From Darkness Won - Jill Williamson [51]
“These fine young men wanna talk to yeh, son.” Master Poe gripped Harnu’s shoulder and chuckled. “Go on an’ see what’s so urgent.”
Harnu’s dark eyebrows arched as he took in Vrell. Then he stomped off toward a cluster of thatched cottages. “Come.”
Gren stared after him, her expression pinched.
“Thank you for your good company, Master Poe.” Vrell dragged Gren after Harnu, but when they reached the cottages, Harnu had vanished. “Gren, do we trust this man?”
Gren nodded, staring off into nothingness.
“Good, for at least he looks capable of protecting us. Now, help me find him, for I cannot guess where he went.”
Gren heaved a deep breath and came back to herself. She wove through the maze of cottages until stumbling to a stop before a small dwelling nestled between two older ones and the curtain wall that loomed above.
The door opened and Harnu stepped out.
When Gren did not move, Vrell asked her, “Is something wrong? Should we not enter?”
Gren jolted, her gaze settling on Vrell. “This was Riga’s home. And my home. It’s… strange to be back.”
Oh. Vrell took Gren’s hand and squeezed. “Let us go in, then, before we are seen. All will be well.” Would it not?
Gren led Vrell over the threshold and into a small room that held a round table, two chairs, and a hearth. Two doors split the wall opposite the entrance. Harnu stood before the hearth, facing them, hands behind his back. His size made him an imposing figure in such a small place.
Gren’s gaze danced along the shuttered windows, walls, and furniture. “You’ve done all this?”
Vrell looked over the room again, for it looked very bare in her opinion.
“In case you came back.” Harnu shifted his weight from one leg to the other. “In case you changed your mind.”
Now Vrell felt like the imposing figure who had intruded upon some private conversation.
Gren shook out her hair. “I have a different reason for returning, Harnu. Come with us to Armonguard.”
“Armonguard?” His dark gaze shifted to Vrell. “Who’s she, anyway?”
“That’s not your business. Will you help us?”
Harnu’s ominous posture gave out, and he looked every bit a chastened little boy. “I can’t go to Armonguard, Gren. My father. I’m his only son. I—”
Gren rolled her eyes. “What’s that matter?”
Harnu’s neck bobbed as he swallowed. “Well, I—”
“It needn’t be forever. Just to get us safely there. Then you can return.”
“I would if I could, but—”
“You swore on Riga’s grave you’d protect me and the baby.”
Harnu seemed to shrink further. “I will if… if you’d let me.”
“Your oath to protect me does not include marriage.”
Vrell wanted to leave, yet her gaze flickered between Harnu and Gren.
“I know that,” Harnu said. “But see? I’ve taken care of the house. Finished the windows. Divided the bedchamber in two.” He walked to the back of the cottage, pushed open the doors. “That way, should you want to live here, the child will have his own room for when he’s older.”
“Who says the child is a boy?” Gren asked.
“I’ll check on you every day. And if you change your mind I—”
“I won’t change my mind!” Gren growled a scream, paced to the door and back, then softened her voice. “Two women traveling alone… so far… we won’t be safe.”
Again Harnu’s gaze took in Vrell, his eyes seemed to grip her soul and plead, as if Vrell somehow could give him what he needed in life. Vrell suspected what he thought he needed was Gren.
He looked back to Gren, forehead puckered. “My father… He sometimes forgets things. Things he never forgot before. I worry he’ll hurt himself. And if I’m not here to keep watch… Gren, I’m all he’s got.”
Vrell looked away from the torment on Harnu’s face. She did not understand Gren’s cruelty toward this man. He clearly cared a great deal for her and her unborn child.
Being here seemed all wrong. Vrell and Gren were two confused women trying to manipulate their destinies. Gypsum’s words came back to Vrell. It seems to me a smart lady would seize the chance to marry a good man.
Yet Vrell and Gren both denied good men.
Could her sister be right?