Total pages in book: 112
Estimated words: 101336 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 507(@200wpm)___ 405(@250wpm)___ 338(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 101336 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 507(@200wpm)___ 405(@250wpm)___ 338(@300wpm)
Slayer realized how late he must have slept with all she had gotten done and with how high the sun was in the sky. It was rare that he slept so late, usually being up at dawn. It was even rarer that he felt so rested but pushed the thought from his mind.
“Wake me the next time,” he ordered, casting a glance around for the spear he had fashioned yesterday for fishing. “I will fish for breakfast for us.”
“I have eaten my fill of blaeberries. It was plenty for me.”
She was more self-sufficient than he had thought. She did not wait for someone to take care of her. She saw to taking care of herself, a trait he had not expected her to possess.
“I kept extra berries for you if you would like some, though I suspect that will not be enough food to fill you.” She walked a short distance away to grab a small basket that sat atop a large rock and returned and held it out to him.
Slayer took a handful, blaeberries being a favorite of his.
“I spotted a patch of juniper berries. They will flavor a meat stew quite nicely if you hunt today.”
“My warriors will hunt for us, and food supplies should arrive today.”
“Why do we stay here, Slayer?” she asked as he reached for another handful of berries. “It cannot be for my safety alone since you have told me enough times that I am safe when I am with you. So why are we truly here?”
He nodded at the bench under the large oak tree and, placing his hand low on her back, urged her toward it. He waited until they were seated to answer her. “Ross is the only one who knows that we are husband and wife, and it will remain that way even when we return to Clan Ravinsher. No one must know, not even your sisters, at least not yet. I thought the news best delivered when we were alone, and you were given time to accept the marriage.”
“But why keep it a secret?”
“Until I can find out why my brother and father were murdered—”
She gasped. “You think your father and brother were murdered by someone who wishes to lay claim to Clan Ravinsher—” She gasped again. “If that is so, then your life is in danger as well.”
“Yours as well since you can produce an heir to the clan,” he said, amazed that she had thought of him being in danger before even considering that her life was in danger for two distinct reasons.
“Do you have any suspicions of who it might be?” She shook her head and did not give him a chance to answer. “It doesn’t make sense. Only a fool would kill the brother and father of a renowned Gallowglass warrior. It would bring the Gallowglass down on him.” She gasped again and grabbed hold of Slayer’s arm. “Unless the culprit is part of the Gallowglass.”
“That brings us to another reason for us being here,” he said, appreciating his wife’s sharp mind since he had thought the same. “This cottage sits in the middle of the Gallowglass training ground.”
She squeezed his arm. “Are we surrounded by Gallowglass warriors? Are they all loyal to you?”
“The ones in the surrounding area are, but they come from all over the Highlands, and those I cannot vouch for, though I would be surprised if a Gallowglass betrayed one of their own. Honor is something the Gallowglass lives by.”
Sky turned quiet, not saying a word, and her hand fell off his arm.
“I know what you are thinking, Sky,” he said, annoyed that he favored her touch. It was not like him to feel that way about a woman’s touch, and yet he found Sky’s innocent, casual touches oddly comforting.
“You are observant so I would say you probably do know my thought.”
Slayer proved it with his response. “You think my warriors would wonder why I brought you here and so they do not discover the truth, you believe I told them the reason was to drive the evil out of you.”
“It would serve a double purpose since you could bring me home to your clan a cleansed soul.”
Again, he admired her quick mind, but it also cautioned him to be careful, for she could find out things that might be better kept from her. Or was he worried she would discover things before he did?
“You could benefit from such an assumption,” he said. “People would not fear you and would begin to befriend you.”
“You do not truly believe that, do you?” she asked as if she could not believe she had to ask, and she shook her head. “I fear there will come a day that you regret our marriage.”
“Never!”
He responded with such force that Sky drew her head back quickly.
“Never will that day come. I will never regret having you as my wife. I may be a fierce, brutal warrior, but I am an honorable man and will do right by you.”