Total pages in book: 105
Estimated words: 97306 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 487(@200wpm)___ 389(@250wpm)___ 324(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 97306 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 487(@200wpm)___ 389(@250wpm)___ 324(@300wpm)
Willard looked at Varrick. “Please. Please, my lord, I wish to do as Lady Fia says.”
“Aye! Aye!” Breda agreed through her tears.
“What say you, Lloyd?” Varrick asked.
The man scratched his beard, giving it thought. “Lady Fia might be right. I’ve seen enough seared limbs kill a man. It might do well to do it her way.”
Marsh glared at Lloyd as if the man had just betrayed him.
Varrick paid him no heed as he issued his decision. “Lady Fia will continue to tend Willard’s wound and instruct his wife how to care for it.” He turned to Fia. “I will wait outside until you are done. Lloyd. Marsh. Outside.”
“She has bewitched Willard and perhaps you as well,” Marsh accused, after stepping outside and not bothering to pull his hood up against the falling snow.
Lloyd raised his brow. “Easy, Marsh. Lady Fia made sense.”
“She is evil. She is a witch,” Marsh said, his face red with anger.
“I have seen witches work wonders on ill people,” Lloyd argued.
“And what ills have you seen them perform?” Marsh challenged.
Lloyd nodded. “True, I have seen what ills some of them could do, but Lady Fia did well by the wound. We should give her a chance, or do you forget Lord Varrick brought her here to help us?” He gave a nod to Varrick. “I hear you paid a hefty price for her, my lord.”
“A foolish one,” Marsh snapped.
“A necessary one,” Varrick corrected. “And why are you not with Ella, Marsh? Surely, she has missed you. And her time is not far off, is it?”
Marsh’s temper faded as he shook his head. “Two full moons and the bairn will arrive, God spare.”
“Go to her and worry not about other things. All will work out well,” Varrick assured him.
Marsh took his leave, his steps quick.
“Three bairns, he and Ella have lost,” Lloyd said, shaking his head. “I hope this time proves differently. So, my lord, is it a healer or witch you wed and brought home to us?”
“You are the first one to question that, Lloyd.”
“You know as well as I do that it is sometimes difficult to distinguish between the two. I suppose time will tell.” Lloyd said.
Fia stepped out of the cottage, catching their attention. “I believe all will go well with Willard. Breda took well to the instructions and will do what is needed to help her husband. Now for the others. Would you like to join us, Lloyd, and offer your opinion on how I have tended the wounded and ill so far?”
“I would not mind that,” he said, casting a quick glance at Varrick. “With your permission, my lord.”
“Aye, of course, forgive me, my lord,” Fia said, realizing she was no longer free to do as she pleased, and that troubled her. “I am not used to seeking permission.”
“You will learn, wife,” Varrick said and snatched hold of her hand to tug her along with him.
CHAPTER 10
Fia dragged herself up the circular staircase exhausted, wanting nothing more than to drop into bed. She had been surprised when seated at the dais for supper, another acknowledgment that she was Varrick’s wife. Though it had been at the end of the table, and her husband busy talking with Argus, Corwin, and Lloyd. With her head nodding after having finished her meal, she bid her husband’s permission to retire for the evening and he called for Merry to show her to her bedchamber.
Merry had not been pleased with the task, the smile she had worn all evening fading as soon as she led Fia to the steps.
“You are busy, Merry,” Fia had said, which had not been a lie. The woman had been running about all night seeing to the demands of the warriors who filled the Great Hall. “If you tell me where my bedchamber is, I can find it myself.”
Merry had been only too pleased to do just that.
Second floor. That was what Merry had told her and Fia stopped on the stairs trying to recall if she had passed the second floor and was headed for the third or if she had even passed the first floor. Her tired mind could not remember.
One more floor.
She silently thanked the voice in her head and climbed the stairs to the next floor. The long day and the tiring journey having taken its toll. She barely gave the room a glance, tomorrow was time enough to view her bedchamber. Right now, all she wanted was to sleep. She shed her garments except for the sleeveless shift she wore beneath her garments and crawled into the bed. She sighed, never having felt such a welcoming mattress and the bedding had been warmed, and the blankets thick. Cradled in such comfort, Fia’s eyes closed soon after she rested her head on the pillow and fell fast asleep.
Varrick braced his hand against the stone wall as he headed up the staircase. He felt himself weave, having enjoyed too much ale. But it was good to be home, talking with his friends, seeing his warriors drink, talk, and laugh, and trying to ignore his wife at the end of the table. He had glanced her way now and again and saw how slow she had eaten and how her head kept bobbing in sleep. He had been about to order her to retire when she had asked his permission to take her leave. He told himself that his concern for her was due to his need for her help, as was the reason why his eyes constantly drifted toward her, constantly sought her out. He had caught many of his warriors staring at her and it was not in fear or distaste, the ale having given them the courage to see her simply as a beautiful woman.