DANIEL'S HANDS were on Magnolia's wet back and her chest was pressed against his. His face was so close, she could feel his warm breath on hers. Her ears were ringing with embarrassment.
"I need you to get out so that I can put some clothes on," Magnolia said through gritted teeth. Daniel helped her stand straight and then turned away to leave the bathroom.
Her body was shivering from the whole situation. With shaking hands, she put on her robe and took a few deep breaths to calm down. It was in vain.
She walked to the room and found Daniel looking out the window. When he saw her reflection in the glass, he turned to face her. He held her gaze for a moment. Her eyes were frightened, wild, like a cornered animal.
Magnolia looked away as she hugged herself. She cursed herself. She had always made sure to cover her body after her baths. Even Clara did not notice her scars. She did not want anyone to see them, especially the duke. She felt vulnerable and ugly.
Daniel sighed. "Are you alright?" His question surprised Magnolia.
'Is he asking about the scars or about now?'
Seeing the confusion on her face, he walked to the chairs by the fireplace and sat in one. "Come, Magnolia, have a seat." But her feet did not budge.
"I prefer keeping my distance."
"Keeping your distance?" Now it was his turn to be confused.
"First of all, what are you doing in my room?" Magnolia's words were cold and clipped. "We have both agreed on what kind of marriage this is going to be," she said without even taking the time to breathe. "So, there is no reason for you to be in my room while I am taking a bath."
Daniel's eyes were wide and threatening but Magnolia did not back down.
"I did not think you would be taking a bath this late at night. I wanted to greet you right away since Henry told me you were worried."
"Says the man who left right after the ceremony, without even telling me anything."
"I–" Daniel stopped. He came to her room that night, but she was sleeping and looked tired. He did not want to wake her. But he could see that she was not going to listen, whatever he said. He shook his head and wracked his fingers through his hair.
'Is he not going to apologize?'
"Also," she resumed. "I would appreciate it if there was no physical contact under any circumstances."
Daniel's anger was starting to grow. "I should have let you fall then, my lady?" he said with a cold voice.
"Yes,"
"I understand." He pushed to his feet and left her room, slamming the door behind him.
Magnolia sank to the floor as her knees gave in. She hugged her trembling body and thanked the Gods that he did not ask about the scars again.
'I thought I felt different about him.'
She thought that she liked him, or at least did not hate him. But her reaction to his touch was way different than she had imagined, she could not stand it. She was so scared she thought her heart was going to stop.
"They broke me," she whispered with a desolate voice and a few tears raced down her cheeks.
Magnolia dragged herself to bed but had a hard time falling asleep with all the painful memories that flooded her head.
"I CAME AS SOON AS I received your message," Henry uttered. "What is going on?" Victor motioned to the training ground.
"He has been here since dawn," Victor explained as they both watched Daniel doing his drills. He was drenched in sweat and looked exhausted. "The knights are not brave enough to use the field while he is in that state."
"I wonder what happened, I thought everything worked out in the south," Henry asked.
"It did. In fact, the duke was quite excited to come back home."
"Hmm."
'Something must have happened with the duchess.'
Henry patted Victor's shoulder. "Thank you for calling for me, I will take care of it." Then, he strode toward the duke. "You are scaring everyone off," he told Daniel, loud enough to get his attention.
"What are you doing here, Henry?" He wiped his sweaty forehead with the back of his arm.
"Do you not think that you have trained enough for today?"
"I just need to clear my head."
"Did something happen with the duchess?" Henry asked, earning him a glare from the duke.
'Ah, I was right.'
"If it did, it is none of your business," Daniel snapped.
"Of course." Henry lifted both palms in surrender. "I was just wondering if there was anything that I could help with."
"There is nothing you can help with, Henry."
'Wow, he is even more cranky than I thought.'
"Well, if you have finished training," Henry changed the subject. "There is a lot of work that has accumulated since you've been gone."
"I will freshen up and meet you in my office."
"Yes, Your Grace." Henry headed there first.
It only took the duke about half an hour to join Henry in the office. The assistant had already prepared all the documents that he needed to look at and approve.
Daniel sat back in his chair, his mind had not stopped racing since his encounter with Magnolia. The training did not help one bit.
'Maybe I should have woken her up that night. But she looked so tired.'
He stared at the paper in front of him but without reading a single word. What bothered him more was her reaction the night before. His face flushed red as he remembered her naked body and how she felt in his arms.
'Oh my.' Henry noticed his blushing. 'It might be more serious than I thought.' He hid his grin behind the dossier he was holding.
'What am I thinking about?' Daniel cleared his throat. 'Like Magnolia said, we already know what kind of marriage this is. I was the one to come up with those conditions.'
He sighed.
'That promise cannot be broken.'
The duke tried to read the paper again, but the image of Magnolia's scars was too vivid to push away. He frowned.
'There were so many.'
He wondered how painful they were when they were inflicted on her, and who dared hurt her. Suddenly, Daniel found himself fuming. His lust for killing was fully awake.
'I would love to rip apart every limb of whoever laid hands on her.' His hand trembled.
"Henry." He looked at his assistant who stiffened as soon as his eyes met the chilling gaze of the duke. "I need you to take care of something for me." His voice was frosty and threatening.
"Of course, Your Grace."