Untempered by Camilla Evergreen

Author:Camilla Evergreen [Evergreen, Camilla]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2021-01-18T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 15

Faela relaxed against Lyfing’s chest in the bath and stretched before leaning her head back and kissing his jaw. He smiled down at her, his eyes half-lidded with desire as his thumb stroked her shoulder in lazy circles. “I must confess, Lyfing, I do not envy your childhood. Spending even these past hours with that man has worn me thin.”

Lyfing’s smile waned some as he glanced away. “Do you pry into my childhood now, Faela?”

“Mayhaps a little. You cannot blame me for being curious after seeing how different you are from your brother.” She paused, watching his dark eyes a moment to assess him. “I shall not nag if you deny me. You need only express so.”

He exhaled. “Braxton takes after our father in his behaviors. I rarely spent time in that man’s presence.”

“You did not tell me I was the product of a bet,” she said carefully.

He laughed short, covering his mouth. “There it stands. My sins have found me out.”

“Nay,” she protested and kissed him again, but he pulled some away. “You did not boast your success, as it seems.”

He glared at her, sighed, and pressed a kiss to her shoulder. “’Twas a bet I took in my own mind more seriously. ’Twas something to prove to myself first. I knew he would come sooner or later, and I would have the papers to show and darken his mood, but of my success, I knew I would favor it more than he.”

Faela looked at her husband’s face, his smile having fallen completely and his eyes now reflecting memories she could not see. Even with the steaming water around them, ice crawled over her skin, and she tread forward carefully, as if she walked upon it. “Your mother…when did she pass?”

“Fifteen years ago. I was thirteen.”

A shiver ran down Faela’s back. To be but a boy when his mother was ripped from him, and to have no father he could turn to, clearly no brother to mourn with. She remembered his words that night in the bath when she had told him of her brother, Rudy. “Did any ever catch you?” she asked.

“What?” He turned a raised brow on her.

“You wished someone would have taken you away in silence, a presence to catch you if you had to fall.”

He smile turned ornery, and she’d never before witnessed such an expression on his face. “Nay, I had no such luxury; therefore, I did not let myself fall.”

“You have such luxury now.” She touched his cheek. “If you ever need it.”

He cupped her hand, his smile growing soft with the tenderness of his touch and sending her heart into a flutter. “I know.” He bent for her lips and took them with deliberation that left her in bliss short-lived as he moved away, reached for rag and soap, and finished his bath. Once clean, he rose from the tub first, water sluicing off him in waves, and snatched a towel from over the bench. When Faela rose, he wrapped it around her shoulders and helped her from the cooling water, a tender smile upon his lips.

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