Ashera of the Kingswood by Cheryl Rush Cowperthwait

Author:Cheryl Rush Cowperthwait [Cowperthwait, Cheryl Rush]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9798603759234
Published: 2020-02-19T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 13

The first thing Ashera saw was a wagon in front of the castle; the knights were making multiple trips from the basement to the wagon, filling it with wood. She approached but didn’t see Tamel, so she asked where she could find him. One of the knights pointed down to the homes of the villagers. Ashera dodged off in that direction.

Imagine her surprise as first, she heard an ax splitting wood, and then rounding the corner to see Tamel. She took a step back as she gulped her air. There he stood, sweat dripping off his body, leaving it to gleam against his hard muscles, fully exposed to the sun. He wore his long dark hair in a braid, banded with long, green leather strips. She shivered watching as he moved, sending the leather strips sliding across his back muscles. His pants were a dark form-fitting material and she couldn’t tell if it was leather or something else. His boots came up to his knees with a leather part at the kneecaps that was unbuckled and folded over, giving him free motion when he chopped. She licked the dryness of her lips and became aware that his movement had stopped. Her eyes lifted to see the most startling green eyes watching her. Tamel’s lips were parted in a full smile.

“Hello, Lady Ashera.”

In the moment it took her to gain her composure, she wondered if his voice had always been so-- deep and enchanting. “Hello. Tamel. I had just arrived. At the castle. The knights pointed me off in this direction.” Still flustered, her words refused to flow in a natural rhythm. “That’s a lot of wood you’ve got there.”

His laugh had to have been given to him by the gods. It was rich, deep and tinged with thunder. “Milady, if you please, follow me.”

The sun became exceedingly warm against her brow and neck. She felt the beads of perspiration starting to travel. She tried to focus on looking at the ground, but his leather hair bindings kept moving as he walked, pulling her eyes to them. He stopped suddenly. Ashera’s head bobbed up and she was unaware her jaw was ajar.

“Milady? Are you well? I have been talking but you have not answered,” he said with a look of genuine concern.

“Forgive me, Tamel. My mind was a million miles away. What was it you were saying?” Ashera said, wiping away the droplets from her forehead.

“I was informing you that since the Winter has passed, we thought it would be good to bring the wood out here and slice it up to use as shingles to repair the roofs that had leaked during the long cold we had. See, up there? We have already replaced half of the roof. I’ve set two knights on each of four homes. One knight cuts the wood, while one knight fixes the roof. It works out well and we can finish quickly. After we finish a house, we leave them with kindling and enough logs for several nights, so we actually accomplish a great deal with one visit.

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