AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I was piqued and bewitched, though.
“You need to lead your target. Not shoot blindly at it, like you did with the hare.” She dug the knife in deeper with that prod, and it made me reappraise my opinion of the girl once more.
I rolled my eyes. “Thank you, madam huntress.”
She smiled at my sarcasm and bowed her head. “You’re welcome, sir minstrel.”
We walked for some time without much affair, and she managed to snag us another rabbit to take back to camp. We needed at least two more for the men, and the sun was sharpening its descent below the trees.
“We ought to be getting back,” I said.
She ignored me. “I’ve asked Friar Tuck, so I’ll pose the same question to you, Alan-a-Dale: What’s a dandy minstrel such as yourself doing with such rowdy men?”
I smirked. “Rowdy men are my specialty, love.”
She snorted in a very unladylike fashion. I loved it.
“You know what I mean,” she said.
I slapped some tickling leaves out of my face. “We all have histories, songbird. Some of us keep them close to our chest.”
She mulled those words over and, to my surprise, didn’t pry. Just like I hadn’t with her brother.
We continued on.
Minutes later, my curiosity became too much. “My turn. Your eyes sparkled when I invited you to hunt. Why did you jump at the opportunity to join a stranger in the woods? Alone. Armed. Do I really pose that little of a threat to you—a man twice your size?”
“Because my ass hurt from sitting so long.”
An unexpected laugh broke past my lips. “I thought that’s all that noblewomen did all day? Sit on carriages, sit on chairs, sit on cocks. Pump out babies.”
She wasn’t offended by my language. She laughed. “I suppose you’ve never been much of a noblewoman.”
“I’ve tried.” That earned another laugh, and I smiled. “I’ve certainly played for them. And with them.”
Her lips pursed at that. She fell silent. The mirth siphoned out of her features, and I worried I’d said the wrong thing—gotten too arrogant with the way I spoke.
“Why did you ask me to join you?” When she posed the question, I wondered where her sudden reticence stemmed from. Jealousy?
No. It can’t be. “Because you’re interesting,” I said matter-of-factly as we passed under some branches. I scanned the area and recognized a boulder I knew as a landmark. “Much more than the dull bunch at camp. Also, you’re new. I like to learn about my prey before pouncing.”
Her eyes widened, cheeks flushing as she stared straight ahead.
My wicked smile returned. What I would pay to read her thoughts this very moment. “And to see how you’d react,” I added, changing the subject for her sake.
“How am I faring so far?”
It took a moment for me to come up with a reasonable response. We hopped over a burbling creek and came upon a deeply forested hill. It would be hard to navigate down the hill, so I made to turn us around, but she didn’t budge.
“I’d say you’re faring fine. You can actually carry a conversation. You aren’t the sniveling, highborn nance I originally took you for,” I said. “Many a lad and lady would strip themselves bare and kneel at my feet the first second they could.”
“Ah, so you’re handsome and humble, I see.”
I smirked. “Humility never benefited the storyteller, little songbird.”
She crouched and peered down the hill for a route to the trail below. The undergrowth here was thick, close to the ground, dusted white from spider webs.
I didn’t enjoy spiders, so I searched for an alternate route. My head twisted left and right. The air became thick with pollen and a heady smell of earth.
