might prefer the beast’s company over yours any day!”
He looked away with a deep scowl. Internally, I counted to ten before I tried to speak civilly. “Did you find anything at the edge of town?”
He shook his head. “My men stayed behind to try and pick up its trail, while I came to take you back.”
Xander dismounted, took the reins and stood in front of me. I was incredibly conscious of how close we were, and how just the tiniest hint of wind could blow my veil away; then I would be at his mercy for disobeying a direct order. Standing this close, I saw his eyes drop to my waist and felt his slow perusal up my body, lingering on my exposed neck.
He reached out and brushed his hand under my chin, my breath catching in my throat. My heart thudded loudly, pounding in my ears. He was going to look upon me, and I became anxious at the thought. Would he curse my name even more when he learned the truth? My stomach dropped.
“I wonder…,” he breathed, lifting my veil.
“No!” I panicked and turned away. A hard thud hit my chest, pain exploding outward from the sight, and I gasped. It hurt to breathe. When I looked down, I saw an arrow protruding from my shoulder.
“Get down!” Xander yelled, pulling me behind his horse and into the woods.
The pain wouldn’t stop, and all I wanted to do was pull it out. I clutched the shaft and was about to yank when his firm command told me to cease. Instead, with strong hands, he broke off the shaft, leaving the arrowhead in my shoulder. Then he tossed me onto the horse and jumped on after me, and we rode like a fury into the woods and away to safety.
With each step the horse took, the silver arrowhead burned and dug into my shoulder. White-hot flashes appeared in my vision, and I started to black out.
“Stay with me, Rose,” Xander called out urgently. “Don’t go to sleep.”
Too late.
Chapter Seventeen
A throbbing ache came from my shoulder. “Where am I?” I mumbled, trying to blink and focus on my surroundings. I was in an unfamiliar room, resting on a large stuffed mattress with a flowered quilt tucked around my lap. Across the room were a wood-burning stove, kettle, table, and two chairs. Next to the washbasin was a shelf with a few table servings, cups, plates, and a glass jar that held the silverware. Three shuttered windows took up a large portion of the walls, and an old rag rug covered the floor. Dried herbs hung from the rafters, keeping a pleasant aroma in the cottage when I expected it to smell musty. As cute and organized as the cottage was, it was obvious it had been abandoned, for there were no personal effects in the room.
Xander sat on the bed next to me, pressing a cloth to my shoulder.
“You’ll be fine. The arrow didn’t damage any major muscles,” he said.
The pain had subsided to a dull ache. While I was passed out, he had removed the arrowhead, cleaned it with hot water, and bandaged the wound. My new dress was destroyed, the shoulder torn and the sleeve gone, but I was still modestly covered. He had used strips of my skirt as bandages.
I sighed wearily as another beautiful dress was unnecessarily destroyed. Looking up at Xander, I realized how crystal clear he was and I inhaled deeply, reaching for the veil—that was gone.
“It got in the way,” Xander answered, his face emotionless and hard to read.
“No, it didn’t,” I argued. “It was only a few inches long.
“Okay, well, maybe I was tired of you lying to me.”
“Lying to you?”
“I knew the day you served me in my tent who you were.” Xander lifted my bandaged wrist. “What are the odds that two different women would have the same injury in the same place? Not to mention I recognized my mother’s pin on your cloak.”
“And yet you demanded I come back to serve you dinner. Are you mad? Weren’t you worried I was going to poison you? I seem to recall that conversation as well.”
His lip twitched. Was it a hint of a smile? “Are you going to poison me?”
“Depends,” I said.
“On what?” He stilled.
“How irritating you continue to be.”
“Woman, if you rate whether a person should be poisoned based on how irritating they are, I fear there will be no men left in the kingdom.” He barked out a laugh.