AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“With pleasure, my lord,” Argus said.
It wasn’t long before the Great Hall was quiet, except for the servants hurrying around to clean off the tables.
“Bring a hot brew to my solar,” Varrick ordered and pressed his hand to the small of his wife’s back to ease her out of the room.
Fia felt the strength of his simple yet intimate touch and its possessiveness. He touched her with a need, an urgency, to connect almost as if he joined with her. And he did, with a kiss as soon as they entered his solar.
She loved his strong, powerful kisses. It was like he was telling her he loved her each time he kissed her, and she did not think she would ever get tired of feeling his love or hearing him tell her.
A knock at the door ended their kiss, but he managed to whisper, “I love you, wife.” Before the servant entered.
It was not until she was settled by the hearth, a tankard in her hand, did Varrick say, “Something weighs on your mind. I can feel it.”
He had felt it in the Great Hall, and it had lingered with her to his solar, though faded some when he kissed her, then rose again afterward.
“You are sensitive to what I feel,” she said, pleased that she would share with her husband what her mum and da had shared… a powerful love.
“Aye, I am, and glad for it,” he admitted and kissed her brow. “Now tell me what bothers you.”
“I wonder if our unexpected stop at the monastery had caused a quick plan to be devised and a monk sent along with us to keep watch until his fellow warriors returned for him when the time was right.”
Varrick’s brow crinkled in thought. “For what possible reason?”
“Abbott John spoke of his superior and how he did not question him. Who might that be? And whoever this person might be, could he be the one who holds ill will against you?”
CHAPTER28
Varrick climbed the stairs to his bedchamber to spend a moment with his wife since he had to return to the Great Hall and continue to go over the plans he had devised with Argus, Corwin and Marsh having already been dispatched to carry out some of them.
His wife’s suggestion about the Abbott’s superior had haunted him. Did the Abbott speak of his superior in the church or the benefactor of the monastery, Lord David? Or was there another benefactor more generous than Lord David?
He stopped at the door to his bedchamber and chased the endless questions from his mind. He wanted nothing to disturb the limited time he had with his wife.
The door rushed open before Varrick’s hand reached the latch and his wife threw herself into his arms, hugging him tight. His arms circled her, holding her just as tightly as he entered the room and kicked the door shut behind him.
“I only have so long before I must return to my warriors. I wanted to make certain you were all right.” Varrick was surprised when she took a quick step away from him.
“You will not sleep the night before a possible battle?”
“I will catch what sleep I can after I am sure all is prepared,” he said, reaching out to ease her back in his arms, not liking the emptiness he felt when she left them.
“Then you will return here to sleep,” she said as if she commanded it.
“I will get no sleep if I return here, wife.”
“I will not demand anything of you,” she said.
“But I would of you, for I have a relentless need to love you,” Varrick said, fighting not to kiss her, knowing where it would lead, and not having the time to spare with a possible battle on the horizon. The thought had him asking, “Do you see battle for me?”
“It has not been shown to me, though that does not mean there will be no battle,” she advised him. “My knowing comes when it wants to. My grandmother warned me it was not meant to be controlled or understood. It was meant to simply be accepted. But you have fought many battles with a shield of courage and confidence and won them. Surely, this battle will be no different.
“It is different, wife, far different than any battle I have ever fought. Courage and confidence did not shield me in battle. It was the fearlessness of death that shielded me. I cared not if I lived or died. Victory was all that mattered to me, and I killed anyone who stood in my way of it.” He took hold of her chin, giving it a slight squeeze. “Then you entered my life and gave me a reason to live. I do not fear battle, but I now fear dying, never seeing you again, not being here for the birth of our son. I suppose I am not as fearless as I once was.” He kissed her lightly.
She sighed softly. “You have not lost your fearlessness. You have gained more of it since it took even more fearlessness for you to open your heart and love. Now you will fight fearlessly to live and love and that is a more powerful fearlessness than you have known.”
His heart swelled with a love so strong he thought it would burst. There was so much he wanted to say to her, instead, he kissed her.
Fia loved when he claimed her lips with a loving force that demanded her response, and she gave it willingly. She sensed the difference in this kiss that enticed yet felt it was as if it also bid her farewell. He worried he would never see her again and so he would leave her with a kiss she would never forget, and he did.
