The King's Executioner by Donna Fletcher Page B

strange.
    She heard footfalls approach and she looked to hide, but Bog appeared and she smiled, knowing Paine would follow and he did.
    “So strange,” Paine said, shaking his head.
    Anin almost smiled, hearing him voice her own thought.
    He approached Anin. “I thought for sure I saw Drust warriors, but I could find no signs of them.”
    She was about to tell him of her encounter with the Giantess, but stopped. Why did she hesitate? She had thought she trusted him. Had that changed? She did not believe so, then why not tell him of her meeting with the Giantess?
    She had no answers to her troubling questions and it disturbed her even more that she remained silent, not sharing what she had learned.
    “You saw or heard nothing?” he asked as he passed by her to stoop down and take another drink from the stream.
    Anin stumbled for an answer.
    Paine was suddenly in front of her, taking firm hold of her chin. “You hesitate to answer me. What do you hide from me?”
    Hide.
    Again she was reminded of hiding. Had the Giantess been right? Did she hide more than live?
    “It is not a difficult question,” he said, keeping hold of her chin and forcing her to keep her eyes on him.
    It was more his eyes that held her than the grip on her chin. There was patience in them, as if he would wait forever for an answer. She felt a catch in her chest when he spoke as if he read her thoughts.
    “I am a patient man. I will wait as long as it takes for an answer.” He might wait, but it would not be an easy wait. It was difficult to ignore how much he favored being close to her or how a simple touch of her chin stirred him. Then there were her lips, softly inviting with a touch of moisture that made him want to taste them. How would she taste? Sweet? Potent? Delicious?
    His stirrings soon turned to an arousal, something that was happening much too often when she was near. He should keep his distance, yet he ignored his own warning and foolishly brought his face closer to hers and whispered, “Tell me your secret, Anin.”
    The thumping in her chest, the flutters in her middle grew when he stepped closer. Did she trust him with her secret?
    Her mum’s warning echoed in her head. Never tell anyone .
    The Giantess had told her differently. Who did she trust?
    Revealing her secret to him was one thing, telling him what happened while he was gone was another. She said softly, “The Giantess made herself known to me.”
    “You are well? She did not harm you in any way?” he asked even though she appeared untouched, he had to be sure. There was no telling what the Giantess might have done to her.
    “I am and she was pleasant enough, though abrupt at times. She informed me that we were safe to travel through her home as long as we did not harm anything while here. I assured her we would not. She also advised that the berries are plentiful and will sustain us, and it is a distance to the next stream.”
    “What else had she to say to you?”
    “She told me I was rude for entering her home uninvited.”
    Paine nodded. “She said something similar to King Talon.”
    “Did the King truly wish to slay the Giantess?”
    “It was a time when he needed to prove his strength and courage to the tribes. He wanted to prove he was worthy of leading them. Slaying the Giantess would have done that.”
    “She did say he wanted to prove his prowess and that she gave him more prowess with his sword than he needed.” She was shocked to see the wide smile that surfaced on Paine’s face.
    “That she did and with more than one sword.”
    Anin’s brow wrinkled, then suddenly it struck her. “Oh, his prowess with women.” Sorrow filled her. “How sad for him to never feel so deeply for one woman that he must mate with many. He will never know the feeling, the joy that that one special woman can bring him or how it would feel to give the same to her. He will never hear someone say—”
    “The King has forbidden any woman to say it to him.” It was not