Total pages in book: 101
Estimated words: 92771 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 464(@200wpm)___ 371(@250wpm)___ 309(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 92771 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 464(@200wpm)___ 371(@250wpm)___ 309(@300wpm)
Though her mum might be disappointed in Shade’s marriage, she would still look after her cottage while Shade was gone. She would also let people know that Shade had gone to help Ula. She did not think that her mum or Rawlin would say anything about her being wed to The Monk. They would receive that news as shocked as everyone else and hope that when Shade returned home, it would be without a husband.
Quint had not kissed her since she learned that he was The Monk. She assumed it was on purpose, though why she wasn’t sure. Did he think she would deny him? That she would believe him a stranger to her. He was no stranger. He was Quint, the man she loved, the man she knew, and she missed his kisses especially with it being their wedding day.
It hadn’t been lost on her that their vows were yet to be sealed, leaving their marriage vulnerable.
Quint entered the cottage, a strong gust of wind entering with him to swirl around the room and send a chill through her.
The words fell from her lips before she had a chance to think better of it. “Who do I sleep with tonight?”
He responded quickly. “You sleep with Quint tonight, but you wake in the morn beside The Monk.” He waited to hear how she would respond. It worried him for he feared he would lose his wife before he had a chance to be a husband to her. Her response surprised him.
“I look forward to meeting him.”
“You might think differently when you do,” he warned.
“We’ll see,” she said, though worried. What if The Monk was the raging madman everyone believed him to be? What if she couldn’t save his soul?
Trust and faith.
That was what she had told Brother Emmett helped her be a skilled healer and he had smiled, telling her those were the very two things that made him a good monk.
She left what she was doing at the narrow table and went to her husband and kissed him. He stood stiff at first barely returning her kiss. Then it was as though something fell away and he slipped one arm around her waist and nearly lifted her feet off the earthen floor as he pulled her up against him. His kiss turned demanding, and she responded in kind, sensing an unusually strong need for him.
He turned and walked with her to the bed. There were times they took their time and explored each other and other times their need outweighed patience. This was one of those times. Her need and his were too great to linger. Her body had burst to life as soon as his kiss changed, and she wanted nothing more than to feel him inside her.
Their hands hurried their garments off each other, and they fell on the bed together.
“I should take my time with you. It is our wedding day,” he said.
“I don’t want you to,” she said, spreading her legs for him. “I need you now.”
“Thank the heavens,” he said with a light chuckle.
She chuckled as well. “It isn’t the heavens you should be thanking.”
“Oh, believe me, wife, I definitely intend to thank you.”
Shade rested against her husband’s naked body, spent from making love after getting in bed later that night. This time they had taken their time and explored, teased, and satisfied. She loved those intimate moments they shared, the comfort, the closeness, the love.
“I never asked you, Shade. Do you believe in revenge?”
She thought about it as it related to her healing. “Healers can only do so much for the ill and some people get upset when I cannot save their loved ones from dying. It is far easier to blame the healer then death itself. There are those who believe revenge is the only way to solve their pain and suffering.”
“Sometimes revenge is the only way. So, I take it that you don’t believe in revenge?”
“I don’t know since I was never thrust into a situation where revenge was given a thought. But I have seen the results of revenge, and it can be never-ending, its tentacles reaching out far and wide and often trapping the innocent.”
“Do you think forgiveness is the answer?” he asked, never considering that such tentacles could have somehow reached out and trapped Amara.
“I don’t know if there is a correct answer. I don’t know if endless pain and suffering can be found in forgiveness or retribution. And I don’t believe anyone knows what they would do in any given situation until they are faced with it. Only then, I think the answer can be found.”
“On that we agree,” Quint said, a difficult lesson he had learned. He heard her yawn and felt a shiver rush through her naked body. Quint pulled another blanket over them and tucked her close against him. “Sleep. It is a full day’s ride to Clan MacLeish, and we will make few stops before we stop for the night tomorrow.”