“I have no choice, a loved one is in need,” the old woman said and lowered her voice to a whisper. “What brought you here?”
“Necessity. Now let me get you food and drink to take with you,” Bliss said before the old woman could ask any more questions and she would be forced to add to her mounting lies.
The old woman finished the last of the cider and rested back against the tree, closing her eyes. When she opened them, it was to see Rannick standing in front of her.
“Do not return here,” Rannick ordered.
“I mean you no—”
“I will have no more of your lies,” he snapped, annoyed. “Bliss is a kindhearted woman and a skilled healer. She helps any in need without question.”
“And I am grateful for her help and your generosity.”
“You do not require her help or generosity. You hide good features behind the dirt on your face and your white hair has far too much of a shine to it while your cloak is covered in dust. Your stoop is forced, and your slim hands hold firm to the tankard. You present a false persona, which means you hide something.”
“You are observant, my lord,” the old woman said, her shoulders broadening.
“Did my father send you to spy on me?” he demanded.
“Nay, not your father.”
“Then who?”
The old woman stood, her stance regal and commanding. “Fate!”
A swirling wind suddenly struck and disrupted the dirt at their feet, forcing Rannick to turn his head and shut his eyes for a moment. The wind settled as fast as it had appeared.
“Where is the old woman?” Bliss asked as she hurried to her husband.
He turned to see the woman had vanished. He glanced around, but she was nowhere to be seen and he wondered how she had vanished so fast?
“She took her leave,” Rannick said, having no other explanation.
“But I had food and drink and a blanket for her,” Bliss said, casting an anxious glance around.
Puzzled, Rannick said, “Evidently she was not in need of them.”
“There was something familiar about her,” Bliss said.
“You have met her before?” Rannick asked, curious.
“Not that I recall and yet…” She shook her head. “Perhaps I treated her once in passing.”
“She is gone. It matters not.”
A sharp squawk had them both turning and Rannick wrapping himself around Bliss as a raven flew at them, the black bird’s beak barely missing his head before it flew off into the woods.
“How odd for a raven to come at us like that,” Bliss said after Rannick unshielded himself from around her. “I know they make their home in the woods but are rarely seen.”
“And many prefer it that way,” he said, his eyes intent on the sky.
Bliss understood what he meant. Most preferred not to lay eyes on a raven for it was an omen of something bad to come.
Supper was a quiet meal with the rain beating against the cottage the only sound heard. Few words had been exchanged between Rannick and Bliss after the incident with the old woman. He assumed it left Bliss wondering as it did him, yet neither of them gave voice to their thoughts. Or with it getting late was her mind on what he had remarked on earlier?
Whether she did or not, he decided to go there once again. “Has your hand ever held a man’s shaft?”
It was rude of him to so blatantly ask an improper question, yet it was also good that he did. His inappropriate behavior would leave her to do no more than tolerate him out of necessity.
With her back to him, Bliss was able to hide her surprise at his question. Not that it should surprise her, since she believed he intended to startle her with such outrageous questions. She just was not sure if taunting her rudely brought him enjoyment or if he had a specific purpose in doing so. But she was not about to let him know he unnerved her with such talk.
She turned around to face him. “Nay, I have never touched a man’s shaft, but I have seen my share of them.”
His eyes narrowed. “How so?”
“I have helped cleanse and prepare many a man for burial.”
“So, you have seen only flaccid shafts, never one enlarged,” he said and actually admired how she handled herself with such pretend calm.
“That’s correct,” she said with a nod and gathered all her strength to say what she had never dreamed of saying. “I do look forward to seeing yours enlarged. It will better help me to understand the workings of a man’s shaft.”
That she would view his shaft through the mind and eyes of a healer annoyed him.
“It might also better help me understand why some women find coupling pleasurable while others find it unpleasant, more a duty that is to be endured.”
“You talk of a wife’s duty. You are not my wife.”