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“Do not even suggest that the witch is Arawn,” Varrick said. “She has only been freed from a dungeon and need I remind you, Argus, why she was freed? To help us.”
“You cannot combat evil with evil,” Brother Luke warned.
“I disagree, Brother Luke. I have seen evil men battle evil many times,” Varrick said.
“Aye, he’s right. I’ve seen it myself,” Argus agreed.
“Then send her to the God of Death, my lord, and see if she can stop the wrath that will rain down upon you,” Brother Luke urged, “for Arawn will not leave until he gluts himself on souls.”
“How do you know these things about him?” Varrick asked.
“There was a Welsh cleric who sought sanctuary at the monastery and spoke with firsthand knowledge about Arawn. He saw it for himself at a village he had been sent to tend along with other monks. The dying did not end until the hell hounds howled no more.”
“An illness could have claimed them,” Fia said, offering a reasonable explanation.
Brother Luke shook his head. “No one took ill. They simply died one by one.”
Silence settled over the room as the monk’s words were considered.
Varrick finally commanded, “Leave us.”
With nods to Varrick, both men left the room.
He paced in front of the table, not looking at Fia. How did he send her into such danger when he was not sure if she was a witch or simply a healer? And why should he even worry one way or the other? She meant nothing to him and even now she could be tricking him.
Fia could almost feel the battle that waged within him as his strides turned more powerful. He fought with the decision he had to make, and she wondered why. Wasn’t it the very reason he had brought her here? Why hesitate now? She, however, thought of this moment as an opportunity and fearing she might not get another, she took it.
“I will go into the forest and try to find and talk with Arawn.”
Varrick stopped pacing and stared at her in disbelief. Was she that secure in her magic or evil that she did not fear facing Arawn?
Fia hurried to add. “On one condition.”
His disbelief grew that she would bargain with him.
Fia did not wait for him to protest, she continued to hurry and have her say. “You allow me to tend Ella and her bairn.”
With his clan’s need for her, she could have asked for almost anything for herself, but she hadn’t. She asked to help Ella and the bairn. But how did he agree when it would mean leaving her in the forest alone with no protection and why did he feel such an overpowering need to protect her?
Fia stood and walked around the table and placed her hand gently on his chest, only then recalling his words that she was not to touch him without permission. But since he did not protest, she let her hand rest there. “Please let me do this. Let me help.”
Her touch felt as if she reached deep down into his chest to hug his heart gently and the sense of how much she cared overwhelmed him so much that it startled him. What power did this woman have over him that made him feel that she cared for him? No one had ever made him feel that way. No one had ever cared for him. He wanted to linger in it, let it seep deep down into him so he would never forget the sensation of a caring hug.
Fia saw it in his blue eyes, felt it trickle through her hand.
He has never known a caring touch.
To hear that hurt her heart, though explained much about him and she wondered what she could do to help him. She also wondered why a simple touch of her hand on him brought a strange feeling to nestle in her own heart.
“I will take you to Ella,” he said, knowing this had to be done and having the strange sense that she had no intention of harming Ella or the bairn.
“Thank you, Varrick, you are a good man,” she said softly.
The tenderness in which she intimately spoke his name echoed through his head the whole way to Marsh and Ella’s cottage and he silently cursed himself for letting it linger there. He should ignore it and ignore the way he had instinctively grabbed her hand and locked it tight in his.
“What is she doing here?” Marsh demanded, spotting Fia as he waited outside his cottage, Argus and Corwin there with him standing around a fire to keep warm.
Merry stepped out of the cottage then, leaving no time for a response. Marsh rushed to her and seeing tears in the woman’s eyes, he stopped before he reached her.
