Betrayed by Beauty: The Legend of the Winnowwood by Henderson Smith

Author:Henderson Smith [Smith, Henderson]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2021-10-20T16:00:00+00:00

Olive

Bart held me in his arms, my head nestled against his chest, as he softly stroked my hair and gazed into the fire. Bear and Side Stripe were keeping an eye on me as well. We had looked for Zahra to make our farewells, but Valora told us she was chatting with an old friend, so we decided to make a quiet exit. My soul told me to leave, and I was determined to listen. I was still rattled by whatever it was that had frightened me in the ballroom, and I wanted to get away from it.

“Master Berthou gave me a book that is helping me master my powers,” I said casually.

“What is it teaching you?” he asked.

“That the only charm I knew, the one you saw me use before, was one that children are taught and there is far more to my powers than I ever imagined.”

Bart looked at me and smiled. “Certainly, that’s good news.”

I nodded. “I only hope I have enough time to learn more so when I face her, I’m ready.”

Bart was hesitant, I could tell he wanted to say something. I put my hand on his face, stroking his cheek. “What?”

He sat me up and took both of my hands in his. “I hate to say something so dismal, but…” he looked me directly in the eye “… with all of her power, her experience, why hasn’t she tried to kill you already?”

For several moments, we just stared at each other. I felt foolish that the thought had never crossed my mine. When he said it, it had such true simplicity of thought that it struck me like a blow. “I guess I believed that the Great Mother would protect me until I was ready,” I softly said.

Bear growled his opinion. “Tell him of the children in the castle.”

Bart raised his eyebrows, wondering what Bear had said.

“She is watching me. There are about a dozen little girls in the castle that we believe are spying for her, the mice spotted them,” I said.

“Then she is plotting something.”

“Yes.”

“I think Dagna is part of this,” he said.

“I do think something is off with him. Please keep him in the dungeon, even if Zahra enjoys his company.”

“Of course. I will speak to the guards in the morning and to my sister as well,” he said, stoking my hands in his to comfort me. “Tomorrow, after your classes, I think we need to spend the remainder of the day in the retreat and try to come up with ideas on what she may be up to.”

I looked up at him, unsure in my thoughts. “We don’t have much to go on.”

“If we lay out every detail of anything odd that has happened or is happening, we might have more than you think. We need to look for patterns.” He brushed his hand gently along my cheek. “Like the beautiful pattern of your mouth when you bite the inside of your lower lip when you’re worried.”

“Silly, you’re so silly,” I whispered as I brought my face close to his, so close, we shared the air of our breaths.

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