The Forgotten Crown (2019) Book 1 of The Broken Crown Series

22. Seductress

She came to him in the darkness and he wished for an eternity the darkness had kept her. In truth he had expected this visit much sooner and now that the moment was here he could feel an unpleasant heat rising in his chest. What was it about her that rankled his ire so?

She was comely to be sure, but it was her manner that offended him. He was not some simpleton to follow her blindly like a hound on a scent. She materialized from the shadows like ink from a blotter, bleeding slowly and seductively into her surroundings.

       "Does Si approve of your sneaking about?"

       "Sneaking? I'd hardly call it that."

       "Ah so she does not know."

       Her pursed lips and distant expression told him as much. "Why should I need her approval?" she spoke a little bitterly. Jarsha remained silent. "Why do you avoid me?" she asked of him as if she did not know.

       "Why do you seek me out?"

       Letty combed her fingers through Marigold's forelock and scratched the mare's muzzle affectionately. "Why shouldn't I? You interest me, I wish to know you."

       Jarsha continued mucking the stalls, pitching the soiled straw effortlessly. "And what is it that interests you so?" He did not even look at her as he spoke.

       "Is it not obvious?"

       "Aye, it is. That is what bothers me." His face was dispassionate and cool. "I am not a toy Letty, I am a man." That she came to him on the heels of his debacle with Sirena made him even angrier.

       "I know." She said this with a sly grin before striding in front of his shovel. She stood in his way, squandering any efforts of working or ignoring her. "That is what I like about you. You are a man, a strong, capable, handsome man." Her eyes gleamed and she came closer, resting her hand daringly upon his arm. She smelled of flowers and sunshine, her décolletage not quite scandalous but low enough to cause him to suck in a quick breath.

       When he did not move, Letty trailed her hand slowly up his arm until it came to rest on his shoulder, the gap between them becoming alarmingly small. "I knew you would warm to me" she whispered with no small measure of satisfaction.

       Jarsha leaned into her slowly, inhaling her sweet scent and pressed his mouth to her ear. "You think you are irresistible don't you?" Her suddenly rigid posture told him all he needed to know. He tucked a lock of hair behind her ear, his hand running along her neck. She did not move a muscle as her pulse hammered wildly beneath his calloused thumb.

"Someday not too long from now, you will age; your body will become old and bent and then what will you be?" She trembled violently beneath his fingers. "Nothing." Her eyes were bright with her unshed tears. It seemed he had struck a nerve. "And I think you know that."

       The would-be seductress fled back into the darkness as if Daagon himself chased her. Jarsha continued his work, telling himself what he had done was for the best. No matter how hard he worked, however he could not rid himself of the acrid taste in his mouth.  Had she really deserved that? Had he acted as a gentleman would have done?

       Climbing up into the barn loft Jarsha grunted as he baled the stacks of hay onto the floor below. He baled and he baled until he was practically shouting with his frustration. Letty's pained expression haunted him with every move. He threw the pitchfork down in frustration and paced the loft. Finally he stood teetering on its edge, throwing his arms out and let himself fall onto the stack below. Lying in the stack's warm embrace for a time he stared at the rough hewn beams above him. A pox and plague on all women! A deep sigh punctuated the air as he forced himself back to his feet and took up the pitchfork once more. These women would be the death of him.  A wry smile broke through his serious demeanor and he continued his work late into the night.