Total pages in book: 32
Estimated words: 29980 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 150(@200wpm)___ 120(@250wpm)___ 100(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 29980 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 150(@200wpm)___ 120(@250wpm)___ 100(@300wpm)
Ouin’s excited cry drew Sarya out of herself. She led Foggy to where Bannin was speaking with Helana’s family near the goat pen. Though she felt both Aven’s and Helana’s curious gazes upon her, Sarya’s focus was only on Ouin, who’d turned to her with a hopeful expression.
“Uncle says you want me to care for your special horse while you hunt the demon?”
“The goats and chickens, too, if you can. They’d be in danger at my home—so I would be counting on you to protect them, just like you’re protecting your family.”
“I can do it!”
Though the way he puffed up his narrow chest made her want to smile, she narrowed her eyes. “Are you certain? You’d also have to feed them, collect the eggs, milk the nannies—those two brown ones, not the one with the babies—and Foggy likes to be brushed every day. It’s a lot of work.”
“I’m strong enough.”
“All right, then. Let me introduce you to Foggy so he knows who you are. Stay still, he’s going to smell you.” The boy didn’t move a muscle as she brought the stallion near to sniff his shirt, the horse’s large nostrils blowing. “Foggy, this is Ouin. Ouin. He’s our friend. Ouin.”
“I’ll protect you,” Ouin said softly to the big horse. He looked to Sarya. “Can I ride him?”
“Do you know how?” She looked to Helana and Aven for confirmation. When they nodded, she said, “You may. But not in the woods. And only after you’ve finished all of your other work. If you do it well, you can earn these.”
His jaw dropped when she brought out her medals. She flicked through them, letting him see the impressed designs.
Awe filled his voice. “These were for fighting monsters?”
“For protecting Galoth. Just as you will earn them by protecting your family and home. I’ll give them to your parents and they can decide when you’ve earned one. All right?”
Eagerly he nodded, then looked to Bannin. “Do you have any medals, Uncle?”
Bannin grinned. “I wasn’t in the Horse Guards, so all I’ve earned fighting monsters is a few thumps on the head.”
With a sudden smirk, Helana began, “But you might have—”
“Too late. I already told her.”
“Pfft.” Helana pursed her lips, then looked to Sarya as she approached with a double handful of medals. A conciliatory look softened her eyes as Sarya passed them over. Quietly she said, “Thank you—for Ouin. And…ask my brother about being second.”
Though baffled, Sarya gave a small nod. She turned and found Bannin near, the small sack that held their provisions for the day slung over his broad shoulder and his axe in hand. “Ready to hunt?”
Bannin nodded, his gaze moving between Helana and her. He seemed about to say something…then didn’t, and Sarya felt like she’d been kicked in the chest.
For the best, Helana had said. Maybe it was. So what if his kiss set on her fire? If his look melted her inside? She didn’t need this hurt. She’d sworn off lust and love for this very reason.
Better to just focus on the hunt.
Then again, the necessity of remaining quiet while hunting meant that she was trapped in her own head, so she could do nothing but think upon Bannin’s unusual reticence.
Because she’d misjudged him before. What if she had again? What if she’d let her own fears and worries color her perception?
For certain, she’d discovered something true and unexpected about herself this morn—that being abandoned by Crase and her parents had damaged Sarya even more than she’d known. She had healed. But the scar that remained was far more sensitive than she’d realized. Probably because nothing had pressed against it before.
Until Bannin had pressed it. Then Helana had pressed hard, too.
And in her pain, Sarya had retreated and assumed they’d found her lacking.
But that wasn’t fair to Bannin. Perhaps it wasn’t fair to Helana, either, but at least Helana’s motivation was clear. She wanted her brother to be happy. Sarya could hardly blame her for doubting whether happiness was possible with someone who’d rejected him. And still, at the end…Helana had possibly given her a way forward.
Perhaps she was a friend.
And what had been Sarya’s own motivation? She’d slammed the door in Bannin’s face because she hadn’t thought him serious. But that had been before she’d understood him better. Before she’d realized he was far more serious than she’d believed. So if she took all that he’d said about courting her, about how he would have waited for her, and if she believed it…then she simply could not believe that he would give up any thought of courting her merely because he’d learned that everyone else she loved had given up.
Either he was serious or he was not. And she believed he was.
So his reticence had to be something else.
Though not fully confident, her heart was lighter by the time they stopped for luncheon, sitting back-to-back on the bridge spanning the river. In this way, they could still keep an eye on their full surroundings—and she rather liked the warm and solid feel of him behind her.