Total pages in book: 55
Estimated words: 50898 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 254(@200wpm)___ 204(@250wpm)___ 170(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 50898 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 254(@200wpm)___ 204(@250wpm)___ 170(@300wpm)
“I don’t know what to do, Sprig,” she whispered. “They both think they know what’s best for me. But I—” She broke off, her throat tight. “I don’t even know what I want. Only that I won’t be told, commanded.”
Sprig purred, steady and sure, as though lending her courage. She held him close, drawing strength from his warmth. She would find her own way… she must.
The forest stood hushed beneath the moon, the ground touched with a thin veil of frost that glittered faintly in the silver light. Theodora drew her cloak tighter around her shoulders, her breath rising in white clouds as she stared through the trees toward her daughter’s cottage.
Her heart twisted with unease. She had spoken firmly, had commanded as she always had, but for the first time, doubt gnawed at her. Fawn was unlike her sisters. Fierce, stubbornly independent, unwilling to bend even when reason dictated she should.
What if she chooses wrong?
“What did you do, Theodora?”
The voice, while smooth, held strength. She turned sharply, her cloak’s hem whispering against the frozen leaves.
Her husband stood in the shadows of the trees, tall and lean, his silver hair falling past his shoulders, his gray eyes piercing even in the dim light. His presence carried the same quiet strength it always had, a stubborn steadiness that unsettled her now more than ever.
Her throat tightened. “Artemis.”
He stepped closer, his gaze fixed on her, concerned. “What did you do?”
For a long moment she could not speak. Then the words tumbled out, low and heartfelt. “I made a dreadful mistake. I thought to protect her… as I did Ingrid and Aura. But with Fawn—” She broke off, shaking her head.
His eyes narrowed. “What mistake?”
Theodora swallowed hard, glancing toward the distant glow from the cottage. “I granted him a wish. A foolish, reckless wish. And then I—” She leaned closer, whispering into his ear, fearful of anyone hearing.
When she drew back, Artemis’s eyes were wide, his face pale beneath the moonlight.
“You have really done it this time, Theodora,” he said, his voice low with dread.
Theodora pressed her hands together to still their trembling. “I know. And I fear there is no way to make it right.”
CHAPTER 8
Morning light spilled weakly across the cottage floor, cold and thin, as though even the sun hesitated to rise. Fawn moved about her small home in silence, tidying, feeding her creatures, though her thoughts churned without rest.
Rhodes commanded she wed him.
Her mother commanded she must not.
And Elune, frail, weary Elune, hung in the balance.
“If I wed him, I save her. If I refuse, I doom her, and if I believe my mum, I will live to regret it,” Fawn said quietly to herself.
Sprig sat on the bed, listening, blinking at her with golden eyes as if waiting for her decision.
Fawn shook her head. “I still don’t know what to do.”
Sprig meowed softly, offering what solace he could.
Fawn smiled and reached down, scooping him up and rubbed her cheek against his small head. “Someone who has faith in me, just what I need.”
She placed him in the pouch of her cloak where he nestled against her and fastened the ties of her cloak snugly at her throat.
The moment she stepped outside, the cold struck sharper than the night before, slicing through her as though winter had strengthened its grip. The air was heavy, the kind that promised snow before long. She frowned, pulling the cloak tighter. Elune would not last long in such weather, not without shelter.
She made her way through the forest toward the keep, but her mind was far away, circling her dilemma again and again.
A sudden harsh caw of ravens sounded overhead. Their frantic cries echoed from the trees, and a flurry of wings cut across the gray sky. Below, squirrels dashed madly along branches, tails twitching, chattering as though in warning.
Fawn barely noticed. Her thoughts were too deep, her worry too consuming, until footfalls fell across the path ahead.
Two men stepped from the trees, broad-shouldered and grim, their eyes narrowing as they blocked her way.
“Well, if it isn’t the witch of the woods,” one sneered. “Thought you’d be too busy talking to your beasts to wander so close to decent folk.”
The other gave a low chuckle. “Heard she’s hexed Laird Rhodes into marrying her, but then he’s already half under her spell.”
Fawn stiffened, her hand instinctively brushing the pouch at her chest where Sprig stirred. She lifted her chin and forced herself to remain calm. Her gaze drifted over the woods, seeking the presence of any animal who might offer her help, but the path was empty.
The men stepped closer, their smiles curling with malice, and then, abruptly, they both froze.
The color drained from their faces as their eyes shifted past her shoulder.
A chill slid down Fawn’s spine. She turned slowly.
Rhodes stood behind her, silent as death, his dark gaze fixed on the men with a cold fury that could shatter stone.