Enemy's Keeper by Kyrie Wang

Author:Kyrie Wang [Wang, Kyrie]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780228864547
Publisher: Tellwell Talent
Published: 2022-03-15T08:56:32+00:00

12

It was a tiring climb uphill, but Heather soon reached the first fork of the forest road. Then she waited for Kato. Loneliness made the wait unbearably long. Not since Miriam had died five months ago had Heather felt this way. No one knew why Miriam went to sleep one day with a splitting headache and never woke up; rumors had spread that Heather was a witch who had killed her. That same rumor continued to circulate even now.

Heather eventually ate most of the food Kato had given her, not paying attention to the taste but instead to her memories playing in bursts within her mind. She remembered her parents and two brothers. Six years ago, King William had burned all the fields and livestock in Northern England, even salting the earth in the fields so that no crops would grow. Her family starved to death that winter. The king had intended to crush the English revolt, but he hadn’t bothered to separate the innocent from the guilty in his massacre. A friar later transported Heather and many other orphans to safety by boat, but having witnessing dozens of deaths by murder and starvation had scarred Heather. She was filled with distrust, even disdain, for other humans. Until recently, she had avoided getting to know anyone. But Spencer’s patient, considerate nature had broken through her guard.

She mustered the energy to take off the coat Kato had given her and to clean her shoulder wound. His last words to her—that she didn’t seem to care about his hair color—pestered her. Because his Vasfian appearance did bother her. Her family had raised her to fear the barbaric and pagan redheads, and to run whenever they were spotted in the forest. Since then, however, Heather had learned to hide her fear of the Vasfians well, since Miriam constantly traded with them. Heather’s chest grew heavy with these thoughts. Kato had been kind to her in every way. She struggled to extinguish the gut feelings of distrust and discomfort she had whenever she saw him, but they would not dissolve completely.

The Vasfian arrow had struck her at the bony knob of her left shoulder, gashing her skin but sparing her of a deeper injury. Her feet also needed to be re-bandaged. As Heather dressed her wounds using the jars of ointment she had taken with Toby in mind, embittered grief swelled within her. She hated the fact that Toby was Buckner’s son. She had wanted to identify all Buckner household members as wicked and ruthless, but Toby’s behavior had defied this categorization. Now, she didn’t know what to think of him.

Heather finished tending to her injuries. She found a patch of sunshine a short distance from the main dirt path and surrounded by bushes. There, hoping that any unknowing passerby would simply walk past, she lay down to rest. The sunshine was pleasant and warm, but her left shoulder throbbed continuously. As sleepy as she was, she couldn’t shake her sadness in knowing that Toby was still imprisoned in the small chapel and awaiting death.

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