Chapter 64

“TELL ME, NORA,” Jack said firmly. “Is there really to be no trust between us?”

Nora’s eyes filled with fiery anger before settling into something that looked like resignation. She dismounted and led her horse and cart to a nearby copse of trees. Jack immediately scanned the area for danger before following her. He dismounted and moved toward her, keeping back a bit, as she seemed to prefer distance right then.

Nora continued to face her horse and stroke its neck as she asked quietly, “Do you love me?”

Whatever Jack had imagined she might say, that most certainly was not it. “Do I love you?” he repeated. He didn’t know if he was checking that he’d heard her correctly or
stalling for time. Perhaps a little of both. This seemed a strange topic of conversation to address on the side of the road.

“We are married. Do you love me?” she asked again.

“People don’t need to be in love to be married.” It was out of his mouth before he could decide if he wanted to say it. He immediately wished he could take it back. First of all, he didn’t want to fight with her. Secondly, that statement didn’t apply to him. He did love her. He just didn’t know if he could tell her.

“Is that a no?” She turned to look at him then, and her eyes dared him to tell her the truth.

“I…don’t know what I feel,” he stammered. “We haven’t known each other long—”

“You lie!” Nora dropped her hand from the horse’s neck and paced away. “You love me. I know you do. I know you do because Fox said you would! Why can you not tell me?
Why do we pretend what is between us does not really exist?”

Jack felt like he had been punched in the stomach. His body began to tremble, and his knees grew weak. He grabbed onto the horse pommel to support himself and turned away. Nothing he saw was in focus. His heart screamed, and his head pounded. His reaction to her words ripped through him and left him empty.

What did she say?

Nora wiped the tears that streamed down her face. She made no sign that she recognized the distress Jack was in. “I have waited and waited. From the moment I knew who you were, I knew what we were to be to each other. I knew what would come to pass. I have waited for you to realize it, but you haven’t, or you just won’t say the words. I won’t keep it inside any longer, Jack. I feel like our feet are dragging in mud. I can feel it in your touch in the dark. You say it in words I cannot understand. I know it. Can you not say it so I can understand it? You have to feel it. You have to.”

“It’s not real,” Jack finally said, his throat hoarse. He stood to full height and looked at Nora. It was like looking at a stranger. Who was this woman? Who was this woman who had dragged him into her life, into her strange quest? She was not who he’d thought she was. The girl he found sweet and caring, feisty and loving, was really manipulative and cunning. She had succeeded in taking him out of the world he knew to a land completely unknown to him. For what purpose? What was her real quest? “None of it is real.”

“What is not real?” Nora asked, caution in her voice.

“Any of it. Any of this!” Nora stepped back at the boom in his voice. Clearly, she wasn’t expecting this explosion of feeling from him. There he was just moments ago, trying to figure out how to deal with all this love he had for her, and now it wasn’t real? It was all just something her strange brother con-jured. And she’d never told him. She’d let him believe that what he felt was real when it was all just a fabrication. “All of this time, you have been manipulating me.”

“I have not been, and this is why I didn’t want to tell you! I was afraid you would react this way and not listen to me!”

“You have been maneuvering me to think and feel what you wanted. What is your real goal, Eleanor? What do you need me for? Here I’ve been fighting these feelings inside of me—scared of what they would mean—and now I discover they were not even mine! They have been assigned to me! What a fool I have been!”

“Jack, no,” Nora said, taking a step toward him, but he raged on, not willing to let her touch him.

“I was taken in by a pretty face. I felt guilty over not believing your story, try as I might to do so. This whole time, you have been playing me like a fiddle. I missed your real talents, my lady! You are like a siren, luring men to their doom. Like the mermaids the sailors spoke of. Is that what you’re doing now? Luring me into a trap? Was Ben in on it, too, or has he also fallen victim to your charms? Do the two of you need a sacrificial idiot for some reason? You seem to have found him! For he willingly followed you across the world.”

“Would you listen to me, Jack? You misunderstand—” Nora said desperately, but Jack was unwilling to listen.

“Hence, the idiot reference,” Jack snapped. “Fear not, Lady Rogan. I am a man of my word and will fulfill my obligation.”

“It is not what you think! It is all real. I love you, Jack, I have for some time now—even before I knew you to be the Warrior. You know this to be true. You know all of this to be true, so why are you running from me even still? There have been no games, no manipulations—not from me. This may be our destiny, but that doesn’t mean that what we feel is not of our own making. My name is not Rogan. It’s Justice.”

“That isn’t even my name,” Jack said coldly.

Jack didn’t have time to search his inner self as she requested, for the unmistakable sound of a gun being cocked behind him rang out like a shot. He had let himself be distracted and lost his focus.

“Don’t move,” said a sinister voice behind him. Nora’s eyes widened in horror.

Spinning around on his attacker, Jack dragged Nora behind him. Despite their argument, he put himself between her and danger and prepared himself for the next fight.

Assessing their situation, he saw they weren’t outnumbered, and he liked his odds. Grinning at his new foe, he crooked his finger at the man, welcoming him forward. He had much anger to work out.