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)
“Aye, my lord.”
Fia made it back to the table before her husband opened the door.
“Are you going to pretend you did not hear that exchange? Varrick asked as he approached his wife.
She smiled. “I was going to try.”
He shook his head, bewildered. “How can you smile and joke when you just heard that there are those who want to see you burn at the stake?”
“I have faith that you would never let that happen. Besides, the fools do not realize that snow covers the ground in abundance. It would be difficult to find enough dry wood to burn me at the stake.”
He shook his head again, only this time he smiled. “You think quickly, wife.”
“Wisdom always prevails over anger and fear. If those warriors were not so fearful, they would have realized that hanging or drowning me would work better.”
Varrick cringed. The images of his wife burning at the stake was bad enough to imagine without adding hanging and drowning to it.
He took her in his arms. “Never would I allow that to happen to you.” He rested his hand on her stomach. “To either of you.”
“I know,” she said, resting her hand over his. “That is why I do not let it worry me.” She kissed him lightly, enjoying his potent, forest scent that wrapped around her like a loving embrace. “Now let’s see if I can find anything that might explain Brother Luke’s sudden death.”
“There are few items here that will be able tell us much of anything,” Varrick said, reluctantly releasing her and immediately missing the feel of the way she tucked so perfectly against him as if they fit as one.
“You’re right,” Fia said.
He forced his focus on the items on the table.
“He lived a sparse life but then that is the way of a monk.” She looked from one item to the next. A cross. A comb missing several teeth. A bowl. A tankard.
The body reveals the secret.
Of course, she should have thought of that first, but was grateful for the revelation.
She turned to her husband. “I need to see the body.”
“That is not wise, Fia,” Varrick warned. “It is already thought that you cursed him dead. People will assume you wish to do him more harm.”
“Then you must sneak me into where the body is being kept since there is no way to bury him with the ground frozen.”
When she shook her head, Varrick assumed she had thought better of it and was relieved, until she spoke.
“Nay. It would not be good for you to take me there. People will think I have bewitched you and that you do my bidding. I must go there alone.”
Varrick let loose with a hardy laugh.
“I am not joking,” Fia said, annoyed he thought it humorous.
His laughter vanished, replaced by a glare that for a moment frightened her, especially when his hand shot out to grip the back of her neck and hold it tight.
“Listen well, wife, I forbid, ABSOLUTELY FORBID, you to do such a foolish thing.”
Her shoulders slumped as her whole body sighed along with her. “It is necessary, Varrick. There is something there that will help me discover the answer.”
He looked ready to argue.
“Please,” she said softly. “I would not take such a chance if I was not sure there was something there to find.”
He shook his head before resting his brow to hers. “You make sense far too often, wife, leaving me with a dilemma.”
“We could go at night when no one is about. You trust Argus, so he could go with us to see that nothing strange happens in case we are discovered.”
He raised his head and let his hand drop away from her neck. “It should not be necessary for me to sneak around within my own castle’s walls.”
“I agree it is unfortunate, but what other recourse do we have?”
Varrick could not believe what he was about to say. “We go tonight at the late hour when all are in bed asleep. I will have Argus join us, possibly Marsh as well.”
“Whatever it takes since there is something there to be found,” Fia assured him.
It was late, not a soul stirred. Light flurries fell and the cold wind that blew stung the face.
Varrick kept his wife tucked close against him as they made their way as quietly as possible to the shelter where the monk’s body had been placed. It was where bodies of those who died during the winter when the frozen ground made burial impossible were kept. The shelter had been placed a distance from the village since none wanted to live near it, an advantage for their task at hand.
Varrick was aware that the sentinels made one nightly pass by the shelter. Still, precautions would be taken, Marsh keeping watch while Argus joined Varrick and Fia in the shelter to witness that nothing improper had taken place in case her visit was discovered.