Total pages in book: 96
Estimated words: 91416 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 457(@200wpm)___ 366(@250wpm)___ 305(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 91416 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 457(@200wpm)___ 366(@250wpm)___ 305(@300wpm)
“I spotted it right away. Didn’t you?” Dru asked and slipped around him to gladly drink the brew if that was all there was for her to have.
“What are you talking about?” Knox asked and joined her at the table, not able to take his eyes off her untamed hair.
Though she had tried to restrain it, the strands had defied her, having a mind of their own, much like herself. It suited her and it also highlighted her features. She went from pretty to beautiful, at least in his eyes.
“Mave is a seer besides a healer.” Dru sipped at the brew uncertain if she should have revealed that about Mave. But Knox was observant, he’d be sure to see it if he hadn’t already.
He nodded. “That would explain the clean room and fresh bedding. And why her first words to me were ‘It’s about time you got here’. She was expecting us.” He paused for only a moment. “The villagers told me she left because she saw trouble brewing and didn’t want to be part of it. She told me she returned because she was needed. She left for the village a while ago. She also told me about Autumn.”
“Anything that will help us find her?” Dru asked, worried about how much Mave had revealed.
“Mave claims Autumn died three days after her mum.”
“Then that does it,” Dru said, feeling a catch to her stomach like someone had just gripped it. “The task is finished.”
“Are you that eager to be rid of me?” Knox asked, his dark eyes narrowing.
“Aren’t you as eager to be free to claim your land?”
“You avoid the question.” He grinned. “Are you too fearful to admit that you might miss me?”
“Nay. I will miss you,” she admitted. “I will miss the safety you provide for me on the road, but I managed alone before you came along, and I will do so again.”
A lie for she would miss much more when they parted but she brushed the thought aside, it hurt too much to think about it.
Annoyance flared in his eyes. “I will not allow you to travel the road alone.”
“You can’t stop me,” she scoffed.
“Try me,” he challenged. “You’re my wife and you will obey me.”
Her posture grew stiff. “We had an agreement. Are you rescinding your word?”
“Nay. I will honor my word and free you of our marriage and see you placed somewhere you will be safe.”
“And where might that be?” she asked, thinking he would return her to Cramond Abbey where, of course, she wouldn’t remain.
“Living on my land where I can make sure you stay safe.”
Dru was too shocked to respond.
“You would be helpful to the woman I eventually wed and of help with any bairns we have and—”
Dru stood so abruptly that the bench she sat on toppled over. “You are ten times the fool if you think I would be a servant to you and your future wife. I am a free woman, and I plan on staying one.”
Knox planted his hands on the edge of the table and stood slowly, towering over her. “Then I may have no other choice but to keep you as my wife.”
Again, Dru found herself speechless.
“You wouldn’t dishonor your word,” she challenged.
“I won’t have to.”
“And why is that?” she asked, a shiver running down her spine from how confident he sounded.
“You’ll agree to stay wed to me.”
“Why would I ever do that?”
“Because you’ll see it’s the only sensible thing to do.”
“I’ve never been sensible.”
“Now you’ve just proven my reasoning.”
“You don’t find me appealing.”
“You’re growing on me.”
“This is nonsense.”
“Until it isn’t,” he said, ending the debate. “Mave says a traveling merchant is expected in the village today. He will bring news, as all merchants do, and I wish to hear it. Besides, I want to speak with a young man I met yesterday. He knows more about Autumn than he says. Mave mentioned that Autumn saved him from one of Lord Randall’s warriors when she was young.”
“Why waste the time when Mave told you that Autumn is dead?”
“Aye, she died three days after her mum was buried, but Mave never spoke of Autumn being buried.”
A chill sent a shiver through Dru. “What are you saying?”
“The woman known as Autumn may have died that day, but another woman was born. From what I could gather, Cerise raised her daughter not to be foolish enough to wind up as she did—a mistress to a powerful man or forced into an unwanted marriage. To keep her freedom, Autumn would need to die. Now our task is to find out the woman Autumn has become, for I have no doubt that Autumn is very much alive.”
Knox went to speak with the merchant he spotted, as soon as they entered the village. Many of the villagers were gathered around him to hear any news he had to share. Few had the coins to buy his wares, but the merchant welcomed a good barter.