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“We’re done for today.”
“Alright,” I said uneasily, still worried I’d done something wrong. Are we still going to the market? I was far too embarrassed to ask.
But I should have known the ever-observant Sigwulf would have anticipated my uncertainty.
“Tomorrow,” he growled. “We’ll go straight from breakfast.”
“Tomorrow, then,” I said to his back, wiping my sweaty palms on the skirt of my dress.
I hurried from the library, already thinking about tomorrow.
The embarrassment still lingered, but something else was growing stronger.
Excitement.
Excitement about buying a new dress with my own hard-earned coin. Excitement about visiting the village and the market.
And even more than that?
Excitement about doing all of it with him.
Chapter 10
Wynthea
I woke early, just as dawn warmed the edges of the horizon. I considered lying in bed for a while, but nervous excitement kept me from doing so. Might as well get dressed and eat. I’ll just wait for Sigwulf in the kitchen.
But it turned out I didn’t need to wait for Sigwulf. When I got to the kitchen, dressed and ready for the outing, he was already there. Hildfree was there, too, slathering butter and brilberry jam on thick slices of fresh, crusty bread. She handed me a slice with a grin.
“Both of you are up early!”
I blushed, still feeling a bit embarrassed about the whole situation. But I’d worked hard both last night and this morning to get over my misgivings. Yes, it was humiliating for my employer, especially one I was attracted to, to notice how little I had. But I couldn’t help that. And little by little, my situation was improving. I was making progress towards the sort of life, the sort of person, I wanted to be. And that was something to be proud of.
“We’re going to a market today,” I said to Hildfree, in explanation for the early hour.
“Aye? Maybe I’ll come with you,” Hildfree said, pouring me a steaming cup of tea and passing it over. “I have a few things I wouldn’t mind getting.”
I was about to say something along the lines of, “The more the merrier!” because I was certain having Hildfree with us would make things less awkward.
Her gaze flicked behind me to Sigwulf. I turned, too, to where he straddled the wooden bench, his thick thighs spread wide. His eyes were fixed fiercely on Hildfree’s face, jaw hard.
An odd look passed over Hildfree’s face. A scrunching tension in her mouth that looked like she was holding back a grin.
“On second thought, I have a lot to do here today. Maybe I’ll go next week,” Hildfree said. She bid us a safe trip, then left the kitchen.
Well… That was odd.
I’d been right. Her presence definitely helped make things feel lighter. Without her, the air in the kitchen grew thick and viscous. A heaviness settled between Sigwulf and me, making my breath come fast and my chest feel strange.
Now that Hildfree was gone, there was nowhere else to look since there was no one else to talk to. My gaze slid back to Sigwulf, lingering on the spread of his powerful, black-clad thighs across the width of the bench. He was wearing a black shirt today, too, its fabric temptingly soft and stretched across his bulk. I’d never seen him in all black before. It turned the golden glow of his pupils into something not just warm, but exquisitely blistering. The flash of lightning in a night sky.
Those lightning eyes were on me now.
I put my food and tea on the table and then I pressed my lips together, trying to maintain my confidence under his gaze. Remember everything you’ve told yourself. It’s OK that you only have one dress. You can’t help that. You’ll get a new one today. If he’s judging you, so what? It’s OK. This is all OK.
Sigwulf’s sharp gaze didn’t falter. The quietness stretched between us as I realized neither one of us had said a single word to the other yet.
I opened my mouth to break the silence, but he spoke first.
