Dream of Me/Believe in Me

be. Alfred will kill him even as he killed my own foolish husband.”
    “No!” Krysta exclaimed. “All this is lies! Hawk never rejected the alliance and he would never betray it. He did not send that message to Wolf and no one would believe him capable of killing me!”
    “Why? Because he has pretended affection for you? That's all it is, you stupid girl! When you are found with his knife in you, and people remember what went before, he will be blamed.”
    Dread filled Krysta. Beyond question, Daria was mad. Her mind was so twisted that she truly believed what she said. And that meant she would have no hesitation to act upon it.
    “Step back!” Daria ordered shrilly. “If you give me no trouble, I will make it quick. Otherwise, I promise you will linger.”
    Krysta said nothing, only looked inward and summoned all her courage. She gripped the iron bar in both hands.
    The door opened. Daria thrust the torch into the darkness, trying to locate Krysta. Huddled in the shadows off to the side, she managed to remain out of sight.
    “Come forward and show yourself! By God, if you do not, you will beg for death!”
    Only a little more, just let her take a few more steps into the chamber …
    Light inched across the dirt floor. Krysta drew a breath, held it …
    “Where are you! You cannot hide!”
    The knife was raised, cold steel shining.
    Gripping iron, Krysta sent up a quick prayer and lifted both hands over her head. She took a quick step forward, into the light, and swung her arms down hard.
    “Aaaaaggghhh!”
    Daria's legs gave way. She went down hard but the blow had only struck the side of her head. She was still conscious, screaming, and struggling to her feet.
    “Kill you! I'll kill you! How dare you—!”
    Cold steel shining. The knife had been flung loose from Daria's hand and fallen across the far end of the chamber. Without hesitation, Krysta dropped the iron bar and lunged for the knife. She had to get it before Daria did … had to—
    Her fingers were closing on the hilt when mad laughter filled the chamber. She looked over her shoulder and was struck numb by terror. Daria loomed above her, clutching the iron bar.
    “Think to thwart me, do you? I will kill you any way I must and still Hawk will take the blame. You stupid, stupid f—”
    Her eyes were bulging. She dropped bar and torch together, both hands clawing at the steely arm that had come suddenly around her neck and was choking the life from her.
    Hawk. Yet a Hawk such as Krysta had never seen, his features tight with rage, his gaze empty of mercy, the warrior who haunted the nightmares of the Danes.
    Krysta dropped the knife and flung herself at him,pulling desperately at his unyielding arm. “She is your half-sister, you share the same father! Do not kill her!”
    He looked at her in disbelief. “She sought to kill you and our child yet you ask me to spare her?”
    “To spare yourself! Do not stain your hands with her blood! Do this and it will follow you all your days. Think, Hawk! It is peace you want, not more death!”
    Daria's feet were kicking futilely in the air. Her eyes rolled back in her head. She was moments from eternal judgment. Slowly, his gaze never leaving Krysta, Hawk eased his strangling hold.
    “I think I have always known there was something wrong with her.”
    He spoke so sorrowfully that Krysta's eyes stung with tears. She reached up and touched his face. On the ground the torch still burned, throwing writhing shadows across the chamber.
    “She suggested we call off the search until morning,” Hawk said. “I fell to thinking about how much she stood to lose with you here yet how cheerful she had seemed about it. She was never a cheerful woman, not for any reason. It did not stand to reason she would be now.” He sighed deeply. “Praise God I followed her.”
    Krysta nodded. Reaction was setting in and she could do little more. All her strength was needed to stumble after Hawk down the long passage and back up into the manor, where they were instantly seen and surrounded by frantic searchers.

Chapter TWENTY-TWO

    A LIGHT WAS SHINING IN HER EYES. KRYSTA turned her head, trying to escape the brightness, only to find she could not. The fog of sleep had lifted and in its place came awareness that something was out of place.
    She sat up slowly and took a long look around. She was in her chamber, the one she shared with Hawk, lying alone in the vast bed. Her body felt unusually heavy as though she had slept a