Had he heard right? Did she say what he had been thinking about from the moment he saw her? He came closer and clasped her face in his hands. Neither moved for a few moments, the touch of his hands warming her chilled face, breathing life into her frozen cheek. She kept her eyes closed as he wrapped himself around her, blanketing her from the sunny morning dew.
'I never wanted to see you again. Not after what you had done to me.' A tear soaked his shoulder, burning through his shirt to his shoulder. 'I couldn't forgive you but I couldn't forget you.'
He had to tell her. While he poured out his angst knowing how much it hurt her but needing to clear the unspoken words between them, she tried to control the feeling that she was drowning in a wave of grief and regret. But she couldn't control the tears that overflowed.
'I blamed you for everything that went wrong. I couldn't stand the house we were living in, everything reminded me of you. I kept wishing I had asked you to say instead but I couldn't understand why it didn't make sense.'
'You didn't want me to stay' she whispered. 'You told me to leave and never come back.' The scene of their argument and subsequent separating played through her head in a muddle.
The door slammed and he stood there, outlined against the moonlight. The terror caught hold of her and she shrank into the corner of the room, unable to speak. He held her fast against the wall with an angry force, taking hold of her arms.
'You lied to me' he whispered. 'When were you going to tell me?'
She said nothing, closing her eyes to avoid his accusing glare.
'According to that thing on your shoulder, I've married a criminal.'
She said nothing.
'Tell me!' She could hear the anguish in his voice, her heart was crying out to him for not being able to tell but she held onto the wall, desperately wishing he would understand. But he couldn't. How could he? He was a man. What would he know of her situation? She kept quiet, the tears coursing down her face.
He tried to shake her out of her silence.
'Sabine! I'm your husband! Why couldn't you trust me?'
'I can't trust anyone' she whispered.
'You can trust me. I'm your husband' he appealed to her. But nothing would convince her that her secret would be safe.
'Dammit, tell me!' He roared, releasing his grip.
'Why can't you tell me? Who did I marry? A whore? A thief?'
She didn't move a muscle, holding her breath, hoping he wouldn't stumble on the truth. He started pacing up and down, trying to make sense of it all. How well did he know his wife?
'I feel like I don't know you at all.' He sat despairingly on the chair next to the door. 'How could I not know you?'
How could he not have known what had lain behind that white patch on her shoulder, almost blending into her skin? The moonlight had revealed a side to her he had never known existed, a previous life that had been plastered over. The image of his angel had been tainted from that moment on, that glimpse of the fleur de lis burned into her white shoulder, malevolently mocking on her sleeping body.
'Do you think I'm stupid? How long were you going to conceal this from me?'
She hunched into herself and hoped for the storm to subside but there was to be no reprieve.
They didn't hear the footsteps approaching or the gasp of surprise as Sissi stood there, unable to tear her eyes away from the picture framing the window, Milady in the arms of the man who had been haunting her ever since he had arrived. The greeting she was about to call out died in her throat as she watched her aunt's tears being soaked up by Athos' shoulder as he held her tightly, a hand to her cheek, wiping away what he could. She couldn't think of one single intelligent thing to say to break the spell.
'Not disturbing anything am I?'