A Single Spark

by Tayvia Pierce

Thankfully, Rhian returned a moment later with her mug and a smile, sitting back down to pop another bite of cheese into her mouth, looking between Ben and I before giving me an odd look. “You look like you just got caught stealing cookies, Carys.” Her eyes narrowed a little as she watched me, though I wasn’t about to say what had me addled.

  I cleared my throat and smiled amiably back to her, trying my best to appear unruffled by her comment. “I thought today was a good day, wasn’t it?” I said simply, completely changing the subject to a much safer topic.

  Rhian nodded emphatically and began to chatter with all the enthusiasm she saved for shopping. “Some of those shops I never would have thought to go into, and the shopkeepers were so nice, letting us sample a lot of things. Like those little cakes at the bakery? Those were so delicious!” Ben barely managed to suppress his smirk, chuckling softly beside me.

  Rhian gave Ben a curious look, not quite understanding what was humorous about what she had just said, though looked back to me as I just gave her a knowing smile, replying. “Yes, that was very thoughtful of them.” Rhian beamed another smile and Ben just shook his head slightly, grinning down into his mug.

  The front door blew open with a powerful gust of wind, sending a chair skidding a few feet before finally toppling over as two dark-skinned foreigners stepped into the tavern. The entire tavern came screeching to a halt to stare at the couple, clearly from the southern realm and quite possibly the most beautiful humans in existence. Their features were unique, and it was difficult to tell their kingdom of origin from a mere glance. They could almost pass for Yehketim, but for the Taurovan bearing and attire.

  The man was attractive, wearing a condescending smirk which held even as he looked to the stunning woman on his arm. She was an exquisite beauty, her long raven colored hair framing a face with perfect features, and eyes so dark they seemed almost black. Crimson lips pursed slightly as she looked around the room, her sweeping gaze suddenly fixed on mine, causing my heart to skip a beat as I felt like I had been caught staring...which I had. I held her gaze for a moment, seeing the corner of her lip curl in a smile before her head dipped politely to me.

  I don’t even recall if I returned the gesture, but I looked to the others at my table once I pulled my eyes from the woman. Ben was staring, eyes fixed on the seductive sway of her hips as the man ordered her to walk with him with nothing more than a commanding tilt of his head, his dominating presence filling the whole area by the bar.

  Rhian’s light blue eyes were wholly fixed on the man at the counter, staring with open curiosity as I followed her gaze to study this newcomer as his muscular frame leaned against the counter. His gaze swept through the room, dark eyes settling on our table as the condescending smirk widened a little into a charming smile. He murmured something to the woman which caused her to look our way as well, her lips curling a little more.

  Whether it was Rhian’s staring or her youthful beauty that caught the man’s attention, his fascinated gaze hardly left her. I knew the moment Rhian met his gaze as she blushed shyly and turned to avoid looking at the pair. “Did we stand out that much when we first arrived?” She murmured, and I couldn’t tell if she was uncomfortable or pleased with the man’s perusal but trying to discuss them without sounding to curious.

  I snorted softly, eying the couple at the counter before I answered. “Probably. Some of us still do.” I gave her a look before gesturing to her dress, one of her finer silk gowns that looked far more luxurious than anything the Lundham women would wear. She blushed a deeper red and took a long drink of her wine.

  Ben chuckled softly, amused with Rhian’s blushing, though his gaze continually moved back to the couple with his usual vigilance, brow furrowing a little when the man continued to look over to our table. Our conversation moved to our usual small talk, though after only a short time, Ben frowned, turning his head towards me to speak softly. “I think we should head home, Lady Carys.”

  I had kept the newcomers in sight out of the corner of my eye, disliking the way he continually watched my sister. When Ben’s concerned suggestion matched my own worried thoughts, I nodded, agreeing softly. I replied quietly before glancing to Rhian, knowing she was the only one that would need convincing. “ We can have wine at home.” I said to my younger sister, already seeing the protest mounting on her face, so I added. “I don’t like the way he is looking at you. We are going.” I told her firmly and she pressed her lips together, finally relenting as she turned to offer another curious look to the man over her shoulder.

