The Harvest Bride by Kati Wilde

Author:Kati Wilde [Wilde, Kati]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Kati Wilde
Published: 2023-11-09T16:00:00+00:00

Then again, the necessity of remaining quiet while hunting meant that she was trapped in her own head, so she could do nothing but think upon Bannin’s unusual reticence.

Because she’d misjudged him before. What if she had again? What if she’d let her own fears and worries color her perception?

For certain, she’d discovered something true and unexpected about herself this morn—that being abandoned by Crase and her parents had damaged Sarya even more than she’d known. She had healed. But the scar that remained was far more sensitive than she’d realized. Probably because nothing had pressed against it before.

Until Bannin had pressed it. Then Helana had pressed hard, too.

And in her pain, Sarya had retreated and assumed they’d found her lacking.

But that wasn’t fair to Bannin. Perhaps it wasn’t fair to Helana, either, but at least Helana’s motivation was clear. She wanted her brother to be happy. Sarya could hardly blame her for doubting whether happiness was possible with someone who’d rejected him. And still, at the end…Helana had possibly given her a way forward.

Perhaps she was a friend.

And what had been Sarya’s own motivation? She’d slammed the door in Bannin’s face because she hadn’t thought him serious. But that had been before she’d understood him better. Before she’d realized he was far more serious than she’d believed. So if she took all that he’d said about courting her, about how he would have waited for her, and if she believed it…then she simply could not believe that he would give up any thought of courting her merely because he’d learned that everyone else she loved had given up.

Either he was serious or he was not. And she believed he was.

So his reticence had to be something else.

Though not fully confident, her heart was lighter by the time they stopped for luncheon, sitting back-to-back on the bridge spanning the river. In this way, they could still keep an eye on their full surroundings—and she rather liked the warm and solid feel of him behind her.

She tore a chunk from a thick slice of bread and decided not to torment herself any longer. “Helana said to ask you about being second.”

A soft growl escaped him before he said, “That’s already settled. It’s not the issue she believes it is.”

“What isn’t an issue?”

“Whether you’re in love with someone else.”

The bite of bread wedged in her throat. Why would that not matter unless he’d decided not to court her? But she wouldn’t assume that. She wouldn’t. Still she could say nothing, desperately trying to swallow while blinking the blur from her eyes. It would be stupid to die because she hadn’t seen the demon come while she was crying.

Then Bannin continued, “I’m not truly the second. My father is a Bannin, as was his father, and his father…for thirty-five generations. In the city, which smithy do you use?”

Swallowing with difficulty, she said, “I used the Horse Guard’s own. But my family uses the smithy near Anhera’s temple.”

“That is my father’s smithy.”

“Oh,” was all that she could say as understanding ricocheted through her.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.