AllFreeNovel
Share Us
The man appeared from the trees like a wraith. He flipped his long golden hair off his shoulders and stared down his prominent nose at me. He wore the garb of a spotless squire.
Stopping ten feet away, he put his hands on his hips. “I was standing in those trees for a while, listening, wondering who you’re talking to . . . or if you’re just a madman.”
“You!” I snarled, thrusting a finger toward him.
He spread his arms wide. “Yes, it is I.”
“Peter Fisher.”
“That’s Sir Peter Fisher.”
“You’re no knight, heathen,” I spat through gritted teeth.
“Will be soon. My dubbing is next season. Besides, is that any way to talk to the man who saved you?”
“You told my father!” I accused. “He was ready to beat me.”
His brow furrowed with concern. Feigned concern, I was sure. “That was not my intention,” he mumbled, rubbing the back of his neck. Then a smirk cracked his lips. “I know your secret, you know.”
“What are you doing here?” My whole body was tense, ready to explode. I formulated an escape route through the trees to my right, and was ready to bolt like a squirrel if I had to.
“First, tell me who you were talking to,” he demanded, standing straight.
My body blocked the skull behind me. “No one. Myself.”
“So you are a madman. Well, madwoman. Or would that make you a witch?”
He was toying with me, leisurely closing the gap between us. His boots dragged, and I wondered if I could lunge and snap his shin if he got too close. Lord knew I was ready to try. Ready to take all my pent-up anger and frustration out on this silly, stupid nobleboy.
“You are quite pretty, you know. Under all that faux bravado and resentment and anger. A bit frail and bony”—his head bobbed left to right—“but that can be fixed.”
My head lurched. “What the hell are you on about?”
“What do you think? I’m your suitor. I’ve come calling.”
I paused a beat.
Then barked a laugh. It was an ugly sound, punching high into the sky. It sent a flock of birds flying out of the canopies.
He didn’t like that so much. His face twisted with scorn. “You laugh at me, girl?”
“I laugh because you think it works like that. I’m not interested, Sir Fisher. So why don’t you leave me alone?”
With a click of his tongue, he took another step forward. Only five feet from me now, and I could make out every line of his fair face, every pore of the chin he so desperately wanted to fill with a beard, but couldn’t.
“No, no. Can’t do that. Not after what I saw in your window.”
“In my—what?!” I stepped back and bumped into the stump, nowhere to go.
“How do you think I found you, girl? Found your father?” He snorted. “I never even caught your name.”
“And you won’t get it.”
Taking one more step, his body seemed to deflate. He raised his hands, palms out in apparent surrender. “Look. I think we got started off on the wrong foot. Let’s just talk.”
My eyes darted, desperate for a rescuer. I only then realized the dead boar from yesterday was gone. The hunter had taken it. God, what I’d give to see that woodsman’s rugged face again. That bowstring taut as he aims at this boy’s throat.
I needed a savior . . . but I knew none was coming.
