“Agreed.” Sapphire sucked in a breath as she stared across the gardens to the massive dragon oaks that sheltered the house.
Matthias paused. “You don’t look happy or excited about any of this.”
“I should be both. If my mother were still alive, she wouldn’t be able to contain herself. The Duchess Valerian and Lady Brighton throwing us a party. Not just meeting the queen in a formal receiving line, but speaking with her, working with her. Being invited to the palace. This would be a dream come true for my mother.”
“But not you?”
“I feel like a fraud.”
Matthias slipped an arm around her and held her close. He then caught her hands and brought them to his lips. “If your father were here, what would he say?”
“We’re married and to stop making a big of show of it.” A smile lifted Sapphire’s lips as memories rushed back. For a moment, she could almost hear her father’s voice again. “He’d tease me, make silly faces, then do whatever he could to make me happy.”
“He loved you.”
Tears slipped down her cheeks. “I miss him so much.”
Sir Matthias wrapped her in his arms and allowed her to grieve for her father.
Taking a deep breath, Sapphire swiped at her cheeks and stared up at Valerian manor. “I’ll ask Lady Brelynn to send a handful of servants back to the house to gather up a few more things. Planning the party will give me something to do while we wait for the Dragon Church to clear your name.”
Sir Matthias stroked her hair. “And they will. What happened to Lord Bartley was not your fault or mine. The Dragon Church will prove me innocent.”
“You sound so sure.”
“I am a Knight of Dracor, god of justice and righteousness. I believe in Him and His church.”
Sapphire slipped into his arms and laid her head against his chest. “I wish we wouldn’t have said anything.”
“I’m glad we did. It was the right thing, and as I explained to High Knight Freya, I wouldn’t have reported the incident if I was planning to take revenge.”
“I hadn’t thought of that.” Sapphire followed Sir Matthias through the gardens and back toward the house. She stared up at the dragon oaks. “Lord Bartley wasn’t behind any of this. He was titled and moderately attractive, but he followed where my grandfather led. I’m sure he married my mother because my grandfather told him to. Might have even hoped her money would get him out of debt and away from my grandfather.”
“Why did your mother marry Lord Bartley?”
“Because my grandfather told her Lord Bartley was the best she could ever hope for after marrying my father and having me.” Sapphire closed her eyes as sadness swamped her. “Lord Carsons forced his daughter to marry a merchant captain because the family needed the dowry my father offered, then he blamed her for marrying so far below her station.”
“Your father was a good man. Never forget that.” Sir Matthias hugged her. “Let’s see how Sir Marcus and Lady Brelynn are doing.”
“You and Sir Marcus are both really worried about Lady Brelynn. There’s more to it than because she’s a sorceress, isn’t there?”
“I’ll tell you the story sometime, but yes, there is. The fact he’s immune to magic and having a child with a sorceress doesn’t make him feel any better, either.”
“I’ll do whatever I can to help them. I like Lady Brelynn and Sir Marcus, and I want them to be happy.”
Matthias smiled. “You may be related to Henry Carsons, but you are nothing like him.”
“You believe that?”
“Knights of Valor don’t lie, remember?”
They didn’t. Sapphire knew that and yet… “My mother always told me I was touched by Rashalee, the product of lust and sin. She said-”
Sir Matthias kissed her. “Lord Carsons used and manipulated his daughter, then made her believe it was her fault he did it. While it was wrong of her to say such horrible things to you, I’m not sure she knew any better. You are not touched by Rashalee.”
“But I can be selfish from time to time. And my behavior in the bedroom…” Color stained Sapphire’s cheeks.
“Everyone is selfish sometimes, even Sir Marcus and Sir Leopold. It’s part of being human. And your behavior in the bedroom is normal. If you didn’t enjoy our time together, I would have to keep trying until I figured out what you did enjoy.”
She stared at her husband, his words winding through her thoughts. “You’re not worried about succumbing to lust?”
“Caring about your partner, loving them, seeing to their needs and your own is very different from the dark lust that leads to Rashalee.”
Sapphire paused as she considered her husband’s words. Before she could respond, a magic message interrupted them as it floated in the air beside Sir Matthias. He tightened his hold on her as he read it.
“What’s wrong?” Sapphire asked.
“Another fire at a tenement building.”
Chapter 36
“Another fire? Where?” Sapphire whispered.
“Down near the docks.” Sir Matthias hugged her. “I’ll be back, but I don’t know when.”
“I helped last time. I’m coming with you.”
“It’s not safe down there, and these fires are bad. Really bad. I’d feel better knowing you were here.”
Sapphire ignored him as she lifted her skirts and sprinted back to the manor. She understood why Mara had eschewed dresses altogether.
Loud voices in the main hall drew her attention, and Sapphire turned towards them.
Lady Brelynn had her hands on her hips as she glowered at Sir Marcus. “You’re taking me. I can help more than your entire school of wizards.”
“It’s not good for you.”
“And people are dying while we argue. If you don’t take me, I’ll go without you.”
Sir Marcus turned toward the dark warrior. “Can you reason with her?”
“It pains me to admit he’s right,” Mara said. “Simply because you can help doesn’t mean you should.”
Lady Brelynn balled her fists, and a wave of magic washed over Sapphire. She sensed Brelynn’s anger, her fear, her helplessness, and she understood them. Sir Matthias was headed to the same fire.
But Sapphire also sensed something more in that magic, something powerful and terrifying. She was starting to understand Matthias’s concern for the duchess.
Sucking in a breath, Sapphire glanced from the duchess to the two Knights and back again. “They’re right. It’s dangerous down there. We’re right. We can handle ourselves. But if we force them to take us with them, we’ll distract them, and that could get them killed.”
“I could help put out the fire,” Lady Brelynn said.
Sapphire hugged her. “But at what risk to you?”
“I could save so many other lives. This isn’t about just me.”
“Could she?” Sapphire fixed her gaze on Sir Marcus, knowing a Knight of Valor wouldn’t lie.
“If it were magical fire, I could walk into the building without fear.”