The Deepening Night (The Kingdom of the East Angles Book 3) by Jayne Castel Page B

realized
that the cloak had slipped, and when Annan turned back toward her, she was
covered up once more. A moment later, the warrior that Annan had sent to
retrieve Saewara’s possessions entered the tent.
    “I will leave you to change,” Annan told her brusquely, before
draining the remnants of his ale and ducking outside into the rainy night.
     
    Saewara watched Annan go; her forehead still tingling from
where his fingertips had touched. She felt oddly light-headed but imagined it
was a combination of the warm ale and shock from her ordeal.
    Putting aside her empty cup, she rose to her feet and quickly
stripped off her ruined tunic. She pulled a clean tunic from her bag and a
woolen wealca to go over it and dressed as rapidly as she was able. Her
hands trembled slightly as she fastened the over-dress’s straps with two simple
broaches.
    When Annan returned to the tent a short while later, she was
dressed and warming her feet in front of the fire.
    He nodded at her and, without warning stripped off his sodden
tunic before reaching for a dry one. Saewara hurriedly averted her gaze,
staring into the dancing flames. However, one glance had been enough for her to
appreciate his broad shoulders, finely muscled chest and back, and the masculine
spray of crisp blond hair across his chest.  Unaware of his betrothed’s flushing
cheeks, Annan shrugged the dry tunic over his head and began to unlace the
garters around his calves. He then kicked off his sodden boots and stripped off
his breeches. Annan moved with a complete lack of self-consciousness; a man who
was completely comfortable with nakedness.
    Saewara kept her eyes firmly downcast until he was clothed
once more.
    “It is only a short while till daybreak,” he told her curtly.
“I suggest you try and get some sleep or the next day of travel will exhaust
you.”
    Saewara nodded, noticing that the coldness he had exhibited toward
her before her abduction had returned. She had caught a glimpse of a different
man for a short while after he had saved her – for the ordeal had momentarily
bonded them – but now, it was as if that man had never existed. Instead, a cold
stranger; the man who looked at her with resentment in his eyes, stood before
her once more.
    Bone-weary, Saewara climbed into the furs without a word. She
snuggled into their warmth and closed her eyes, hearing Annan leave the tent.
    I won’t sleep , she told herself. After
tonight I shall never sleep again. Yet, moments after curling up in the
furs, she fell into a deep, dreamless slumber.
     
    ***
     
    They buried Oswyn in the clearing, as a wet dawn crept across
the world.
    Saewara stood at the edge of the grave, watching as Annan’s
warriors shoveled dirt over the girl’s body.
    “Her name was Oswyn and she might have found hope in her new
life,” Saewara murmured, catching the attention of both Annan and Saba who
watched the burial beside her. “For there was no hope in her old one. We
murdered her kin and stripped away her identity. She had every right to hate
us, but I sense that she and I might have been friends. In a different life we
would have been friends.”
    “Milady?” Saba spoke up, frowning. “Her death was not your
fault.”
    Saewara looked up and met the warrior’s gaze. She saw that he
had kind eyes. Smiling sadly, Saewara shook her head.
    “Death is the easy part,” she looked back at the small, lonely
grave. “In many ways I envy her.”
    “So you would trade places with her then?” Annan asked.
Saewara met his dark blue-eyed gaze and held it. “You wish it was your throat
they had cut last night?”
    The words were brutal – he had meant them to be. Yet, Saewara
merely smiled.
    “Yes, I would trade places with her,” she replied simply. “At
least she is now in peace.”
    With that, Saewara turned her back on the men and walked away
from the grave, toward where a knot of warriors were readying the horses and
finishing packing away the last of the camp. She had