Queen of Men (King Maker 2)

“I haven’t…” After the words were out of my mouth, I remembered what Turner and I had done.

“At least my thoughts of murder one have lessened to manslaughter.” He chuckled at his own humor.

“I really should go find him,” I said, turning to leave.

He held up a hand. “We should leave tonight.”

“I haven’t agreed to go anywhere with you.”

His eyes darkened. “You can run, lass. But you can’t hide.”

I stepped off the porch, needing distance from this man before I gave in to my growing need to be closer to him.

As I walked away, he said, “I won’t watch him touch you.”

Before I could think of a snarky response, a yell broke in the night. “Fire.” And then the bell from the schoolhouse rang.

I looked back at Kalen, and we both turned to look in the darkening sky and spotted the rising smoke. Before I took off at a dead run, I saw him bend and pick up the satchel I’d forgotten he had. What could be so important that he had to bring to the scene of a raging fire?

Twenty-Seven

A billow of black mixed with the gray clouds above. A chain of people were already working as a team, sending buckets of water from the pump to toss onto the fire that threatened to get out of control.

Sick with the thought that Mary’s house was lit with flames, I didn’t think but took action. I snagged extra buckets from nearby houses and filled them with their pumps to help stop this before it turned catastrophic. It was possible another house would be consumed if one burning ember in the growing breeze reached a dry spot.

Then Kalen was there, taking over the job of pumping while I held the buckets to be filled. His impressive muscles worked as if he was familiar with the task.

I’d spotted Turner at the front of the raging blaze, tossing the water onto the hot spots. I didn’t have to count to know everyone was here. If it was one thing our community did well, it was come together as one to overcome a crisis.

What I hadn’t let myself acknowledge was that I hadn’t seen Mary or her baby. I couldn’t allow myself to think they were caught inside.

By faith and by all the helping hands, the fire was extinguished before anything else could burn. Full-on darkness had almost settled in when Mary, carrying her son, came to inspect the damage to my relief. Her husband, Thomas, at her side, was covered in soot but appeared unscathed. He’d obviously been among the men who had been working hard to save their house.

Though everyone had been urged back to their homes to clean up and go on with dinner, when I caught Mary’s lips trembling, it didn’t matter how she annoyed me at times. She was my sister and I went to her, gathering her in a hug, being careful not to squeeze my nephew as her quiet sobs broke my heart.

When she finally pulled back, it was just family left to stare at what was left of the house.

“His room,” Mary cried, pointing to the part of the house that had taken the most damage. “This is where his room is. What if he’d been in there?”

Mother went in and took my place holding Mary as I thought about her question.

My nephew was still small, and I suspected he still slept in a cradle in the room with his parents. Grief, however, was understandable, so I didn’t feel the need to make that point.

“It can be fixed. It’s mostly external,” I said, though I was far from an expert. “Thank goodness for the rain we got last night. The wood was moist and not prime for fire.”

My father agreed and he and my brothers made promises to Thomas they would be among the first to help them rebuild.

Which only begged the question as to how her house had been utterly consumed by fire.

She nodded. “Who would have done this?” she wailed to no one in particular.

That was the question. With no electricity, faulty wiring couldn’t be to blame. The steady rain we’d gotten last night hadn’t included a thunderstorm that could have produced a lightning strike. Furthermore, the fireplace wasn’t on this side of the house. This most definitely had been deliberate.

The answer that came to me wasn’t one I wanted to believe. Mary called after me. “Where are you going?” There was no time to wait, no time to explain.

My breathing was labored when I reached the house. I banged on the door until it opened.

Kalen stood with wet hair with a towel slung around his waist.

“Eyes up here,” he said with amusement.

I quickly shifted my focus from the towel and the bulge there to the smirk on his face as he tapped at the corner of his eye. I pulled it together and ignored the fact that he’d caught me.