Page 33 of Bride of Mist
Efficiently.
Without hesitation.
Without emotion.
Without regret.
Those were the soothing thoughts that eased her mind…settled her stomach…steadied her nerves. And, unfortunately, allowed her to drift off to sleep.
When she awoke, it was not in the dark quiet of midnight, where she could perform her unpleasant deed and slip away like mist.
Instead, she woke to the sound of the chamber door closing.
She sat upright. By the light seeping in through the shutters, it was nearly dawn.
She scanned the dim room.
Mac Darragh was gone.
He’d taken all his things.
His boots.
His pack.
Her sword.
“Shite.”
He was fleeing.
Scrambling up from the bed, she stabbed her legs into her stockings, muttering to herself. “You think you’re so clever, mac Darragh?” She wrenched on her boots. “Well, you won’t escape me so easily.” She swept her cloak off the peg and swirled it around her shoulders. “We have affairs to settle, you and I.”
She whisked her hair back, braided it quickly, and wasted several moments searching for her coif before she finally found it tucked under the edge of the pallet.
“I swear, Westlander, before this day is done,” she vowed, tying the coif under her chin with a decisive yank, “Iwillplunge my hot blade of justice into your cold black heart.”
She clambered down the stairs and into the common room. The innkeeper was just stirring the fire to life.
“Where is he?” she demanded.
“Your brother?” he replied, startled. “I’m afraid he’s gone.”
“Gone where?”
“Well, now…” He regarded her with pity. “He asked me not to say.”
She bit out a foul curse that made the innkeeper blink.
“He’ only trying to keep you safe, lass.”
“Ballocks!”
He flinched in surprise at her outburst and tried to placate her with an upraised palm. “Now I don’t want any trouble. He’s paid for your stay. And I told him you could even earn a coin or two helping my wife with the frumenty.”
Stunned, for a moment she only simmered in silent rage. God’s eyes! Help his wife with the frumenty? Feiyan was a warrior. Not a cook.
“Your wife is going to have to find someone else,” she muttered. “I’m leaving.”
