Total pages in book: 125
Estimated words: 114917 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 575(@200wpm)___ 460(@250wpm)___ 383(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 114917 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 575(@200wpm)___ 460(@250wpm)___ 383(@300wpm)
“What’s wrong?” Rannick demanded, keeping a firm grip on his wife.
“A wolf’s cry loud and clear, echoing throughout the village,” his father said and shuddered.
Bliss felt every muscle in her husband grow taught and she glanced up at him. “I don’t understand. Why does a wolf’s cry upset everyone so much?”
Rannick looked to his father.
Lord Lochlann shuddered again. “The last time a wolf’s cry echoed forcefully through the village was the day the curse was cast.”
CHAPTER 24
Winter arrived with a flurry of snow and with the news Bliss could finally confirm without a doubt—she was with child. She had told no one and was not sure when she would, though she supposed she could not keep it long from Rannick. He would notice soon enough the faint changes in her body with how often he touched her intimately. She did not want to shy away from his touch in order to prolong telling him the news since she not only loved his touch, but also got much pleasure from it.
She wished she could share the news with her sisters and thought how Elysia must have felt the same when she had learned the news that she was with child. She had sent and received several messages from both her sisters in the last few weeks. The three had agreed they all wanted to see each other as soon as possible, but their husbands thought differently.
There was something else that disturbed Bliss. Had Annis and Brogan wed? Wagging tongues would have her believing the rumor, but Annis had yet to confirm it. She wondered if Annis kept silent on purpose. With Elysia wed to Odran and if Annis was wed to Brogan, it would mean that Bliss’s sacrifice was for naught. In the end, the three had been wed to the cursed lords. But Bliss had seen for herself the way Elysia and Saber—she shook her head, not Saber, Lord Odran—felt about each other. And as for Annis, she may have fought her attraction to Brogan as he had fought his for her, but she had seen sparks of interest in both their eyes for each other. That meant she had succeeded in seeing that both her sisters got what she had wanted for them… not only to wed men of their choosing but men they actually loved.
A knock at the healing cottage door stirred her from her thoughts and she opened it, expecting Damia and smiled seeing Bram holding the young woman’s arm.
“I told you to walk slowly. You almost slipped twice,” Bram reprimanded the woman whose head barely reached his shoulder.
“I do not need your help,” Damia said. And if your strides were not so fast, I would not have almost slipped.”
“You should have told me that,” Bram snapped. “Need I remind you, yet again, that I have been ordered to look after you, otherwise you would not see me.”
“Something I pray for every day,” Damia said as she stepped into the cottage.
“I will be waiting out here,” Bram said.
“No need,” Damia said and shut the door in his face and looked apologetically to Bliss. “I am sorry, my lady, but I cannot tolerate Bram at times.”
Bliss thought of another couple who bickered upon meeting, memories of Annis and Brogan bringing a smile to her face.
“I could speak to Lord Rannick about it and see if he would change his mind about Bram looking after you,” Bliss offered, curious how Damia would feel about that.
Damia smiled softly. “I complain about Bram, but I do not know what I would do without him. He truly does much for me. I think I complain because he complains, and I feel guilty that he has been made to look after me. Though, I do wonder why Lord Rannick assigned him the chore.”
“He has not said, but I would guess he waits to learn Bram’s true character,” Bliss said, having realized her husband’s leadership skills far surpassed his father’s.
“I know many that fear Lord Rannick, but what I have seen of him since I have been here, he is a fair man.”
“I believe it is more the curse they fear and blame him for all the ills the clan has suffered and for his three wives’ deaths, though they were no fault of his,” Bliss said. “I imagine Lord Brogan suffers a similar fate.”
Damia hugged herself protectively. “Lord Brogan has not been at the keep much in the last few years. It is not a pleasant place.”
The way Damia sealed her lips tightly, Bliss knew she would say no more and so she asked, “You have been feeling well?”
“Aye, much better since I arrived. Everyone has been most kind to me. I worry though,” Damia said with concern. “I have been given no chore and I fear that it might mean that I am not to remain here.”