He cut and carved and smoothed thepiece until his queen was just as he wanted her, with a mop ofshort curls crowning her head and a body that flowed and curvedwith the natural grain of the ash.He stood, stretched, thenhobbled into the cabin, where a bubbling cobbler sat on the kitchentable.
“What kind?”He went overand inhaled the delicious aroma.
“Blackberry.They growwild upstream.”
“Smellsdelicious.”
“It’s my favorite.”Shegave a sad smile.“Sophie would bake one every year for mybirthday.”
“When is yourbirthday?”
“Octoberthirty-first.”
“On All Hallows’Eve?”
“Aye.”
Talon chuckled.“That explains alot.”
“Such as?”she said, browsraised and arms akimbo.
“Such as how you’vemanaged to cast your spell over me, my lovely, lissome witch.”Henibbled at her ear, and she gave him a playful slap.“And I’d haveit no other way.”
“You think me worth theprice after all?”
“I always thought youworth the price.”He offered his scarred palm, touched the scarabove his eye, then laid his hand over his bandaged side.“And I’vealways paid it.Have I not?”She smiled in answer, and another partof their conversation her first day as his prisoner came to him.“How can you be certain of your exact birth date if you were left aswaddling babe at the abbey’s gate?”
Lara stared at him for a lengthymoment.Then she took a deep breath, and her words came tumblingout.“I wasn’t left at the abbey’s gates.I was born here, on thethirty-first day of October in the year 755 with a full moonrising.My mother died that same night and is buried in an unmarkedgrave here in the Hollow.”
When he could speak again, all Taloncould say was, “Your mother?”
Lara nodded.
“Then you know who shewas?Her family name?”
“No.”Lara shook her head.“My mother swore Sophie to a secrecy she never broke, not even tome.”
***
Lara
Lara set the newly finished game tablenext to the hearth, her fingertips stained a bluish purple from theberries she’d used to color the dark squares.She pulled thecabin’s two chairs over and took one as Talon pulled the gamepieces out of the basket and arranged them on the checkered board,putting the king of blonde ash and the queen with the crown ofcurls on his side, and the darker pieces on hers.She picked up ahorse head of stained beech and ran her fingers up and down theproud arch of its neck, much as she had done her first night asprisoner in Talon’s bedchamber at the keep only four monthsago.
She gazed at him over the crude woodenboard and pieces, so different from the glossy ivory and onyxpieces back at the keep, and thought of how different everythingwas now.She’d gone from freewoman to lidi to Hamm and back tofreewoman, from hating Captain Guiscard, her captor, to lovingTalon without really knowing when or how it happened, only that ithad.She’d lived a lifetime in the past four months, and except forlosing Sophie, she didn’t regret a thing.Especially when hegrinned at her like he was now.
“What?”shesaid.
“You look like a queen whojust stole my king.”
“I, ah…” She picked up herdark queen and ran her fingertip down the whorls of waist-lengthhair that blended into her robe.“I was thinking if you ever quityour wandering warrior ways, you’d make a good living as anartist.”
Talon’s grin grew.“I’ve been thinkingthe same thing.In fact, I had my eye on a tinker’s wagon at thelast market.Would’ve bought it too, if I hadn’t had to go after awildcat being chased by a pack of curs.”
“Lucky for her you did,else it would’ve been her bones bleaching in the woods.”
He clasped her hand with the queen andlifted it to his lips.“Lucky for me as well.”He dropped his voiceto a husky rumble.“Else who would I have to play with?”
Her entire body flushed at the tactilememory of where his hands and mouth had been playing last night.Then she remembered how he’d stiffened and grimaced when he’dtwisted his side during their bed play, and thought it best theystick to playing Shah for now.She picked up a pawn and made herfirst move.
