Maeve – One week later It had been a week since the storm that marked Aaron’s arrival at the castle. His presence was like the storm itself, electric, undoing the carefully crafted routines of everyone who called the stone fortress their home. I noticed the change in Ernest first. His usually dry monologues during dinner became lively and animated with Aaron in battendance, the two men talking gaily with their heads bent toward each other, laughing and whispering like a couple of old friends while I played with my fork on the other end of the table, not included in their conversation. Gemma too was changed. She had spent most of her time marching around the castle, ordering the staff around with an iron fist and managing the daily schedule I could never seem to follow. With Aaron around, however, Gemma seemed to cling to my side, her face always drawn with lines of suspicion as she watched Aaron through the corner of her eye. But when I asked her about it, she only shrugged, her mouth pursed in a tight line. I could only assume it was out of concern for me. Gemma had always been fiercely protective of me, our relationship mimicking that of an older and younger sister. On the seventh night of Aaron’s stay, I walked into the dining hall to find it changed, the long table taken apart and replaced by a smaller round table, four chairs fitting snuggling around a modest assortment of food and wine. And there they were all three of them, Gemma beckoning me to come sit beside her as she took a seat next to Ernest, whose cheeks pinkened as he glanced shyly at Gemma. Seriously? I thought as I watched Gemma give him a knowing, almost secretive glance, her mouth wide in a beaming smile. Oh, Goddess, you’ve got to be kidding me. Aaron sat to my left, smiling at me as he sat down. I watched as they conversed over steaming plates of prime rib and mashed potatoes, my mouth feeling dry with a mingled sense of shock and excitement. I had been avoiding Aaron like the plague all week, angered by our fight in the field outside the castle and embarrassed by the fact I had broken down and crawled into his bed the day after the storm. I hated people seeing me hurt. I had always been able to play it off, straining my mouth in a fake smile and moving on like nothing had happened. But Aaron made that impossible. Something about him forced people to let their guard down. I found the wall I had built around my heart falling away piece by piece, finally allowing myself to accept my fate. I watched as Ernest and Gemma fell under his spell, his unexplainable gravitational pull. I hated him. I wanted him.copy right hot novel pub