Total pages in book: 97
Estimated words: 91636 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 458(@200wpm)___ 367(@250wpm)___ 305(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 91636 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 458(@200wpm)___ 367(@250wpm)___ 305(@300wpm)
His absence left Tarr alone with the twins. He had even instructed the servants not to disturb him, having had the table stocked with platters and bowls of food and pitchers of ale and wine. He wanted his attention fixed on the twins and nothing else. He had first thought to wait to speak with them, thinking the twins fatigued from the skirmish. Weariness, however, had its advantage and he hoped one of them would falter and he would be victorious twice this day.
Fiona and Aliss sat on the bench opposite him.
He watched them pile their plates high as he filled their goblets with wine.
“Leith told me that you came to live with the clan MacElder ten years ago, when you were both eleven years.” Tarr said.
“Leith’s father Tavish was our father’s brother. Uncle Tavish attended our father’s burial and our mother informed him of her own illness. He promised her he would return for us and raise us as his own,” Fiona said.
“Uncle Tavish came for us five months later,” Aliss added, and turned the attention on him. “We were sorry to hear of your father’s recent passing.”
“I will miss him. He taught me much.”
“And your mother?” Aliss asked. “What of her?”
“She has past one year now. She was loved by all and her presence is sorely missed.”
“Do you have siblings?” Aliss asked, nibbling on a piece of venison.
“Nay, I am a lone child.”
“Is that why you want sons?” Fiona asked bluntly.
“My blood, my clan name, shall continue with my sons and their sons.”
“What if you have only daughters?” Fiona was quick to ask.
“I am confident I can produce many sons.”
“What if your wife thinks otherwise?” Fiona smirked.
“A good wife will do as her husband asks.”
“Good thing you did not say obedient wife,” Fiona said, stabbing a chunk of cheese with her knife.
“You should go see to Raynor,” Aliss instructed, carefully slicing an apple.
Fiona shook her head. “Your turn.”
“I have already spent my time with him.”
Tarr raised his hand. “Stop. One of you go. I care not who and know not who, but I need no more of your play-acting this day.”
“I will go,” Aliss said with annoyance, and took a bite of the apple and hurried off with a wave.
“Would you be a good wife?” Tarr asked, returning to their conversation.
“To a husband I loved.”
“A woman’s fancy—love.” Tarr leaned in, resting his arms on the table, prepared to defend. “Bards write poetic nonsense about love, minstrels sing endlessly about it, and women foolishly wait for a gallant knight to claim them. I prefer a woman of substance, courage, and honor. One who will stand beside me, in battle if necessary, and one with the strength to birth me fine sons so that what we build together will forever continue.”
“And love?”
“Love is the courage to face all of life with each other.”
Fiona dusted her hands. “You are poetic?”
“Do not insult me,” he half laughed.
“I speak the truth as do you. You let it be known what you searched for in a wife.”
Tarr noticed how her green eyes turned brilliant, then softened along with her emotions. Her quick responses hinted she was not afraid of a challenge, and her natural red lips tempted him to kiss her.
“And what benefits such a union could bring,” he said.
“You must have had many offers.”
“You wonder if you were my first choice?” he teased, and watched her green eyes spark.
“Fiona would be your best choice,” she said curtly.
He laughed. “Actually you are correct. Out of all the clans who submitted proposals to me, Fiona was the only choice I seriously considered. Her reputation was well known.”
“What reputation?”
“I heard she is a skillful horsewoman as well as a talented hunter. She can handle most weapons as well or better than a man and she protects her sister like a mountain lion would her cub. I knew then that Fiona would protect her children with her life and that was the type of woman I wanted as the mother of my children.”
“These could be tales and not truths.”
“Nay, I heard enough to know them as truths.” He smiled slowly. “I particularly enjoyed the story of a young lad named Edward who challenged Fiona to an archery competition. He claimed he would win and in so doing gain Aliss’s hand in marriage.”
“He was stupid.”
“And embarrassed from what I was told. It seems Fiona beat him badly, and he foolishly accused her of cheating.”
“Which is why Fiona had to thrash him senseless.”
“Your clan tells the tale with much spirit and pride, the men demonstrating how fists flew, and Edward found himself sprawled in the dirt with a bloody nose, then Aliss came to his aid.”
“A healer does that, which is what started the whole mess in the first place. After Aliss tended a minor abrasion for Edward, he fancied himself in love with her, though Aliss made it clear to him she did not feel the same way. Fiona made Edward understand the error of his presumption.”