Total pages in book: 179
Estimated words: 169943 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 850(@200wpm)___ 680(@250wpm)___ 566(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 169943 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 850(@200wpm)___ 680(@250wpm)___ 566(@300wpm)
“It’s supposed to rain in the morning,” Mereden pipes up, her voice timid. “It doesn’t rain in the caves.”
“Oooh, she’s got you there,” Lark crows. “I think I’m hearing a day off.”
“I think I’m hearing a bunch of lazy students,” Hawk retorts.
“Not lazy,” Gwenna says. “Opportunistic.”
Hawk shrugs his big shoulders. “Fine. If you want to avoid the rain, we’ll stay in and do weapons practice. You need to learn to fight in low light or none at all, so we’ll be using blindfolds.”
I groan aloud.
Hawk turns to me, quirking that impossibly heavy eyebrow. “Not enjoying practice?”
“It’s fine,” I say, determined not to be the problem here. “That was a positive groan.”
“No such thing.”
“Very much so. I love sword work,” I enthuse, lying through my teeth. “It was a groan of…of pleasure.”
Hawk stares at me. Just…stares.
Lark grabs Gwenna and Mereden each by the arms. “Let’s get out of here before the newly married teacher shows his wife his ‘sword work.’ ”
“Ew,” says Mereden, casting an appalled look in my direction.
And I blush, my face hot and my stance awkward. Apparently talking about groans of pleasure and sword work wasn’t the way to handle things. I watch as the others file out of the room, Kipp snagging his house and slinging the massive shell over his back before trotting after them. It’s just me and Hawk in the room now.
Teacher and student.
Husband and wife.
Definitely not a complication I expected to have.
Hawk just continues to stare at me, his gaze hot. He hasn’t moved a muscle, but I still feel intensely aware of his scrutiny. It’s like he’s looking right through my clothing and it makes me quiver deep inside. I wipe a drop of sweat from my brow. “I…should go bathe.”
“You should,” he agrees, voice low and smooth.
Nodding, I race out of the practice room and run for the stairs…only to pause. When is it going to get through my head that I’m staying with him and not Gwenna? That I’m married now? Slowly, I turn around and head back toward Hawk’s quarters, trying to compose myself. I can do this. It’s fine. I enter the room and I’m relieved to find that it’s empty.
A short time later, I’m less relieved. How exactly does one bathe oneself? Surely there’s an easier way than simply dropping pitcher after pitcher of warmed-up water into the copper tub in front of the hearth? That’s entirely too much work and I’m far too fatigued to even consider such a thing. I stand in front of the tub (with less than a finger of water at the bottom) because two pitchers in, I realize this could take some time and I don’t have the energy for it.
Perhaps I can just be grimy and sweaty for the rest of my life.
There’s a knock at the door.
“Come in.”
Hawk enters slowly, his great horned head poking in first. He frowns at me and then closes the door behind him, leaning on it. “Something wrong? I left you time to wash up before I came in.”
I put a trembling-with-fatigue hand to my brow. “I’m too tired to fill the tub. I had people do this for me at home.”
“Of course you did.”
I can’t tell if he’s jeering at me or not, but given how ruthless he is to me in training, I’m going to go with jeering.
“I’ll just stay dirty another day. You did say it would rain tomorrow, yes? That will wash away the grime.” Right now that sounds far better than anything else.
He nods, eyeing me. “Wait right here.”
As if I have the strength to go anywhere else? I sink into the nearest chair, leaning against the tall back. “Sounds lovely.”
The door closes. I’m nearly asleep when it opens again, and this time Hawk has returned with a massive bucket many times larger than I could possibly manage on my own. He fills the tub for me and then gestures. “All yours.”
“Bless you for your kindness.” I strip off the sweaty layers of my fledgling uniform and toss them onto the floor, then remove my corset and chemise, and cast them aside as well. I step into the tub and sit, my knees against my chest, before I realize I just stripped in front of my new husband. I’ve spent far too many years with servants bathing me and I didn’t even stop to think.
I glance up at Hawk to see if he noticed my actions.
Oh, he noticed all right. There’s a peculiar look on his bovine face, even though he doesn’t say anything. After a moment, he clears his throat and gestures over at me. “You want me to wash your back?”
Should I? Part of me does, because there’s nothing nicer than being scrubbed by someone else when you’re tired, but I don’t know what the boundaries are between us, him and I. “I don’t know,” I answer honestly. “Is it just washing?”