  The man at the bar flashed her a grin, almost seeming to ignore the stunning woman next to him as he leaned casually against the counter with his drink. Rhian quickly turned around, trying to pretend she had not just been looking at him. “Alright.” She murmured, looking to Ben who was offering his hand to Rhian to help her up, though his eyes were still fixed on the couple at the bar.

  The man’s eyes trailing after my sister’s every movement, and it was only then that I realized that his companion’s gaze was set on me. I was so busy watching him, I hadn’t been looking at her. How long has she been watching me? My heart skipped a beat in a moment of unease, my eyes locking with hers and I could barely move as my very breath was stolen, held in place by the arresting darkness of her eyes.

  I hardly noticed Ben’s hand wrapping around my elbow until I felt the tug on my arm, Ben pulling me along with him as he made his way towards the door. I hastened my step, wanting nothing more than to get out of the dim tavern and into the sunlight and open courtyard. Between that couple and the note from a few nights before, I was sufficiently rattled.

  As Ben followed me out the door, he murmured to me. “Stay away from them.” I nodded in complete agreement, swallowing past the lump forming in my throat. That was a directive I would have no trouble following.

  CHAPTER 33

  Rhian talked about that man several times over the next week, wondering aloud if he was a pleasant sort, or what he was doing in Lund, and whether or not he and the woman were married. She had that look more often than not, the one that screamed of her intention to sneak out again to go in search of answers. Between Ben, Brynmor, and Madox, they kept an extra close eye on her, preventing her from sneaking off. “I might as well be shackled to the bed!” She hollered at me, furious when she continually was seen trying to sneak off. “I’m a prisoner here!”

  “You aren’t a prisoner, you are an idiot.” I snapped. “You are trying to sneak off again, and I won’t have you thoughtlessly putting yourself in danger. Grow up!” I confronted the adolescent, angry with her childish defiance. My words were met with the slamming of our bedroom door, and I flopped down onto the couch, furious. I buried my face in my hands, trying not to tear my hair out.

  Her teenage angst hit with all the force of a hurricane, and each day after grew increasingly tense, Rhian was furious with everyone and not afraid to share her thoughts and feelings about her incarceration. While Father had tried to discipline her, she didn’t even bother to play along to placate him, finding it more satisfying to do the exact opposite than whatever we said. By some miracle, we had barely managed to keep our heads, though we were all coming dangerously close to our breaking points.

  On this particular night, she opted for a long string of creative name-calling mixed with some rather shocking obscenities before stalking off to our room again, slamming the door so hard, a picture fell from its place on the wall, shattering the glass as it hit the floor.

  Ben was eating a late dinner and dropped his fork, the clatter of the utensil masked by the shattering of the glass. Rising to his feet with a growl, he didn’t waste a moment before striding to the bedroom t0 pound on the door. “Rhian, let me in.” His voice was pure ice, and in less than a minute, he had disappeared into our bedroom where he gave her a stern lecture on treating elders with respect and behaving like a proper lady.

  I wasn’t trying to eavesdrop, though the muffled discussion came through the walls enough for me to have a prett
y good idea what he was saying.

  At last, the door opened and Rhian shuffled out, Ben right on her heels looking decidedly stern. Her head hung low as her shoulders slumped as she approached my chair. “I’m sorry I was rude, and for the things I said. I’m sorry for sneaking out and it will not happen again. I will behave as a proper lady and I will be considerate of the others around me.” It sounded coached, but it was better than no apology at all.

  I finally felt a wave of pity for my sister, remembering that she was lonely, though my pity was limited. The sweet, beloved Rhian from Perinthas had become sullen, bratty, and outright defiant. While Pedr loved her, she was constantly pushing the limits of that love and unless she accepted Pedr as her spouse and turned her thoughts to him, I wasn’t sure his love would be as undying as he claimed.

