Blood Sword Legacy 04 - A Knight to Remember by Karin Tabke

Author:Karin Tabke [Tabke, Karin]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2011-01-19T08:00:00+00:00

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Five

She tossed and turned, no position comfortable. Too many times to count, she moved to leave the bed, her desire to return to the stranger so insistent she nearly screamed her frustration. But she did not go to him. Not that night, nor the next morning, nor the next afternoon. But once the sun sank and the moon rose, like a Siren’s call, in her dreams, he called to her. And she went to him.

She went to him, she told herself, because the food she had left for him had surely run out. She went to him, she told herself, because though he was out of the woods as far as his fever and wounds were concerned, he was not strong enough to hunt, or even defend himself. She went to him, she told herself, to help him return to where he had come from. She went to him, she told herself, because if she did not, he would perish.

The cave was empty. Only the low glow of embers illuminated the space. But she did not need the meager light to tell her he was gone. A deep aching void opened up in her gut, paining her worse than any bellyache or any heartache she had ever endured. It pained her more than the day her father told her she would be going to the abbey where she would spend the rest of her life a virgin bride of God.

Anger came swiftly. Did she mean nothing to him? She had saved his life! Did not that account for something? Of course it didn’t, she told herself. She was plain and boring, and he a virile, handsome man women fawned over. What interest did a man such as he have in a girl such as she?

She moved into the cave and sank down onto the furs, bringing them to her nose. She inhaled deeply. They smelled of him. Clean, and potent, like the sea. Hot tears stung her eyes. She was a silly girl with foolish dreams of love. Foolish dreams she had no right dreaming. She flung the furs from her and angrily stood. Humiliation wrangled with her anger. She told herself it didn’t matter. It could not matter. He was a stranger. She was a noblewoman of a noble, albeit impoverished house. Women such as she did not cavort with pirates. Indeed, with any man unless she were properly wed.

Still, the tears stung. And yet, despite it all, she yearned for him as she had never yearned for anything in her life, including freedom. He was freedom. He could give her a taste of what it meant to be truly desired. It would be enough to see her through to the end of her days.

A small sound behind her startled her. She whirled around and nearly cried out. ‘Twas he. Standing in the cave’s entrance, clad only in his braies, a wild hare hanging limply in his hands. His eyes burned hotly into hers.

“You came back,” she whispered.

“Did you think I would leave you?” He dropped the rabbit and strode purposely toward her.

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