Grave grunted, “A shooting. In the old yard.”
She ran. The winter air pierced her lungs, threatened to swallow her, but she ran. Ran across the castle lawns that common feet were not allowed to cross, ran past the chapel, past the barracks… To the old execution yard. Townsfolk were clustered for some after-Christmas entertainment. Sick bastards.
He was there, blindfolded, the seconds of his life being counted down. Shooting and beheading were favored execution for those who had killed with the sword or with knives... or with butcher’s blades.
She had seconds.
The arrows glinted in the morning light, sharp and about to fly.
“David!” She raced before them, and threw her arms about his neck.
Arrows flew.
She wasn’t sure how many. All she knew was that one struck the ground beside her foot, one struck somewhere above her shoulder, one struck past, and all of them flew amiss over her sudden intrusion.
And then there was blood. Blood that was not hers, spilling from above her shoulder.
“David!” she shrieked. He was shrinking in her arms, and she shrank with him, cutting at his ties with her knife.
Blood was everywhere, and she could not see the source. “David, I am so sorry…”
He seized her hand and she lifted the blindfold that they might gaze into one another’s pained eyes.
The guards approached, most of them cursing at her, accusing her of insanity.
“You must help him,” she sobbed. “I can prove that he didn’t commit the crime you mean to kill him for!” She set to applying pressure to where she thought the wound might be.
“Sophia!” his voice rasped. “Beautiful Sophia. I am glad you came back.” His voice dropped, just for her. “But please. Don’t do this. Let me die.”
One of the guards eventually stooped, and finally began to help her.
“Will he be all right?” she pled.
“He may,” said the guard, cutting shirt linens away to see the source of the wound. Praise to Heavenlies, it seemed nearer his shoulder than his heart.
She seized David’s hand, drew closer to him. “You are not going to die, and I am going to prove your innocence,” she whispered. She kissed him.
She felt him stiffen for dread. “Sophia, no. Please no!”
“David,” she whispered, brushing the blur of tears from his eyes.
She had dropped the painting. She lifted it, and passed it into his trembling hands. He didn’t have to see it. He felt the canvas, and questions filled his eyes. To anyone else, it was a lavender field. But his eyes searched hers, and she gave but one nod. Less than a whisper, she breathed, “You had to know I’d keep your most valuable possession safe.”
His graze brimmed with tears. “Sophia,” his voice trembled. “You are one incredible woman.”
She kissed him. “Do you know? I have never in my life been loved for who I am.”
In her new life, she’d like to grow accustomed to it.
“And if you don’t know it already, I love you too.”
* * *
It was one of those riveting, fiery winter sunsets. A sunset that felt of freedom. Smelled of that wintery dusk spice, sunshine and melting snow and freshness. A world fraught with possibility.
She grinned as she watched him desperately fumbling to sketch it all – sketching the outline of a cardinal amongst winter berries and melting snow, sketching icicles as they dissolved and dripped into sunset, sketching her…
It would take a fine artist to capture her sort of glow, just now.
How had she not savored the freedom to extend her arms to the sky before? “There are so many more options in this world than I limited myself to,” she hummed, half to herself, spun, and then faltered. “And that’s rather daunting.”
“Or it’s rather... an adventure of the finest sort,” said David, his gleaming eyes upon her, upon his wife. He cringed slightly as he sought to move, and his wounded shoulder restrained him.
She blushed beneath his gaze. Standing here with a life stretching before her, a life with the man whose blue eyes were even now chilling her.
“We ought to move inside,” she said. “This cold can’t agree with you.”
He only smiled, “Any air is better than no air at all.” But then, slowly, with as little movement to his shoulder as possible, he made his way to her side and began to make for her mother’s house with her.
“Will we find a house here in the capital, Sophia? Or should we make plans to travel straightaway?”
She darted before him, and proceeded walking backwards, placing one gloved hand upon his chest. “Let’s go somewhere right now, today. There’s no time to put it off. Let’s throw a dart at the map, and we’ll set off to honeymoon wherever it lands. Unless, you know, it lands in the middle of the ocean or something.”
He smiled at her. And then… he almost – blushed? “I suppose now...” He looked shyly to the ground. “We ought to begin getting to know each other.”
She struck her gloved hand in his. “We have a lifetime.”
The End
Sterling Rose
Sterling Rose writes romance, but has never been in love. She loves pink, but can't wear it. Her first published short story won a YA story contest, with 47% of the votes – out of seven stories. She has since been published in internationally circulating magazines, served as head writer on a campu and community newspaper, and won several short story contests. A Christian gal who drinks way too much Irish breakfast tea and eats way too much dark chocolate, she has an inordinate fascination with domestic discipline.
Visit her blog here:
http://srosebooks.blogspot.com
Don’t miss these exciting titles by Blushing Books and Sterling Rose!
Teacher Retaught
Ebook Offer
WOULD YOU LIKE A FREE SPANKING STORY EVERY MONTH?
At http://www.blushingbooks.com, we provide our visitors with a free eBook every single month! That's right, every month we choose an eBook to give to our customers at no charge, both to show our gratitude for your business and to provide a sample of the content we offer.
Can you read this free eBook on your Kindle? Yes! Once you’re logged onto our site, it’s easy to send a book right to your Kindle.
Can you read it on your iPad? Yes! Your Kobo? Yes! Your Nook? YES!
We provide all of our books on BlushingBooks.com in several formats so that you can read our stories on virtually any reader! Membership at BlushingBooks.com is free, so sign up today and get your free story right now!
DO YOU NEED A TRIP TO THE WOODSHED?
Since 1999, Bethany's Woodshed has been publishing the best romantic and erotic BDSM and spanking fiction on the Internet. Before there were eBooks, there was Bethany's! More than a decade later, The Woodshed is Blushing Books exclusive preview site, and it is still going strong delivering the best, original stories - now with two updates a week. We guarantee at least 40,000 words of brand new, professionally written stories each week by all your favorite Authors, plus at least 20 completed books when you join. Carolyn Faulkner, Maren Smith, Starla Kaye, Paige Tyler, Joannie Kay, Abigail Webster, Sullivan Clarke, Fiona Wilde, Breanna Hayse, Melinda Barron, Courage Knight, Loki Renard ... they're all here, plus many more.
Embrace the spank!
See the stories first at The Woodshed!
http://www.herwoodshed.com
Blushing Books Newsletter
Please join the Blushing Books newsletter
to receive updates & special promotional offers:
http://goo.gl/GYTwKZ
You can also join by using your mobile phone:
Just text BLUSHING to 22828.
Blushing Books
is one of the oldest eBook publishers on the web. We've been running websites that publish spanking and BDSM related romance and erotica since 1999, and we have been selling eBooks since 2003. We hope you'll check out our hundreds of offerings at http://www.blushingbooks.com.
You might also enjoy our membership site at http://www.herwoodshed.com, where we offer an exclusive first look at new novels and novellas by some of our most popular Authors before they are released anywhere else.
The Lady Knight And The Dungeon Page 8
