Page 24 of Wolf's Bane
Solenne dropped the cloth and sat back on her heels. “What is happening?”
“You’re carving me up like a roast is what’s happening,” he grumbled.
“You’re upset with me.”
“I’m more than capable of shaving myself. Leave.” He grabbed the razor from the trunk.
“You’re upset that I am not the same sixteen-year-old girl besotted with you.”
“You promised to wait for me.”
“And you promised you’d return, not wait ten years for me to beg you. No letters. Not a single one. I knew writing to you was a mistake.”
They stared at each other, as if no longer seeing the shadow of their past selves but each other as they were now for the first time. Alek was not the boy with easy smiles and a warm laugh that she remembered. He was harder now, scarred and burdened by the world. She was no longer a carefree young woman with a world of options open to her.
The razor’s edge glinted in the moonlight.
“Who is he?” Alek asked, breaking the silence.
“You do not know him.”
“Who. Is. He?”
Solenne lifted her chin, refusing to be cowed. “A gentleman farmer. Military. Retired.”
“Old and rich,” he said, a sneer in his voice.
“Not so old, and wealthy enough.” Solenne pushed, wanting a reaction out of Alek. When they met earlier at the cottage, he acted cool and indifferent, as if he didn’t know her at all.
“You must be pleased with such a catch. A spoiled thing like you always gets what she wants. Soon you’ll be knee deep in babies and diapers.”
Spoiled? What about the tumbledown house and her family’s desperate situation implied she was spoiled? Alek sought to wound her. If he wanted a fight, she’d give him one.
“They could be yours,” she said.
“No.”
“But you left.”
“I had to leave,” he snapped. She knew that was true, but still she pushed.
“You did not write. Not once.”
He surged to his feet, knocking the chair back. “And say what? Dear Solenne, today I cleared a pack of wolves, but the village could not pay the bounty they offered. Instead, they gave me a pair of chickens. I slept in a barn with my chickens.” His tone was cruel and mocking.
He continued, “Dear Solenne, I returned to the ruined husk of my family’s home. The roof is badly damaged, but the four walls remain upright for the time being. I cannot wait to make you mistress of this hovel. I had nothing to offer you then, and I have even less to offer you now.”
“I would have known you were alive.”
He held out his arms and turned slowly. Moonlight picked out the pale scars that crossed his abdomen and his back. It seemed as if every part of him had suffered from injury or wound. From the appearance of the situation, he worked very hard to remedy his affliction of being alive.
“Such as it is,” he said.
She shoved her supplies into her kit. So this was it. He was upset that her life had moved on and then wanted to make a grotesque exhibit of why she should have never wanted him in the first place.
She took out a jar of wolfsbane powder and slammed it down on the bureau. Bottles rattled. “One spoonful twice a day in tea or water. It’s bitter. I’d suggest honey, but I suspect you like to torture yourself so I won’t bother.”
“Solenne—” His voice almost sounded remorseful.
