Dalliance

Chapter Thirty

"You must have me confused-"

"No." He pulled her into him, and as she crashed upon his chest, she saw the birthmark on her body. "How? I held you...I...I saw you die-you...you are dead..."

"I am not Holly-"

"Yes you are!" Tears filled his eyes. "Why are you doing this?"

"I don't know what you are referring to...but unhand me! I am very ill and-" Her gaze fixed on him as she saw the sadness in his eyes. Just as a tear escaped, she brought her sight to the ground in front of her as he swung her up, unable to believe it had been her.

"How? Please, I beg of you...tell me how..."

"I do not know what you are claiming, I apologize if I have led you to believe a false hope, but I am very ill, please assist me back into bed..."

Doing what was requested, the door came open and there stood the King.

"What do you think you are doing?"

"I heard her call for help-"

"Do not be angry at him."

"If anyone affects you..."

"I am not fragile in health...I am just deprived of vitamins...that is all."

Dawson kept his gaze harsh on the Queen before being pulled from the room. Being scolded by the King, he was forced to wash the boots of the other soldiers until they were all clean. Collecting the boots, he made his way down the hall and realized he had been passing the dungeon. He remembered his time there and the floggings and immediately got chills. Closing his eyes for a second, he heard a distant coughing and followed the noise as it led him to Nicholas. Appearing to be disease-stricken himself, he was dirty from head to toe with scratches and soon-to-be scars on his body. His nails and been bleeding from an unknown form of torture and his lips were excruciatingly chapped. A bucket sat in the corner, overflowing with his own disposed fluids, as he looked to Dawson with shock.

"I would have never thought to see you on the rival side of bars such as these."

"I see it only suits you as you had me traded...I believe they call it karma...and irony."

"The irony is how we both fought for a woman who was killed before one of us could show we had the kinder heart-"

"Kinder heart? You beat her mercilessly-"

"Is that what she told you of it?"

Dawson glared.

"Her and I were very...carnal lovers...it was difficult as we were so passionate with one another-"

"You are a man full of lies...even when you have nobody to listen to you..."

"Do I have to tell you how she purred when she was pleased. How her nails would dig into your skin and pierce just enough to scar? How her thighs tasted?"

"Anything you did with her was from force-or coercion-never love or desire."

"It is quite a pity you believe it. I truly to believe she was beginning to see my honest side-my true feelings and thoughts of her. I believe she was starting to open her heart to me."

"You have been here too long-it is all making you delusional-"

"I will admit one thing without fuss...I am impressed on how cunning you were when it came to betraying me...but just remember that you may appear to be the larger dog now...but the bite of a flea is the ruin of any canine as he can not reach nor see it until it is too late."

"Let us both be thankful that those bars separate us, or I would guarantee your head would be parted from your body..."

"I would take such a fate with grace. As it would be a better end than starving or bleeding to death."

"Thrive in the agony, Nicholas-I have been desiring to see you in it for years...and I cannot imagine the relief to know your soul is wiped from this earth."

"And if you believe in ghosts, I shall haunt you and terrorize you with the visions of Holly in my arms-you will then see the truth Dawson. She was beginning to love me. Even if she did not know it."

Frustrated, Dawson ignored the insane laugh that followed as he walked towards the basin to clean the boots. Finishing just before daybreak, he made his way back up the stairs to find the woman who resembled Holly to be roaming the halls. Setting the boots near the side of the wall, he pulled her into a dark corridor-away from the servants, and arched her so she could not move. With his forearm against her chest, he kept her in place.

"I know you are her...I do not understand the game you are trying to play...but it is not humorous or understandable...so cease it this instant!"

"I do not know what you are speaking of!"

"For a moment, you did. You remembered something..."

"I was raised in the country-"

"Yes, with me-"

"No. Alone. My parents died in a fire-"

"They were publicly beheaded. For betraying the throne-when all they were trying to do in truth had been saving the kingdom's people. Treason...with a righteous reason for it."

"My parents were left to rot, forgotten to die in a public setting-and Eleana-your grandmother had taken us both in. She was killed by Nicholas, a man you married in hopes of saving us." He paused. "I had betrayed your trust and made a deal with a devil-but only to help you."

"It appears you have me confused with someone-"

He pressed his lips hard against hers. Suddenly her tension eased and she wrapped her arms around him. He slid his hand near her thigh and lifted her leg against his side. Without saying another word, he knew it was her-but he also saw in her eyes, she was not sure exactly what was happening.

The kiss grew quick as he moved his lips to her neck and she pushed him away.

"You would be wise to not press yourself onto me again, I am a married woman to the King!"