Total pages in book: 97
Estimated words: 91636 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 458(@200wpm)___ 367(@250wpm)___ 305(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 91636 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 458(@200wpm)___ 367(@250wpm)___ 305(@300wpm)
“And what do you fear,” he retaliated.
“Not being loved,” she shot back.
A sudden sound had both their heads turning. A large buck stood still in the distance as if just catching their scent.
Tarr raised his bow and with arrow ready, he took aim, held, and released as the buck took off. The arrow whizzed past the animal’s head.
“Damn,” he muttered.
“You aimed too high.” She bit her tongue too late.
He shoved the bow at her in a challenge.
She shook her head. “I hunt the truth today.”
He took a quick step toward her, dropping his bow. “Then tell me how this makes you feel.” He reached out, took her in his arms, and kissed her.
He stunned her, and for a moment she did not respond. Then, when she felt the full force of his solid lips pressed to hers, she lost herself in the taste of him. She allowed herself to surrender completely to the magic. She did not think or grow anxious or question; she simply enjoyed the kiss.
She allowed time to stand still, for sounds to vanish, and for there to be only the two of them locked in a loving embrace and devoured by a kiss.
He brushed his lips over hers several times when he finished and rested his forehead to hers. “You owe me an answer.”
She took a moment to catch her breath before smiling. “It makes me feel alive, like the sky is more blue, the air more crisp, the sun brighter.”
“Be careful, you may be falling in love.”
She pulled away from him, annoyed at his teasing tone. “You may know how to kiss, but you do not know how to shoot.”
“This hunt is over.”
“For today.”
Tarr bent to retrieve his bow.
A sudden sound had Fiona turning to a deer running into view. She quickly drew an arrow from the pouch strapped on Tarr’s back, grabbed the bow from his hand, and with light steps hurried forward readying her weapon.
She halted and stilled all movement, her weapon ready to shoot. With strength born of determination, she drew the bow back and fired. The arrow felled the deer.
Fiona handed the bow to a stunned Tarr. “I return to the keep. While you gut the animal, you can wonder who I am—healer or hunter?”
Chapter 8
“Stop! Stop and leave it for Aliss to do,” Raynor complained, pushing her hand away from his face.
“Aliss is busy with Tarr. You are stuck with me, and I am just as gentle,” Fiona insisted.
“As gentle as a stomping bull. You and your sister are as different as your voices.”
His remark stunned Fiona silent, though only for a moment. “There is no one who can tell our voices apart.”
“I can, and with ease.”
The door flew open suddenly and Aliss stood in the doorway appearing flustered.
Fiona knew immediately that something troubled her sister, and Tarr had to have been the culprit.
“I think I have made a dreadful mistake.” Aliss’s chest heaved as though she had run miles.
“I assume things did not go well?” Fiona asked, standing and dropping the washcloth in the bowl of warm water on the chest beside the bed.
“Tarr did not hurt you, did he?” Raynor asked, his effort to rise proving futile.
With a firm hand to his chest, Aliss pushed him back on his pillow. “Nay, he did not.”
“This should not be discussed in front of the prisoner,” Fiona said sharply.
“My concern is for Aliss,” he snapped. “She has been kind to me and I will not see her hurt. Tarr is not dim-witted, and in no time he will distinguish the difference between you two, since it is obvious you play a game with him.”
“Tarr knows nothing,” Fiona said, bending over Raynor. “You would do well to keep any knowledge of our identities to yourself.”
“You threaten me?” Raynor made to move again.
Aliss held him down and nudged her sister away with her shoulder. “Stop, the both of you. Threats will settle nothing.”
“Nor speaking in front of the prisoner, as I have advised time and again,” Fiona said, frustrated. “We need to speak in private.”
“My eyes, Aliss, you promised.”
“There are more important matters than your eyes,” Fiona said.
“You will open your eyes this night, I will make certain of it,” Aliss assured him. She squeezed the warm cloth in the bucket and placed it over his eyes. “Leave this on and rest until I return. I will not be long.”
They walked outside, Fiona insisting a reprieve from the keep would do them both good. They smiled, presenting a perfect picture of twin sisters taking a leisurely stroll, and all the while Aliss detailed how Tarr attempted to kiss her and how she had gotten flustered, they tripped, he landed on top of her, and she had frantically pushed him off.
Fiona realized that her sister thought she would be mad, but she smiled. “I would have loved to have seen that.”