Outcast by Hazel Hunter

Author:Hazel Hunter [Hunter, Hazel]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Allure Press
Published: 2016-09-06T18:30:00+00:00

CHAPTER 9

J ANNON FINISHED HAMMERING the last peg into the wooden stand, and gave it a firm shake to assure its sturdiness. Since the Winter Feast joust always proved to be the most well-attended of their shows, the additional seating would be welcome. Jannon only welcomed the opportunity to pound something other than his skull against a wall.

Still, he’d managed to keep away from Tara Rowe for another day.

Tomorrow he would rise before dawn and take a nag and the old logging cart into the woods. Perhaps he’d build a hovel for himself there. Ryan often retreated to his, and if Jannon locked himself inside, in time he might rid himself of this damnable awareness of her. Even now he swore he could feel the willow-o-wisp warmth of her body, and smell the tantalizing scent of her skin.

“I didn’t know you were a carpenter,” a low voice said behind him.

Jannon kept his back to her as he plied his hammer against nothing that needed it.

Tara came around him and stepped under the stand, bracing her back against a strut. “You can talk to me, you know. My sister won’t tear your head off if you do.”

“Think again.” He shoved his sledge into his work belt. Perhaps rudeness would send her away. “Why do you plague me now?”

“Sorry. I wish I wasn’t a disease.” She looked away from him. Regret instantly lanced through his chest. “But I can’t stop being a changeling, right? Can’t hand in my evil little sister card. Can’t escape whatever is coming.”

Jannon tugged her out from under the stand and studied her delicate face. “You are not evil. I could not abide evil in my bed. The slime, the flesh-piercing spines—none of which you have.” He forced himself to let her go, but tapped the tip of her nose. “There. Give back that card.”

Tara didn’t laugh as he’d expected. “Not quite yet. My sister had this woman come to read the tarot for us. My cards were full of swords and prisons and darkness. It was like the worst tarot reading ever.”

Jannon wondered if he should tear off Kayla’s head. “Tell me you did not pay coin for this foolishness.”

“No, it was free.” Her chin wobbled. “I think that makes it worse.”

Tucking her against his chest felt as natural to Jannon as stroking a soothing hand along the delicate arch of her spine. “Prisons can be escaped, and darkness may be defeated by no more than a single candle. As for the swords, I am very good with blades, so you may give them to me.” When she didn’t reply, he asked, “Have you spoken to your sister about this?”

She shook her head against his chest. “She’s mad at me. Sick of me, too. She wants to be with Ryan, and I’m always in the way. Well, not for much longer.”

Alarmed now, Jannon drew back, holding her at arm’s length. “What are you saying, Tara? You know you cannot leave the camp. Never tell me you are thinking of going to Dirk Blackstone.

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