Not Magic Enough and Setting Boundaries - By Valerie Douglas Page 0,19

there was a chance they would.

There was no one else.

In the winter she and Dan would make a circuit of those who didn’t come into the landholding to be sure they were all right, that no one had been injured or become ill. On bad days she worked at her tapestries from wool and linen made and dyed here on the holding and offered it for sale in Riverford in spring and summer. That money gave them what they needed to tide them over through the winter.

The truth was though, that she loved this land. She loved the bitter, stark beauty of it in winter, the promise of it in spring, the sight of the lambs bouncing gaily on the green hills. The lush beauty of it in summer, the apple-laden limbs of the trees amid the brilliant leaves of fall, the immense wonder of the great Gorge hidden deep in the forest and the sweeping roll of the hills she could see from her window.

She already missed Dorovan and the pain in her heart was scalding in her chest.

Walking back to the great room, knowing it to be empty, she held her precious memories to her heart and closed the door behind her.

Resolutely, she walked to the bar that held the door to the west wing closed and lifted it. She set it in place. For a time she would have some privacy. Cana and Kolan rarely had cause to visit but Petra made certain they were fed.

She scrubbed her hands over her face wearily and went to her lonely bed.

Pressing her face to the pillow, she could still smell Dorovan’s scent on it.

And wept.

In the morning, she rode to Riverford for the supplies.

Chapter Six

It had been a long day but the weather had finally broken from another storm. Winter was winding up. The good thing was that there was a thick covering of snow, which meant the wells, springs and creeks would likely not go dry in summer unless it was as harsh as the winter promised to be. For that, Delae could only be grateful. She was mildly drunk on wine from toasting Dan and his handfasting to one of the miller’s daughters. Dan was only a scant five years younger than she and yet she felt that an age that lay between them, the years weighing heavily on her.

They seemed happy together though, Dan and his bride.

Still, it was a joyful occasion and there had been a great deal of laughter, some singing and dancing as Morlis played the gitar and one of the smallholders his pipe.

Escorting the last of the revelers out of the great room, listening as the wagons rumbled away into the night, Delae watched the clouds drift across the half moon. Had it only been a week? She smiled at her memories and took herself to bed, the wine sending her instantly and thankfully to sleep.

It was the sound of furniture scraping across the floor in the great room and a voice muttering hoarsely that woke her, sent a chill through her, a quick rush that made her knees weak. Had she left the bar off the door? She couldn’t remember. There was rarely any need.

No one else was here to do it, to defend, and so she must.

Grasping the sword behind the door, remembering when Dorovan had spotted it, she took it up. She feared his lessons might come in handy this night.

On bare silent feet, she hurried down the hall to the great room, a covered lantern in her free hand.

With the fire banked to coal and the moonlight that streamed through the shutters in the windows casting the only light, so the man who stood there was only a dim shadow.

The room was cold from the doors having been left open too long. One was still slightly ajar.

Quickly, Delae uncovered the lantern and stepped aside.

“Who are you to enter my home?” she demanded.

The figure turned, straightened and then swayed…

At first, she nearly didn’t recognize him he’d changed so much. His once handsome features were bloated. There were bags under his eyes. He’d gained an unsightly roundness in his belly and his skin was pale and white like a fish.

“Delae,” Kort said, drunkenly. “I’m home, wife.”

She wanted to weep but there was no point.

Her stomach churned and her jaw tightened. “Kort. What, wasn’t I sending you enough money? Have you lost it all already?”

After the third time he’d stolen from them, she’d simply paid him to stay away. It was