Cimmerian Sunrise

Chapter 21 - ***Revised***

A/N: Please read because I need your feedback! : )

Lol, you guys have no idea how awesome it was to read your comments! Some of you had me laughing. You guys are the best! Thank you so much for being so involved with the story. You seriously keep me going, so thank you! This one is a short chap - all of the ending chaps are shorter, and I don't know why it happened that way but that's how it came out. There are four more chapters left, and also a peek at another Cimmerian novel. I am now waiting for my editor to finish the remaining chapters, but in the case that she does not finish in time, (REEALLY hoping she does), would you rather I wait a couple more days until they are edited - or would you rather I post the unedited chapters? Let me know! 

"If you do not stop pacing this room, and yanking on that damn curtain, I'll forcibly tie you to this bed," Brandon seriously stated. He sat in a large oak, cushioned chair in their room, and for the past half an hour, had been watching his wife, jerk on the lace curtains covering their window. But her fidgeting did not stop there.

She'd been nibbling her lip, fiddling with her hands, and there wasn't an inch of the floor that had been left untouched by her infernal pacing. Brandon had never appreciated those annoying habits of hers – he'd only overlooked them. Yet, he'd never been forced to endure almost every annoying habit at once...interminably. Now that she put him to the test, he was willing to do just about anything to make it all cease.

Rather than cause her to stop, his words only delayed Alla's steps. She cast him a brief glance and muttered. "You're too involved in your book to do anything." Walking to the window again, she yanked the curtains back, causing the rod above to loudly rattle.

Brandon's fingers suddenly encased her wrist, startling her. Alla whipped her head, staring at him wide-eyed. "Brandon?"

A smile tugged the right side of his lips. "I do believe you issued a challenge to me."

"Wha—" Alla started. Comprehension dawned when baffled Brandon lifted his other hand, which encompassed a white sheet.

"When you drop such a gauntlet directly before me..." he responded, tugging her toward the bed.

"No!" Alla yelled, only a small chuckle escaped her before earnestly appealed to him. "Brandon, please...this is not the time for one of your..."

He lifted a brow.

"This is not the time," Alla finished, her eyes still sparkling. "Please release me. I'm serious."

Brandon obliged, casually tossing the sheet across the bed, and tilted his head, his intense blue eyes, now more alert than before.

Alla began pacing again...

Back and forth.

"Isn't it peculiar that Breanne has not returned from her journey yet?" Alla suddenly asked, not bothering to look at Brandon. "And that she would desire to leave so soon after her...after the excursion she took yesterday?"

Silence greeted her.

"Yet that is what Reese told you, correct? That Breanne desired to go on an excursion?"

Silence.

"Yes...it's quite interesting" Alla stated, answering her own question. "I wonder why she has not yet returned."

Alla twirled about the room, preparing to pace the distance to the opposite wall, but Brandon blocked her way. Though his expression was unreadable, it did not look as if he would oblige her by stepping out of her path.