She looked up and locked eyes with him. For the first time she saw a note of kindness in his expression. It twisted her insides and softened her heart. She startled as her mind put a name to the feeling.
Longing.
A shiver ran down her spine at the realization. She longed for him. For his touch and to hear him speak her name. She was happy here at his side. Happier than she’d ever been.
“What pains you, Leola Grace?” he said, his voice suddenly soft and low and soothing.
She nearly melted at the question. “It is nothing that should trouble you, Master,” she replied.
He put a heavy hand on her shoulder, the weight of it comforting somehow. “I will be the judge of that. Now out with it. You’ve already earned yourself a spanking when we return to the tent.”
Her stomach fluttered at the lewd promise. Her eyes darted to his. For a moment she thought she saw a smile begin to form at the corner of his mouth.
“For testing my patience and making me draw this out of you,” he explained. “Now speak.”
Excitement and trepidation fluttered through her at the thought of the heavy hand resting on her shoulder falling onto her bottom with a loud clap. “Yes, Master,” she whispered. She drew a breath and held it, steeling herself for the admission she was about to make. She straightened, doing her best to keep her dignity intact. “I was… told you are to marry soon,” she said. “And I worry about my fate, and then I… you seem displeased, you did not… lay with me, as I had been… expecting… and I…” She lowered her eyes. “I am confused, Master,” she admitted at last.
His brow furrowed for a moment. “Does it trouble you, that I will marry?” he asked.
She lowered her eyes to the ground. Her cheeks felt like they’d caught fire. A part of her hated him for making her dredge this secret up out of herself and share it with him. A far larger part never wanted to be apart from him again.
I’m going mad.
Her stomach did a flip when he put his finger on her chin and raised her head. “Dorva is a gossip,” he said quietly. His eyes wandered back and forth between her own, his gaze inquisitive. “Take what she says with a grain of salt or three.”
Her heart skipped a beat, hope swelling inside her chest. “It is not true then?” she asked.
He studied her so long she turned to look away again, unable to stand his searching gaze. “It is not for you to worry about,” he finally said. “It’s also no matter for Dorva’s flapping tongue, nor anyone else’s.”
“Of course,” she whispered. “Master—Dorva did not, she told me of your marriage yesterday. Today when I spoke of… you… she told me to be quiet and spoke not another word. I do not wish her to be in trouble.”
Sedrak looked at her warmly. They sat in silence for a moment.
“But tell me,” he said, straightening and folding his large arms across his chest. “Why would that news trouble you?” A smile finally appeared along his lips. Slightly playful and the tiniest bit wicked.
She shook her head, mortified at being forced to admit her deepest feelings.
He spared her from that embarrassment. Putting her hand on her arm he turned and led her further down the road until they were standing at the babbling brook, the winter ice thawing into cool spring waters under the warm sun. “I would often summer here,” he said, looking out over the rolling hills and toward the massive mountains in the distance. “My uncle’s keep is up the road. You will see it tomorrow as we travel North,” he said, pointing in that direction. “The fondest memories I have of childhood are of this place.”
She looked at him, touched by his tender tone and reminiscence. The way the sunlight struck him softened his features, his normally stern expression lighter. Almost happy, it seemed.
He turned to her. “And what about you?”
“What about me, Master?”
“Are there happy memories that you cherish? How was life with your uncle when you were young?”
His question warmed her. “My uncle provided for me as he promised my parents he would,” she replied. Despite his sometimes cold and detached demeanor Ryken had never been unkind. She had an inkling that it pained him, not having children of his own. And while Sedrak could do as he pleased she wanted to make it known that she did not care to hear him speak ill of Ryken.
A silence fell between them with Sedrak watching her as she stared out over the gently burbling stream.
“I would not have killed him,” Sedrak finally said, his voice almost a whisper.
The memory of that night shot through her like a lightning bolt. She stiffened as she remembered racing down the stairs, knowing Ryken’s life was in her hands and that she might not make it in time to save him. “That is… kind of you to say, Master.”
“He needed to be taught a lesson, Leola. I know your people think we are barbarians…”
She shook her head and was about to protest what he’d said.
He gripped her arm. “No lies, remember?”
Her eyes fell and she nodded. His presence was unsettling. As if he knew what she meant to say even before she said it.
“You think we are barbarians for the ways in which we hunt and gather instead of tilling our lands the way you do. But we are people, too. We want to live in peace. We want to know love and joy and feel the warmth of our hearths in the winter. Your uncle’s lesson was a long time coming. I hope he heeds it.”
It touched her, what he’d said. Standing with him at the water’s edge, she began
