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)
Varrick looked as puzzled as his wife was. “And how could there be only one?”
“It is strange, and what is even stranger is that the footprint does not sink all the way down into the snow but sits on top of it. How does one leave such a print without sinking into the snow?”
Varrick grabbed his wife’s arm to pull her up as he stood. “Something is not right here.”
“I agree. All the signs point to something strange going on in this area.”
“Snow,” Varrick said as small flakes began to drop and accumulate on Fia’s hood. “We seek the shelter now.”
Fia did not argue as her husband tucked her close to hurry her along.
It was a short walk, yet they were both covered with more than a dusting of snow when they reached the shelter, leaving Varrick concerned that it could prove to be a heavy snowfall or possible snowstorm. If so, he would see they returned home sooner than planned.
“Keep your cloak on until I stoke the fire and have it going strong,” Varrick said and got busy doing just that after shutting the door.
Fia pulled the bench closer to the hearth, ready to let its heat soak into her as soon as the flames began to roar. She watched the snow that had covered her husband’s dark hair like a cap melt away as the fire’s heat began to spread. She liked watching him do the simple task, liked the way his arms bulged with strength as he added log after log or the way his shoulders stretched and the tightness of his thighs as he hunched down in front of the hearth. He was a man of great strength and even greater courage, and with a tenderness to him that he let no one see or perhaps he did not know he possessed it. But it showed in the way he tended to the fire, to see that she got warm, or the way he would pull her hood up on her head or remind her to keep her cloak closed against the cold, and even more so, the way he would take hold of her hand. And then there were his kisses.
Goodness, she sounded just as her mum had when she had spoken about Fia’s da. You could hear the love she had for him. Was that how she sounded now… in love with her husband? How had that happened?
Fate.
He turned his head and their eyes caught and held, neither saying a word and yet something exchanged between them, something neither of them could deny.
Varrick stood. “I need to get more logs.”
“I will get some freshly fallen snow and fix us a hot brew,” Fia said, standing as well.
Neither of them moved.
“Earlier, when a thought came to you, you did not tell me all of it. What did you not tell me?” he asked, suddenly needing to know.
Fia saw no reason not to be honest with him. “I recalled something my grandmother had told me about why my mum and da were able to hear each other in their minds.”
Varrick was eager to hear. “Tell me.”
“My grandmother insisted it was because their deep love for each other defied reason and connected them far deeper than anyone would believe possible.”
“We do not love each other,” he said, his denial feeling like a stab to his heart.
Fia was not as quick to deny. “Perhaps fate knows something we have yet to discover.”
His hand stretched out and caught the back of her neck, holding her firm. “Do you bewitch me, wife?”
“I believe it is you who bewitches me since I have never felt as I do when I am with you, when you hold my hand, when you kiss me. It is like the trees in the woods in their winter slumber when finally awakened, ready to come fully alive again. I have never felt as fully alive as I have when I am with you, especially when you kiss me.”
“I have never known love. I know not how it feels,” he said, “but I do know I find great pleasure in being with you. So, I ask you again. Do you bewitch me, make me feel strange things, make me desire you?”
“I will repeat this to you as often as needed… I am no witch. I am a healer, a wise woman from a long line of wise women and I am proud to be one. I have no power over you, and I cannot in any way make you love me. That is your choice alone to make.”
He lowered his mouth to hers to kiss her gently and briefly. “If that is so, and we choose to consummate our vows here and now, then you will forever stay my wife and live your days out here with me. You will bear my children, you will obey me, you will be a good wife, on this I will have your word.”