AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“The devil does not want me, Brother Luke, for when I find myself in hell, I would take command of it and it will be the devil who serves me,” Varrick said with such conviction that Brother Luke shivered and hurried to bless himself.
“I will pray for you, my son,” Brother Luke said.
“I am no one’s son. Save your prayers for others,” Varrick snapped.
Fia thought on his words as they returned to the keep.
“You will sleep in my bedchamber tonight,” Varrick ordered just before reaching the stairs.
“You worry I will slip out and go into the woods alone, since you hesitate about sending me there?” she asked as they climbed the stairs.
“Do not question my decisions,” was all he would say, annoyed that she had assumed right. Once in his bedchamber, he ordered, “Sleep, dawn will come soon enough.”
Fia walked to the bed and sat. “What did you mean that you are no one’s son? You must have had parents.”
“None that wanted me,” he said with a bitterness he could not hide.
Curiosity and sensing the hurt he tried to hide made her want to know more. “Who raised you?”
“A heartless woman and a cruel man who worked me from the day I could hold an object in my hand. Then when I was barely nine years, they sold me to a man who worked me just as hard. After only a few horrific months I ran away and survived on my own—” He stopped abruptly, not knowing why he spoke of his past to her when he had never shared it with anyone.
Fia’s heart filled with pain for him, and she hurried to him and rested a gentle hand on his chest. “How horrible for you to never know a caring touch, to never have anyone show you kindness, to never have anyone love you.”
He lowered his head until his brow almost rested against hers. “I do not need love, nor do I need to give it. I do what is necessary. That is enough.”
“Until it isn’t,” Fia whispered softly and tapped his chest. “Your heart will want more one day and fate will leave you no choice.”
Varrick’s hand shot to her face capturing it in a firm squeeze. “Fate does not dictate my life—I do. Now go to bed.” He shoved her away from him and turned to go stand by the hearth.
The only garment she removed before slipping beneath the blankets was her tunic. She rested on her side and focused on the width of her husband’s shoulders and the trimness of his waist and his mighty strength. Tales of his endless conquests had put fear of him into her before she had even met him. Who would not fear hearing that he commanded an army of the dead, but she had seen no such evidence of it. What she did see, to her surprise, was a legendary Highlander born out of necessity. A man who had never known love and believed he did not need it. A man who did not understand how much he craved love.
Fia yawned and her eyes closed on her, her last thought before she fell asleep was… the realization that she craved love just as much as he did.
Varrick’s thoughts were in turmoil. Never had he ever questioned a decision he had made. It was the reason he knew constant victory. He never doubted his plans, his action, himself until… he turned and looked at Fia.
She had changed everything. He now struggled with his decision to bring her here. He struggled accepting that she was a witch since he saw few signs of her being one. He struggled with his attraction to her, with an insatiable need to kiss her, hold her, touch her…keep her.
He ran his hand through his hair, frustrated. He had not wanted to admit that he found pleasure spending time with his wife, walking through the village with her, talking, watching how calm and gentle she was when tending to people or talking with them. He had never known that with a woman and now that he had, he did not want to let it go, let Fia go. He knew that one day he would need to wed and produce an heir to the clan. His plan had been to arrange a beneficial marriage. He had not thought twice about agreeing to Chieftain Newlin’s demand to wed Fia. He had no intention of keeping her as his wife.
Now when he thought about not having her there with him, not talking with her, not seeing her lovely face light with a smile, not feeling his hand close around her gentle one or feel her press against him when fearful, and never kiss her again, a rage roared within him that he did not think he could control.
Witch or healer? Which was she? Or did he care?
He went to the single chair near the hearth and dropped down on it, needing to rid himself of the burden heavy upon him. He had brought her here for a purpose and he needed to see that done. What would happen afterwards was another matter. And that was a question and decision that continued to haunt him.
* * *
“You will stayby me at all times,” Varrick ordered, adjusting his wife’s cloak around her, the day proving colder than yesterday.
“You have said that enough times to me for it to become instinctive,” Fia said, a soft smile on her face.
Her smiles were like arrows to his heart, though more delightfully painful than deadly. She had to be a witch for him to think that and for her smile to spark such pleasure in him.
Annoyance with himself turned his tongue curt. “Then I need not remind you again.”
Her smile blossomed. “But you will anyway.”
Did she know that for sure or was she being playful with him?
