d even notice it
.
He
wanted a distraction while he was showing her the house, lest Genevieve become angry about the way it was designed
.

If he’d known she’d react this way…
.

He cursed himself again for being unprepared
.
Promising to return in a second, he fetched
a glass of cold lemon-wate
r from their room
.
She gulped it down, her face desperate
.

“I’m sorry…
.
I don’t know what came over me…
.
I’m so
rry.
”
H
er continued glances at the crop
gave
the lie to her words
.

“Genevieve, you’re apologizing,” he said gently
.

“Because I
am
sorry, Damian!” she cried out
.
“I don’t know why I act this way.”
In a small voice she mumbled, “
I
t makes me so ashamed.”

He knelt and took her
hand
in his
.
“You will learn, darling, as you
come
to know me
better
that there are things that I think you should apologize for, contritely: lying, putting yourself in danger, not taking care of yourself
.
And then there are things that need no apology
—
ever
.
I would know what you are feeling, at all times, Genevieve
.
And truly, darling, I like that you lose composure
—
not that you’re distressed, but that you don’t hide it from me.”

“I don’t understand why I feel these things,” she said
.

Wise girl
.
She grasped
that her distress came from a hidden place within her, full of desires that frightened her
.

“Fair enough,” he said
.
“But that is different from feeling you have done something wrong requiring my forgiveness.”

“I can’t bear that idea
.
”

Damian gripped her tightly to him, wishing to hide his own face, which had blushed as red as hers usually did
.
He was forced to admit to himself that part of the reason he’d left the crop out was to test Declan’s theory
.
He should have known his sire would never have spoken if he
weren’t
certain
.
With Damian, the crop aroused fear, not desire
.
But
putting aside
the trouble about that blasted crop, he hated that Genevieve feared losing his love
.

When he felt better composed he gripped her by the shoulders and kissed her nose affectionately
.
“Darling, is it possible that your fear of my anger comes from you and not me
—
from some fear you carry with you, rather than something I’ve done or said?” 

Genevieve shrugged, looking tired and irritable
.
His suggestion meant nothing to her
.
Well enough
.
Time to move on
.
“Are you still up for our tour of the house
?”

That roused her
.
“Yes!” she said snappishly
.
“I am ready to be released.” 

He kissed her forehead, helped her to stand, and said
,
“Hold out your wrists.” 

Ge
nevieve looked about to explode
but settled into a scowl when he took her ri
ght hand and unbuckled the cuff
, followed by
her
left
.
“I told you, darling, only in this room.” 

He tossed
the cuffs
over to the bed
.
He debate
d leaving the crop where it was
but then decided it would serve the purpose he’d intended
.
Appearing casual, he picked it up and slashed the air a few times, the way all males fooled about with riding crops
.

He gave her his blandest smile
—
causing her eyes to narrow with adorable suspicion
—
and finally unlocked the door to their room
.

Damian
gave her a highly edited description of the property
, preferring to leave Genevieve to discover the house’s distinctive feature
—
perhaps she would notice, perhaps not
.
Their wing, the back half, had been modeled after the private apartments of Queen Titania to provide the queen maximum protection and privacy without requiring the invasive presence of guards
.

As far as Damian was concerned, the front part of the house was nothing but a decoy, though of course it had not always been this way
.
The front followed the design of a traditional manor house, with a curved drive leading up to a large columned portico covering a grand entrance
.

Once inside, one found the expected entrance hal
l, with an elegant marble stair
case leading upstairs
.
On the first floor there was a formal receiving room and dining room, the master’s study and a library
.
Upstairs
there were
lavishly
decorated
bedrooms
that
his brothers would use
and on the third floor,
the expected servants
’
chambers, though he’d decided that no servants would live in the house
.

But except for a single
,
heavily
reinforced
door
in the kitchen pantry, which was now disguised by shelving,
there was no connection between the front and Genevieve’s half
.

If Damian had his way, Genevieve would never enter the other part of the house
—
would barely know it existed
.

When his parents were alive, the two sections had been left open to each other
.
There had been a lull in the hostilities with the Reavers for some years, which must have led to a relaxation in everyone’s vigilance
.
His mother
, the most gentle, sweet-tempered woman who ever lived,
had used that part of the house
and even received guests there
.

It had been two “guests,” really Reavers in disguise, who had violated the laws of hospita
lity to murder both his parents,
and would have murdered two-year-old Derek as well, but for Declan’s unexpected arrival.

Damian, with Declan’s concurrence, had decided that no one but the family and
a handful of
trusted servants would ever enter this house
—
and Declan had laid wards to make sure of it
.

Damian did not anticipate any objections from Genevieve on that topic today, nor any about a part of the house she had no reason to enter, but in fact, her half possessed another feature that she would notice soon enough, and he knew well that it would require all of his authority to make her accept.

Damian wouldn’t stop with that infernal crop
—
swishing it through the air, making it whine, playing with it
.
When she tried to go through a door that led to a closet, he put the crop in front of her as a barrier, drawing it up so it scraped her breasts
.
She thought about grabbing it from him and breaking it across her knee, but something in the idea repelled her
.
She didn’t want to touch it, think about it, but Damian was being so distracting.

She was having trouble paying attention to her new home
.
It was the
bride’s house
, he explained, but had stood empty for more than twenty years
.
Damian
emphasized
how safe the house was: Declan had laid spells protecting it from fire or any kind of attack—wards he called them
.
They would live here instead of the fortress where all of their soldiers and retainers lived.

From his tone, he made it sound
like
a cottage instead of an enormous manor house, though only the four of them would actually live here
.
He pointed out two empty bedrooms on the
ir corri
dor
and added
,
“for now
,
” with a wink that told her he was thinking of the children they would have
.

There was one other furnished room on the corridor, which to Genevieve’s surprise contained only a narrow bed and a
n
enormous
rack holding what seemed like a
n
army’s worth of grisly-looking weapons
.
She looked at him in inquiry, and Damian explained that those times when he must be absent, Derek would sleep in that room
.
Genevieve just stared in astonishment
.

“I know he’s difficult, darling, but I promise he won’t bother you at all.” 

“In the first place, your brother has demonstrated that he has no compunction about bothering me
—
or have you forgotten every meal I‘ve shared with him
?
In the second place, why on earth would Derek leave his own bed to sleep here?” 

She was discovering that Damian had a tendency to pretend obtuseness when he preferred not to explain yet another of his family’s infuriating customs
.
It didn’t help her temper that he would not stop fiddling with that crop
.

“You will be protected at all times, Genevieve,” Damian said in his iron tone
.
“That is not subject to debate.” 

“Protected or guarded?” she muttered sullenly, remembering the way Donal had sat outside the door to her room
—
while she’d been locked inside! 

She was startled by a little snap on her buttocks
,
which elicited an embarrassingly shrill yelp
.
He’d hit her with that blasted crop! 

“Temper, darling,” he said, his eyes blazing with humorous challenge
.
“And the answer is both
—
I must always know where you are and that you are safe.” 

Damian had a hungry expression on his face, as if he yearned to hit her a few more times with that… that… thing in his hand
.
Her breathing shallowed
.

“Shall we continue?” he asked blandly, offering her his arm
.

They continued down a narrow stair,
which
opened into a square room, twic
e the size of her parent
s
’
parlor,
completely empty of furniture
.
Apparently, the Blacks had rooms this size to serve as vestibules or
anterooms
.
O
n the wall facing the staircase
was a set of oak double-doors, and on each of the adjacent walls was a regular door
.