  I glanced down again to her diary that night as she walked with Pedr in the hopes of gaining some insight into what was going on with her, flipping back a few days to scan quickly over her daily entries.

  “I have loved Bryn all my life, and now there is Ben, except I’m engaged to dumb Pedr. I don’t want to marry him, I want to marry someone exciting! Someone who would come to my rescue, like Ben did. I would marry Ben in a heartbeat, but I think Cays wants to marry him too. She certainly flirts with him a lot. Too bad for Carys, he likes me more.”

  I sighed, shaking my head. Even nearing her wedding day to Pedr and still fantasizing about both Brynmor and Ben, it was maddening! The suggestion that I wanted to marry Ben made me choke back a string of curses at her ridiculous (and completely wrong) ideas, and I snapped her diary shut and tossed it onto her bed, deeply vexed.

  It was my overwhelming frustration that brought out my violent streak this particular morning as I trained with Ben. We were supposed to begin sparring today, but he must have sensed I was in a fearsome mood and thought better about being the subject of my ire and fists.

  He arrived in the yard earlier than I had expected, and I hurriedly dressed in my trousers and coat and rushed outside to see what he had brought. A dead boar was being hoisted up, Ben wordlessly fastening the corpse of the beast to the largest tree. A crow that had been circling overhead finally came to land in the tree above, tilting its head as though eager to see this spectacle.

  What in blazes is he doing? I wrinkled my nose in distaste, not necessarily because of the smell (though that wasn’t helping) and watched silently. He turned on his heel to give me a stern look motioned me to come stand next to him. “You need to express your frustrations more productively.” He said to me, more as a statement of fact than a question.

  It was the truth, but not a truth I was going to admit to. I had my pride, after all, and sometimes I hated that he seemed to know me so well. Am I really that transparent? I huffed and asked. “What is this lesson then?”

  He snorted softly and eyed me, nudging his chin towards my dagger. “You are going to practice stabbing something that is not me.” He said with a wry look, then gestured for me to do so. Actually stab something? My eyebrows rose in surprise, but I was more than happy to comply, oddly excited by the thought of putting this to practice.

  I pulled my dagger from my boot, positioning myself by the dead boar and lining up a strike, finally plunging it into the smelly beast’s torso. Much to my chagrin, my blade hardly went a quarter of the way in, and Ben’s low chuckle irritated me. I turned to fire him a dirty look and he cleared his throat, still very much amused, though he quickly made his point.

  “It is one thing to know your forms inside and out and to know how to stab a man if the need arises, but it is not so easily done in reality.” He said gently, reaching over to easily pull my blade from the boar. “To drive a dagger in deep takes strength. A strength I know you have, though you could stand to build up some muscle.” He looked at my arms, definitely lacking in that prowess. “I want you to stab this boar so that you can get the feeling for how much strength it takes. Better you stab it than me, yes?” His lips twitched slightly in amusement.

  I snorted softly and rolled my eyes a little. “I suppose so.” I murmured, eying the boar. I had never actually stabbed anything in my life. I took a deep breath and tried again, putting more effort in only to sink my blade in a little further. I could feel my arms and shoulders protesting already, and I begrudgingly had to admit that he was right...my slender noblewoman arms were not cut out for combat.

  I tried several more times under his instruction, each time the blade moving in a little deeper. It wasn’t long before my shoulders were crying out in agony at being put through rigors they were not accustomed too, but I knew that in order to do any sizable damage, I would have to build up far more muscle and that was something that would only come with time and further training.

  I glanced over to Ben, clad in his usual leather jerkin, short-sleeved despite the cooler weather. He was well-muscled, his strength built over his long years of training. Each muscle of his arms was well-defined, and while I wouldn’t wish to have such muscle for myself, the idea of being stronger than I currently was certainly appealed. The unique tattoos on his arms stood out against the ridges of muscle, and I found myself staring as I found myself intrigued by the man before me.

