The Silvered Heart by Clements Katherine

Author:Clements, Katherine
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Headline
Published: 2015-05-07T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter 32

Rafe and I stay at the clearing in Gustard Wood for three days.

I am living a waking dream. We spend each day in a cycle of swimming, eating and lovemaking, working together to make our own haven in this strange, deserted place. We do not see a single soul. The world exists for us alone.

I try to make the little cottage more inviting, discarding the mouldering straw mattress and drying rushes in the sun to replace it. I use a birch branch to sweep the cobwebs and animal mulch from the ceiling and floor. I strip my petticoats into rags and use them to stem my bleeding. I do not mind these workaday tasks that would, in my other life, oppress me so. Here, it feels like a game and I’m glad to do it.

Rafe traps two hares and we roast them over the fire, eating from the bone with greasy fingers, like gypsies. One day we take a slow ride through the woods, collecting wild garlic, wood sorrel and alexanders, eating berries until our lips are dark and sticky-smeared with juices.

I want my life to be like this always. I want to stay lost in this make-believe world. I put aside all thoughts of Ware Park, Thomas and Rachel. I do not even think about Markyate Cell again. Alone like this, as we are, Rafe is all that matters and his is the only company I need. Here, I can forget our arguments over king or Parliament, poverty or privilege. That this man is one of those I am sworn to despise only fuels my passion for him.

But Rafe’s wounds are healing. He looks as if he has taken a bruising in a tavern brawl, his brow purpled, turning yellow around the eye socket. His lip is healed enough for me to pepper his mouth with kisses. We both know that this magical time cannot last but it is Rafe who breaks the spell. Though my heart cracks when he says we must leave with tomorrow’s dawn, I know he is right.

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