A Legendary Love by Catherine Kean

Author:Catherine Kean
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Publisher: 0
Published: 2016-08-28T00:00:00+00:00

Helena carefully shut the door to the solar. She’d decided to look in on her sire, only to find him asleep. His brow had felt awfully warm, but Delfina had told Helena that she’d be returning to the solar soon to give him more potions and broth, so he was being well cared for.

Yawning, Helena headed for her chamber down the passageway. She stepped inside the quiet room, still not used to its barrenness; she’d sold the carved oak wardrobe and Persian silk rug last week to help pay off her father’s debt, so all that remained were the bedside tables, the bed, and the painted linen chest that had belonged to her mother.

With a tired sigh, Helena leaned back against the closed door and shut her eyes. So much had happened in less than one day. Did she dare allow herself to rest, or were more perils unraveling that she would have to overcome?

As she opened her eyes, water glinted across the chamber. A round wooden tub waited near the hearth. The bath looked so inviting, tears filled her eyes. She crossed to the tub, shedding her garments and leaving them in heaps on the floor. While Helena normally had a maidservant help her undress and bathe, after last night’s frantic pace, she was happy to have a few moments alone.

She sank into the warm water, glad to see that extra buckets had been left for her to rinse her hair once she’d washed it. Taking hold of the round cake of lavender and almond oil soap, she lathered it into a creamy foam and scrubbed herself from face to toes, and then washed her hair. What bliss, to banish the grime and soothe her strained muscles.

As she bathed, she couldn’t help thinking about Tavis. Had he returned from his walk with Merry, and now was sinking into the tub the servants had readied in the guest chamber? Was he savoring the soak as much as she was? How easily she imagined him running the frothy soap over his torso, and bubbles gathering on his wet skin—

Shaking her head, she abruptly stood up in the tub. Water running down her body, she dried off and slipped on a clean chemise taken from her linen chest. Lulled by the soothing sounds of the fire, she could no longer fight her fatigue, and she curled up on her side in her bed.

As her eyelids closed, she saw Tavis silhouetted against the burning stable and throwing water on the flames; Tavis looking at her intensely, as if what she said was important and necessary; Tavis tilting up his head as water tumbled down into his face…

A knock on her door startled her awake. She pushed up on one elbow, for she’d only just lain down…and yet, the fire in the hearth was no more than embers.

“Come in,” she called.

Sylva peered into the chamber. “You asked me to wake you before the evening meal, milady.”

“So I did.” Helena rubbed at her eyes. “Did I sleep all day?”

“Aye.

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