  His bicep flexed and I blinked in surprise, looking up to see him smirking down to me. I turned several shades of crimson, certain that the heat pouring off my face would roast the boar I had just been stabbing. He caught me staring at his muscles. Admiring them, actually, if I was going to be completely honest. He laughed, the rich baritone echoing through the yard and I wanted to die.

  “Not to worry, Lady Carys. I won’t say a word,” he teased me, his voice low as to guard the truth behind his laughter from the rest of the household.

  I glared at him, embarrassed and furious with his mockery. “You had better not, or you will end up like this boar.” I seethed, a sudden strength fueled by my burning anger turned my body to plunge my blade through the dead beast’s thick hide, driving it in nearly to its hilt. With the failure of all my previous attempts, this sudden triumph was unexpected and I stared, jaw dropping as my fury was swiftly replaced with bewilderment. “Uh…”

  Ben stepped up to my side, murmuring. “See, Lady Carys. I knew you had the strength for that.” He looked down at me, his amusement turning to pride. He reached out and yanked the knife from the beast and cleaned it with a cloth, handing it back to me when he finished. “Now, do you want to keep stabbing, or shall we move on to something else?”

  I didn’t even get to answer before Rhian came into our makeshift training area, dolled up even more than usual. Flashing a winning smile to Ben before wrinkling her nose, she gave me a derisive look. “Why are you stabbing the boar, Carys? Are you going to become our cook?” She taunted with a haughty look in her eyes, and my eyes narrowed in a glare as my lips parted to fire a response back, but Ben answered before I could, halting my retort.

  “Lady Carys is learning a few things about taking care of herself, should she ever find herself in a dangerous situation and without guardianship. Something that you could stand to learn about as well, Lady Rhian, if you insist on going off on your own.” He chided her gently.

  She blushed in embarrassment, shaking her head. “And get sweaty and dirty? No thank you. I have you to protect me, anyways.” She wandered towards us, eying my attire and the beads of sweat that were forming on my brow distastefully, her pale eyes finally setting on the boar as she neared. “Derryth will have a fit when she sees what you did to supper, Carys.” She leaned forward a little, inspecting the stab marks I had made in the boar, then eyed Ben with a considering look. “Perhaps you are right. This afternoon, will you teach me?” She asked, though the shy smile that formed proved her thoughts were not on combat.

  Ben’s jaw worked a little, seeing what I did in her expression, and he glanced toward me briefly before dipping his head to Rhian. “As you wish, Lady Rhian. We will meet here after lunch.” What will she do when he actually wants to teach her combat rather than use it as an
excuse to spend time with her?

  Rhian’s smile grew wide and she practically vibrated with excitement. “I will go get ready!” She spun around and bolted into the house without even letting him respond, and I snorted softly, rolling my eyes. It was only breakfast time.

  “Why do I feel like she is going to end up hurting herself?” I murmured, glancing to Ben to gauge his thoughts on this. Not only did I know she lacked the ability to focus on the task at hand, but she had no interest in learning this at all, and Ben must have known this, too, for he let out a short laugh. “I don’t plan on giving her a knife like I gave you, Lady Carys.”

  It was a relief to hear that and I let out a sigh. “She would probably stab herself just to get your attention.” I muttered under my breath, thinking about the bit in her diary that I had read. It didn’t take much to figure out that the rest of the pages were probably filled with similar thoughts and fantasies and that made me feel slightly ill for reasons I didn’t quite fathom.

  He snorted softly and rolled his eyes, motioning towards the boar again. “On the other hand, Lady Carys, I suppose I should worry about you stabbing me with that knife.” Another smirk formed as he looked over his shoulder to me and stated. “Now that you have calmed, let’s continue with your lesson.”