Immortal Outlaw by Lisa Hendrix

Author:Lisa Hendrix [Outlaw, Immortal]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Romance, Fiction, Paranormal, General, Outlaws, Magic, Vikings, Metamorphosis, Historical, Robin Hood (Legendary character), Occult fiction, Love stories
ISBN: 9780425228340
Publisher: Penguin
Published: 2009-06-02T04:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 12

“WELL?”

Matilda held up the parchment between thumb and finger, much as she had the flesher’s gown earlier, and read it out. “ ‘To prove the worth of your blood, be reborn from its stone beneath the midday sun.’ ‘Prove the worth of your blood,’ he says. Even in this he humiliates Robert.”

“What does it mean?” asked Steinarr.

“I do not know.” She dropped the parchment back in the box, tossed the purse from Harworth on top, and slammed the lid shut with an angry snap. “I cannot think. I do not care to think.”

“You are tired. Come, let me show you your elf house.”

She looked around the flower-dotted lea with surprise. “I thought this was it. You said the light elves live in the bright glades.”

“Move through them, I said. Their houses are hidden away, as places of magic should be.”

“The only magic I wish for tonight is a soft bed.”

“Then follow me. Perhaps I can make up for some of how I treated you.” He led her over to an odd-looking oak, where he pulled aside a low-hanging bough. “My lady Matilda, otherwise known as my lady’s maid, Marian, welcome to Elfwood. Go on.”

She ducked under the branch and suddenly found herself looking inside the tree. Except it was not one tree, but many—a score or more, she thought—their trunks grown together to form a shadowed chamber a good three yards wide. She slipped through the gap between trunks and the world fell away, its sounds muffled by the enfolding trees and the tapestry of moss that covered the walls in rippling folds of green. Birds chirruped overhead, and enchanted, she stepped to the center of the space to watch them flitter through the soaring space, lit by the beams of afternoon sun that sifted through the high branches. It was like a chapel vault filled with tiny gilded cherubs, and she spun slowly, taking it all in. Beneath her feet, more moss lay thick on the ground, soft as the richest rug. It was less elf house than lover’s bower.

He’d brought her to a lover’s bower.

“Good. It is much as I remembered.”

She turned to find Steinarr standing in the gap, filling the single entrance to the chamber with his broad shoulders. In the green dimness, he was little more than a huge shadow, a shade. The only life came from the glow of his golden hair and the dark glitter of his eyes as he watched her.

“You have . . .” Her voice came out ragged, and she stopped to clear her throat. “You have clearly been here before.”

“Long ago.” He stepped in and circled around her, tracing the walls of the chamber with his hand. “So long that the trees have grown hoary.”

“You are not that old, my lord.”

“I am older than you think.”

She couldn’t take her eyes off his hand, the way he caressed the moss, barely ruffling its surface. If he were that gentle with her the next time . . .

No. She was no longer obligated to lie with him.

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