reaching out for me. Then abruptly the wall of trees gave way to a clearing with a small river. The horse sauntered up to it and lowered its head to drink, lapping the water in noisy gulps. The knight released his grip on me. “You can dismount now.”
I breathed a sigh of relief at this. He wouldn’t have let me off first if he was kidnapping me, would he?
I slid from the horse and waited for him to dismount, something that was considerably slower and more complicated for him in his heavy armor. I should have felt safer once he’d reached the ground. After all, a knight in armor off his horse was slow-moving and easy to escape from. Instead, I noticed how tall and broad-shouldered he was.
He turned to his saddlebag and took out a long thin strip of material. “Choose a place to dine, m’lady,” he said, sweeping a hand in front of him.
I looked around and saw only decaying leaves, dirt, and vegetation. It all seemed damp and unsuitable but I finally pointed to a flat spot.
“Very well.” He walked toward me, holding the material between his hands as though he were going to use it as a gag.
I stepped away from him. “What are you doing?”
“Blindfolding you, m’lady. You didn’t think I would take off my helmet and eat in your view, did you?” 211/431
“I guess not.” But I still took another step backward.
The ground felt rocky and uncertain beneath my feet. I hoped I wasn’t about to bump into a tree.
He kept holding the material taut between his hands.
“You don’t trust me.” It was a statement, not a question, and I could hear the amusement in his voice.
“Should I?” I asked.
“You’re the one who asked to dine with me. Do we eat or not?”
My legs shook but I walked the distance that separ-ated us and held up my face. “We eat.” He tied the strip of cloth across my eyes. As he pulled it tight and knotted it, he whispered, “Do not attempt to take off your blindfold or you’ll risk losing one of your hands to my sword. My identity will stay unknown.” Then he slowly led me to the spot I’d chosen. I sat down and heard metal clanking. I didn’t know if he’d sat down or whether it was the sound of him taking off his armor.
I couldn’t be sure and wasn’t curious enough to move my blindfold to see for myself.
A few minutes passed, then I felt him untying the satchel from my waist. “As you cannot see, m’lady, it shall be my pleasure to feed you.” His voice was un-muffled now and had a smooth, familiar sound to it.
Silky, seductive.
“If you put the food in my hand, I can feed myself.” 212/431
“I wouldn’t have you dirty your hands. Here is some of the cheese you brought.”
I opened my mouth and he set a slice on my tongue. I couldn’t tell whether he was eating too. As soon as I’d finished it, I opened my mouth to ask him a question, but he put a piece of meat in my mouth. I finished that too, wondering how I was ever going to start up a conversation if every time I opened my mouth he put food into it.
I know how to flirt; I just can’t do it blindfolded and chewing.
The third time I opened my mouth, he said, “Here is something to drink,” and poured a liquid into my mouth. I didn’t recognize the taste. It wasn’t the water I’d brought, but instead had a bitter, tinny taste. Poison?
Some sort of drug? Whatever it was, I knew something had just gone terribly, dangerously wrong.
Chapter 14
I spit the liquid out on the ground and reached up to pull the blindfold off. I didn’t care about trying to switch enchantments anymore. I would run away from him and make my way back to the castle.
He caught hold of my hands and held them tight. “It won’t do you any good.” All the softness had dropped from his voice, and now he only sounded angry. “That was truth potion I gave you. Unless you speak the truth to me your tongue will burn out of your mouth and you’ll never speak lies again. Do you think I don’t recognize an enchantress when I see one? Your beauty is not of this world. What sort of trickery is Prince Edmond up to?”
And Tristan thought it was a mistake for me to bring my makeup along. I said, “I appreciate the compliment, because I’m not an enchantress. And Prince Edmond didn’t send me.” I opened my mouth so he could see my tongue. “See, it’s still there. Will you let go of my hands now?”
He loosened his grip, but not much. His voice didn’t sound as angry now, but still just as suspicious.
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“Beautiful women are always the bait in someone’s trap and I will discover who my enemies are. Who sent you then?”
I tried not to shake. I tried not to think about what he would do if he found out the truth of my intentions. “No one. It was my own idea to ring the bell.”
“And your kinsmen want to know the secret of how to defeat me? They plan my destruction?”
“No.”
“Your husband?”
“I’m unmarried.”
“Then who was the man who tried to protect you?”
“Just a friend who’s afraid you’re going to hurt me.” I stretched my fingers, hoping he’d let go of my hands.
He didn’t.
“You’re not going to hurt me, are you? Honor is all-important to a knight, right?” He laughed softly. “You’re not well acquainted with many knights, are you?”
This was not a comforting answer. My breathing was beginning to go ragged with fear.
The Black Knight’s voice grew stern and suspicious again. “You don’t want my destruction?”
“No.” Which was the truth. I didn’t want his destruction; I only wanted Tristan to beat him in jousting or 215/431
some sort of contest so that King Roderick would count it as defeat and make Tristan a prince.
I could hear the impatience in the knight’s voice.
“Then why did you want to dine with me?” I didn’t answer. His grip tightened around my wrists and he dragged me closer to him. “Why?”
“I wanted to find out more about you.”
“And?”
I took several breaths. “I wanted . . . I was hoping that
. . . you would kiss me.”
A moment passed with nothing but the sound of my breath, coming too fast. Then I heard him chuckle and his grip loosened. My hands weren’t free, but at least they no longer throbbed. When he spoke next his voice was amused. “Ah, yes. I’d forgotten that aspect of women. They find power so inexplicably attractive.” He kept hold of my wrists with one of his hands while the other stroked a path across my jawline. His voice dropped to a whisper. “I might be old and ugly, you know.”
“You’re not.”
“No, I’m not.” The next moment I felt his lips against mine, at first soft, questioning, and then he wound his fingers through my hair and pulled me closer to him.
His kiss grew more intent. Whoever the Black Knight was, he’d had plenty of practice at this. There, with his 216/431
lips against mine and my heart beating so hard it lost all rhythm, I began to regret what I’d done.
Who was I to take away the Black Knight’s enchantment? For all I knew he was a good man—a defender of the people, a king that would rival Arthur. I had no loyalty to King Roderick or Prince Edmond. Prince Edmond was not above oppressing peasants, and I had perhaps just undone the one man who could stop him.
Why hadn’t this occurred to me before?
Then again, perhaps the Black Knight was every bit as dark as his name suggested. Perhaps I’d done not only Tristan but the whole kingdom a favor. I had no way of knowing. I didn’t even know if my kiss had actually affected his enchantment at all. The magic might have been on his armor or his sword or something I hadn’t even guessed at.
When he lifted his head away from mine I trembled, caught between reproach and hope. Reproach being the heavier of the two.
I didn’t move, even though he had moved away from me. “I think we need to talk,” I said.
“Talk?”