Echoes of the Moon by Jennifer Taylor

Author:Jennifer Taylor [Taylor, Jennifer]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Romance, historical, 18th century seaport town
Publisher: The Wild Rose Press
Published: 2017-09-17T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twenty

Dear Lord, her feet ached. Bethan sat slumped at the table with a mug of ale in her hands, and eyed the filthy floor. She’d told Lena and Sabine to go to bed. Only one customer, old man Wyeth, remained, and he was so far in his cups he’d sleep until noon.

What a night. First, the joy of holding a real conversation with her sister, then the appearance of the skin-crawling “Parson,” Elunid’s foolish antagonizing of the man, and Henry’s fierce defense. What would it be like to let down her guard, let Henry take care of her, love her?

A bitter laugh escaped her lips, causing old Wyeth to roll over. As if any man would chain himself to her and her sister both. He didn’t know what he was getting into, what she and Elunid had endured. She could not bear it if he abandoned her, as her mother did. And her father, through no fault of his own.

Still…denying her feelings for him was like holding back high tide. She allowed herself the momentary luxury of thinking about her needs, what she yearned for: the feel of his strong arms against her, his warmth, protection, and passion. Why torture herself with what couldn’t be? For no one who’d loved her had stayed.

She stood, besieged by a restlessness she’d not experienced before, a longing for something she didn’t understand. Mayhap a bit more hard labor would calm her.

By the time she finished cleaning, she was good and tired and stepped outside for some air. She let the cool mist of the sea bathe her work-warm face. Footsteps echoed down Siren Street, and in the distance by the docks, the bright moon revealed a figure running with a bundle, bee skep over its head.

She’d heard about smugglers using the manmade bee hives to disguise their identity while in the act of transporting goods, but had never seen it. The moon reflected on something shiny. She’d seen that belt buckle before. Freddy.

She stepped inside before she was seen, heart pounding. Elunid had already endangered them all with her behavior, but she was no doubt right about the wool smuggling.

A wave of darkness suddenly enveloped her, like being swept into a dark storm cloud. She shivered. Elunid. She rushed down the hallway to her sister’s room. Her eyes adjusted to the dim light as she approached the bed.

Elunid lay stiff as a corpse, the bedcovers pulled up to her eyes. Her long white arms lay outside the covers at her sides, fists clenched.

“Elunid?”

The covers lowered to her chin. “Sister?”

“How are you?” She had given her a double dose of Ian’s medicine. It had not lasted long this time.

“Awake.” Elunid’s voice sounded disembodied, empty.

“Yes, evidently. Why do you not get up? Here, I’ll help you.” Her muscles ached with fatigue, but she forced herself to move.

“I cannot.”

“What do you mean, you cannot?” She swallowed down her irritation.

Elunid’s voice was hoarse, as if she’d been screaming all night. “They won’t let me rise.”

“Who won’t?”

“Shit wit.

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