Free Web NovelChapter 94: Chapter 94
"I can do it on my own," Circe said, swatting away Ragnar’s hand for the second time when he tried to help her mount the horse.
It wasn’t as though he hadn’t seen her mount a horse by herself before. She was perfectly capable. He was purposely being overbearing. The pond incident had happened over a week ago, and she hated how Ragnar still behaved as though she were some frail, defenseless creature that could be knocked over by a stiff breeze.
Once she adjusted her posture in the saddle, she looked down at him with a glower. Ragnar only responded with an amused, almost teasing smile.
There had been a shift in the way he behaved around her lately, something she could not ignore. Ragnar had always been stubborn, a painful thorn in her side most of the time but lately there was a gentleness beneath it, subtle but constant. She could not make sense of it and what she didn’t understand often unsettled her.
It was as though watching her almost drown had reminded him vividly of her mortality, and now he moved through the world as if everything around her had the potential to end her life.
Grabbing the mare’s bridle, Ragnar guided the horse into a slow trot. Circe swayed slightly in the saddle, her fingers tightening around the reins to keep herself steady.
This was their third riding lesson, and after each one he told himself that he ought to find her another instructor. Being in such close proximity to her like this alone felt dangerous in a way he could not afford.
Nieah was usually the one who handled all interviews for staff at the manor, but in this particular case, Ragnar had been more involved than he usually was. None of the candidates he had spoken to had met his standards. They each lacked one thing or another that made them unfit for the job.
Circe had no idea that he had dismissed several perfectly competent riding instructors. If she knew, she would never let him hear the end of it.
And so here they were again, alone together in the open grass fields. Ragnar had chosen the mare she now rode because it was smaller than his other horses and by far the calmest, though still a little larger than the average horse. From the ease with which Circe climbed into the saddle and the steady way she held the reins, he knew she was no stranger to riding. Which meant it wouldn’t be long before she learned to handle one of his larger, faster horses.
"This isn’t as hard as I thought," she murmured a few minutes into their slow trot.
"Of course it isn’t," he replied lightly. "Although galloping with her is quite a different story." ƒreewebηoveℓ.com
"Is it? I’m sure you wouldn’t mind watching me fall from the saddle a time or two," Circe retorted.
A faint crease formed between Ragnar’s brows. He could not tell if she was jesting or being serious. He glanced back over his shoulder, his gaze darkening.
"When have I ever given you the impression that I enjoy seeing you get hurt?" he asked. He knew she barely tolerated his presence but the idea that she thought him capable of taking pleasure in her pain unnerved.
Circe lifted her chin, defiant. "Why do you sound so offended? I was only speaking the truth."
The clothes she wore had loose sleeves and they shifted as she spoke, the fabric sliding back to reveal a bandage wrapped tightly around her left wrist.
Ragnar’s steps slowed. His gaze fixed on her bandaged wrist, his tone sharpening with concern. "How did you get that?"
Circe quickly tugged her sleeve back down to hide it, her eyes fixed stubbornly ahead to avoid meeting his gaze. "It’s none of your concern."
None of his concern? The words struck him hard. How could she say that to his face when she was all he had thought about for days.
When they were apart, his mind counted the seconds until he could see her again, despite his firm resolve to keep more distance between them and when she was this close and within arm’s reach, all his thoughts revolved around ways to prolong the moment.
How could she say that it was none of his concern when she was the cause of the dispute currently warring inside him.
His eyes hardened, his voice pitching low to a tone he had never used with her before. "What happened to your hand, Circe?"
He stepped closer and took hold of her injured hand before she could pull it away.
"I cut myself by mistake," she muttered.
Ragnar’s first thought was: What on earth had she been doing to injure herself like this? The bandage covered the wound entirely, leaving him unable to see the depth of the cut.
She allowed him to hold her hand for only a few short seconds before she jerked it back, swatting him away again.
He glared at her and she glared at him in return. Neither of them were willing to back down.
What she told him wasn’t a lie— she did cut herself— but it wasn’t the whole truth either. It wasn’t a mistake like she claimed.
She couldn’t tell him about the glowing threads, those strange, dancing strands of light that had been haunting her thoughts ever since. She couldn’t confess that she had inflicted the wound on herself deliberately.
For days, she had been convinced the glowing threads had something to do with how quickly her injuries had healed. So once she was sure no one else was around to witness what she was about to do, she pressed the blade to her own skin, drawing a deep line across her arm in hopes of seeing them again.
But when the blood welled up and began dripping to the grass at her feet, there had been nothing. No shimmering threads, no strange light, only the sting of pain and the slow, sticky warmth of blood. The realization made her feel foolish then, and it made her feel even more foolish now, every time she revisited the memory.
Nieah had fortunately come upon her only moments later, rounding the corner to find Circe wide-eyed and bleeding. She had been the one to clean and wrap the wound, and the fact that she hadn’t immediately run to tell Ragnar was nothing short of a miracle.
If she began to explain all this to him now, along with the strange dreams she had been having, he would only look at her like she had lost her mind and perhaps he would be right to do so.
