Total pages in book: 108
Estimated words: 105132 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 526(@200wpm)___ 421(@250wpm)___ 350(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 105132 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 526(@200wpm)___ 421(@250wpm)___ 350(@300wpm)
“Tibby?”
He spotted the creature several feet away and several grumbling oaths fell from his lips.
Tibby lay sprawled on his belly among a bed of tiny yellow flowers, looking thoroughly pleased with himself.
“Flowers? Flowers brought you here?”
Tibby’s tail thumped against the ground.
Dravic was about to tell him precisely what he thought of his latest find when he noticed the cottage.
It sat a short distance away, small and simple, surrounded by trees and patches of spring flowers. Smoke puffed steadily from the chimney. A garden had been started beside it, neat rows of new growth pushing through the soil.
It was someone’s home.
Then he saw the woman. She stood with her back to him beneath a large tree, hanging freshly washed garments over one of its lower branches to dry in the spring sunshine. Long blond hair fell nearly to her waist.
Disappointment struck him hard… not Adira.
Dravic looked down at Tibby. “You brought me to the wrong woman.”
Tibby’s tail thumped again.
“Do not look so pleased with yourself.”
Days upon end following the creature through Driochmor only to arrive at the home of a woman he had never seen before.
Dravic muttered more oaths.
His mouth was dry, and his water skin had been empty since early that morning. He might as well get something useful from the wasted journey.
He dismounted and left his stallion grazing near Tibby.
The woman continued hanging her washing, apparently unaware of his presence.
Dravic walked toward her. “Excuse me, mistress.”
She stiffened.
Dravic stopped. He hadn’t meant to frighten her, although he could understand how the unexpected sound of a male’s voice might alarm a woman alone. And she appeared to be alone, no one else in sight.
He continued toward her and to put her at ease, said, “Your king requires a drink of water.”
The garment slipped from her hands.
Dravic watched as the woman turned slowly.
The world seemed to stop. He could not move. Could not breathe.
The blond hair had fooled him, though nothing else could. Her soft green eyes. Her lovely face that was etched in his mind and heart… Adira.
For one wild moment, relief overwhelmed everything else. She was alive. She was here. He had found her.
Then his gaze dropped.
Her gown curved over a belly that had not been there the last time he held her. Round and full and with child… his child.
He looked back at her face.
Adira made no move toward him.
Dravic made no move toward her.
Months of anger, worry, sleepless nights, and imagining every possible fate that might have befallen her vanished beneath the shock of her standing before him.
His gaze dropped once again to the unmistakable swell beneath her gown.
When he finally managed to speak, his voice sounded unlike his own. “Adira?”
Her eyes filled with tears and her lips parted. “Dravic.”
He froze. He had heard his name spoken countless times. By warriors. By enemies. By those who served him and those who feared him. But never in a voice that he thought he would ever hear.
Adira smiled through her tears. “Dravic.”
He said the obvious, “You can speak.”
Her smile widened. “Aye.”
Dravic continued to stare in disbelief, and then his eyes narrowed.
Adira was familiar with that look. It had been easy to understand.
“You can speak,” he repeated, “and you are carrying my child.”
Her hand instinctively went to the swell of her stomach.
Dravic’s gaze followed. “How long?”
Adira’s brow rose.
“How long have you been able to speak?”
“It took some time.”
His brow drew together in annoyance. “And how long have you known about the bairn?”
“It wasn’t long after,” Adira admitted, having sensed the child within her before she showed any signs of being with child.
Dravic muttered an oath and turned away, running a hand through his hair before turning back to her.
“You left me. You discovered you carried my child. You regained your voice, and not once did you think your king should be informed of any of it?”
“My king?” Adira’s smile appeared slowly. “Is that who I am to you? My king?”
“Bloody hell,” he mumbled as he crossed the distance between them in several long strides. “Do not think being able to speak is going to make arguing with me any easier.”
“I thought it might,” she said with a soft laugh.
Her gentle laugh stopped him for a moment, his heart hammering in his chest hearing it. Then all the anger he had carried through the long winter simply disappeared and he hurried to her.
He caught her face between his hands. “You are truly here.”
“Aye,” she assured him, her smile wide.
“And you are well?” he asked anxiously.
“I am.”
His gaze dropped once more to her rounded stomach. “And our bairn?”
Adira took his hand and placed it on her stomach and as if the bairn knew his da’s touch, he let loose with a kick.
Dravic’s eyes went wide with wonder. “He is strong.”
“Like his da,” she said with a whisper.
Dravic pulled her into his arms and kissed her.