Total pages in book: 97
Estimated words: 89331 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 447(@200wpm)___ 357(@250wpm)___ 298(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 89331 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 447(@200wpm)___ 357(@250wpm)___ 298(@300wpm)
Flora saw that her husband had lingered in the area, and she was sure he waited around to see that she was safe. She hurried toward him.
“Did you learn much from Enid and Marna?” he asked as she nudged herself in the crook of his arm and he eagerly hugged her against him.
“I did. I am amazed at the love everyone has for the Highlands, though they agree it is not an easy place to live. That it can be harsh and demanding, yet they would live no other place. I cannot wait for the winter to pass. I am eager for the women to teach me about the healing plants that grow in the woods—”
“A place you will not go without me,” Torin ordered.
Flora went right on talking, ignoring his command. “They will also teach me how to dye and spin the wool and how to create a tapestry. I am skilled at stitching, my mum insisting I learn some wifely skills.” She smiled. “I like the wifely skills you teach me the best.”
“So do I,” Torin said and stole a quick kiss before starting them toward the keep.
“Lord Torin!” Kinnell shouted, causing Torin and Flora to turn around.
“Walsh’s men have captured two mercenaries. They bring them here now,” Kinnell said, once reaching him.
Torin signaled to one of his warriors nearby and he hurried over. “Take Lady Flora to the keep and stay with her until I say otherwise.”
“Nay!” Flora protested. “I am going with you. I want to hear what these men have to say.”
“Neither will be forthcoming with answers and you, wife, will not like what must be done to get those answers.”
“It matters not, I go with you,” she insisted, folding her arms across her chest to show she would not budge on this. Though, worry of what the men may suffer turning her stomach.
Torin glared at her, annoyed at her stubbornness. “You have seen the beauty of the Highlands, perhaps it is time for you to see its dark side.”
Flora followed behind her husband since he was busy speaking with Kinnell walking alongside him. She had to hurry her steps to keep pace with the two men, their strides far more powerful than usual. Once again, she was reminded of the strength it took to live here in a land that demanded much to survive.
Walsh’s men were just finished securing the captured mercenaries to stakes that had been pounded into the ground. Flora had passed by them often and wondered over their use and now she knew. The men’s arms had been drawn behind their backs and tied at the wrists while more rope secured their ankles to the stake and still more rope was wound around their waist.
Flora realized at first glance that they were seasoned mercenaries, scars marring their faces, and showing not a bit of fear. They glared brazenly at Torin, who stared at them with a coldness that made Flora look twice at him since for a moment he appeared unrecognizable to her. She realized that she was seeing the warrior in her husband. The man who faced possible death every time he entered battle. The man who had to push fear aside to survive.
That was the man these two men needed to see. A man who would do anything to get what he wanted.
“You two know how this goes,” Torin said. “You tell me, or you suffer until you finally break and tell me anyway.”
“And then you kill us,” the man with a front tooth missing said.
Flora stepped forward. “You would rather face death than tell my husband what he asks? Why?”
All eyes turned to her, including her husband’s, whose dark scowl so intimidated that it caused her legs to tremble. But her curious nature was what it was, and she went right on talking.
“What sense would your death make? The man who sent you here does not care what happens to you. He will send another and another after that one, leaving all to die, while expecting one to eventually succeed. Your lives mean little to him and if that is so, what makes you think he will share the generous bounty with you? So why surrender your life for someone who no doubt will end it anyway?”
Both men stared at her a bit bewildered.
“He wouldn’t do that,” the man with sparse red hair said.
“You know that for sure?” Flora asked. “You truly trust him? Can you honestly say he has shared all bounty with you equally? Did you know only the top mercenaries were approached for this task? What reason would the man do that? Perhaps he knows that the leaders of the most successful mercenaries will do anything to complete the task and collect the bounty, even kill the one who completed the task so he could not boast about it.”