“And what if you were caught?”
“I gave it no thought,” she said. “It was something I had to do and now . . .” She pulled away from him, her eyes round with fright. “Oh, Michael, I am a fool. Decimus threatens to punish me and I fear for the safety of our unborn babe.”
He made no move, nor spoke one word. He stilled in silence and remained so for several moments.
Mary grabbed his arm. “I am sorry to have told you like this, but we must do something to protect our babe. I cannot bear the thought of losing your child and I cannot convince Decimus it is his since we have not been intimate. I know not what to do. I only know our child needs protecting. You must do something,” she pleaded with trembling lips. “You must save our babe.”
He yanked his arm free of her and with a flourish that caused Mary to take several steps away from him, he grabbed hold of his black robe and with one full sweep he pulled it off him and tossed it aside, his gloves following.
Decimus.
She choked on the name that refused to spill from her lips. Decimus stood before her in his rich finery, his glittering rings and his dark eyes glaring.
“You tricked me,” she said, believing herself ten times the fool for not realizing that her new husband was a devious and spiteful man.
“Mary—”
She backed away from him. Her hand stretched out in front of her to keep him at a distance. “Do not touch me. You are pure evil.”
“Mary,” he said again, his voice gruff.
Her eyes turned wide. He sounded so very much like Michael.
“It is me—Michael.”
She shook her head, confused. “Michael? Decimus?”
He approached her slowly. “We are one and the same.”
She shook her head harder. “I do not understand.”
He made no move to reach out to her, for the nearer his approach the farther she moved away from him. “Michael, the Dark One, is Decimus. We are one.”
The back of her legs hit the edge of the bed and she gratefully lowered herself down to sit. Unable to prevent the tears that filled her eyes from falling, she wept.
Michael was instantly at her side, on his knees, grasping hold of her hand. “I am sorry I upset you with my threats. But I was angry that you risked your life when I should have been here to help Roarke. I worried even more when I thought that you might be with child and it was not only your life in jeopardy.”
She could not stop shaking her head. It made no sense to think all along she had been with Decimus. He had rescued her, protected her, and loved her. “I do not understand any of this, nor do I know if I should believe you.”
He squeezed her hand tightly. “Close your eyes, Mary, and listen to me.”
She stilled her head and stared at him.
“I know it is difficult for you to understand. I have placed a heavy burden on you and one that could prove harmful, but I ask for your trust.”
She looked upon the eyes of a man she thought vile and yet she heard the voice of the man she loved with all her heart.
“I know not what to do. I hear Michael, yet I see Decimus.” She shivered.
He held her hand firmly. “I understand your apprehension, but give me a moment to explain my necessary deception.”
“How do I know you do not continue to deceive me? How do I know that your deceit is nothing more than a trap?”
He brought her hand to his lips and kissed her palm softly as Michael had done so often. “Because I love you with all my heart and soul.”
His familiar voice caused her to ache for Michael, but her eyes could not shed the image of Decimus kneeling before her.
“Trust me, please, Mary,” he begged. “Give me a chance to explain.”
She warned herself against being foolish, but what if . . . ? What if Michael and Decimus were one?
“It is so hard for me to think of you as—” She stopped and turned away from him.
“Just listen to my voice. Do not look upon me, and after you have heard my story then you may decide.”
She turned back to him. “And if I do not trust your word?”
He hesitated. “I will see to your escape and you will be free.”
She closed her eyes slowly. “I will listen.”
He heaved a sigh of relief and quieted his own apprehension before beginning his story. “I lived in a village in Scotland, a quiet place where man and beast lived in peace. We practiced the old ways and beliefs, my mother an exceptional healer and my sister—”
He stopped and swallowed the lump in his throat and the ache in his heart.
“My sister was special, trusting all and believing only in good. The clerics came and called us pagans and attempted to reform all who did not believe as they did. They turned neighbor against neighbor until chaos reigned and the innocent suffered.
“My father was the first accused of heresy, he was punished and killed, leaving me responsible for my mother and sister’s protection. My mother urged me to take my sister and leave, hide before it was too late, and one day seek revenge on those who destroyed the family. I foolishly thought I had time, and it was when I was away seeking help from a nearby clan that they came for my sister and my mother.”
Mary felt her chest grow heavy with the pain he must have suffered.
“If it were not for Roarke, I would be dead. When I discovered how my mother and sister were made to suffer before they died, I lost all reason. I wanted nothing but revenge. Roarke, who had been my friend since I was a young lad, reminded me of my mother’s words. He urged me to hide and seek revenge not by killing those who had harmed my family but by freeing the innocent.
“What better revenge than to continually rob from your enemy what they wanted most? And to help those, the innocent, who needed it the most. I changed my identity and infiltrated my enemy’s camp. I quickly worked my way up and reached a position so powerful that no one dared question me or prevent me from doing as I pleased. And I have saved hundreds of innocent people from suffering and death. My mother had been right, her death was not in vain.”
Mary stared at him with wide eyes. “But you have killed people—”
“Only those in the Church who have proved a serious threat to me, only they have found themselves at Decimus’s mercy. All others have left here alive, though thought dead by the church leaders.”
Mary began to cry. “My parents?”
He took her hand and squeezed tight. “I was not the one to order your parents’ capture and when I heard of their fate, I attempted to return so that I could free them and you. I was not in time; my journey was delayed and I knew they would suffer horribly, but then Magnus saw to them and to you, for which I was grateful.”
Mary gasped. “Now I know where that familiar scent comes from. The scent I smelled around Michael when first we met. It belonged to a man who often visited with my father late at night. He always remained in the shadows and they would talk.” Tears spilled down her eyes. “It was you.”
He brought her hand to his lips, choking back his own tears. “I had promised your father that I would see him, your mother, and you free. He knew of my true identity and that placed him in jeopardy. I was securing your escape when your parents were captured.”
“How did he know who you were?”
He shook his head. “He amazed me when we first met, for he told me that he knew I was not an evil man but a messenger and redeemer for God. And he would help me in any way he could.”