“My fault.”
Snow recognized the voice. It was Twilla.
“I told them Runa was busy tending someone and offered them a hot brew in my cottage while they waited. Besides, Snow appeared too pale to continue walking. I figured after she rested a bit, I’d see that she got safely to Runa.”
Tarass looked to Snow. She did look pale. “Your wound pains you?”
She didn’t like to lie. Lies had a way of growing and suddenly erupting and he did sound concerned. So she went for the truth in a roundabout way. “The pain has eased.” And the pain had eased… since yesterday.
“I’ll take you to Runa,” Tarass said.
“Let me give her a hug first, she’s such a sweet thing,” Twilla said. “Nettle, bring her to me. These old bones ache too much for me to take another step.”
Nettle took Snow’s arm and walked her the few steps to Twilla, then stepped away.
Twilla hugged Snow and whispered in her ear. “Be careful, don’t provoke the Lord of Fire or you may release the devil himself.”
Snow forced a smile, the old woman’s warning words frightening and alarming her, but she didn’t want anyone to see that. James had warned her time and again about making the Lord of Fire angry.
“You don’t know what he’s capable of, Snow,” James would say.
Tarass had shown her some kindness so was he truly as formidable as so many warned? And did she want to take the chance and find out?
Tomorrow.
She would go home tomorrow and this all would be over.
Snow laid in bed unable to sleep, the day’s events churning in her mind. She felt a twinge of guilt when she had seen how concerned Tarass had been when he had taken her to Runa.
Runa had even commented when they had been alone for her to examine Snow’s wound that Lord Tarass had seemed so anxious she had worried that he would remain in her cottage to see the wound himself. Not a proper thing for him to do at all. Still tender to the touch, Runa assured her that the wound showed no signs of turning putrid. She had been glad to hear that since she couldn’t see the wound herself.
Thaw laid sound asleep at the bottom of the bed, having moved there when Snow had disturbed him with her twisting and turning. She wished sleep would capture her and hug her tight, ridding her of endless, frustrating thoughts.
It seemed like forever before her eyes finally grew heavy and sleep drifted over her, and she was plunged once again into a nightmare.
The snowfall blinded, Snow couldn’t see anything. She called out for Thaw, but he didn’t answer her. She took a step and heard the snow crunch beneath her boots. She kept taking cautious steps one after the other, yet felt as if she remained in the same place since nothing changed around her.
One more step, one more, then another and another, she silently encouraged herself and thought she saw the snow clearing up ahead. She took an eager step and suddenly felt herself tumbling to the ground. She hurried to get herself up out of the snow, but plopped down on her bottom when she realized her foot was stuck on something. She stretched her hands expecting to find her foot stuck beneath a tree branch. She was shocked to feel cold flesh and even more shocked when she suddenly was able to see what trapped her. It was an arm and painted on the inner forearm from fold to wrist was a drawing of an arrow.
She started screaming. “Tarass! Tarass! Tarass!”
Thaw flew off the bed and out the door, making a mad dash for Tarass’s bedchamber, barking all the way up the curving staircase.
Tarass was at the door by the time the pup reached it, and Thaw hastily turned and headed back down the stairs, Tarass nearly on top of him.
He rushed to the bed and yanked Snow up in his arms, wrapping her tight against him. “I’ve got you. You’re safe, Snow. You’re safe.”
She flung her arms around his neck and she had no intention of letting go of him. He was alive and there with her and that was what mattered. The thought jolted her. She had been terrified to think Tarass was dead. What did that mean? Did she care for this man?
Impossible.
They did nothing but argue and disagree, and yet when frightened she looked to him for comfort and safety. When in his arms, she felt the safest she had in years. Like now. There was no other place she wanted to be but here warm and snug in his arms, and protected.
“It was a nightmare, nothing more. I’m here and you’re safe,” he assured her again.
His words soothed and his arms comforted, and she snuggled her face in the crook of his neck.