Awry

8

The morning after he had taken Scarlet home, Tristan arrived at her house and placed a small sack of food by the door.

Had he been invited? No.

In fact, he was almost certain Scarlet was going to be upset that he was there. But that didn’t stop him from knocking.

The door swung open to a wild-eyed Scarlet. “What are you doing here?”

She was upset.

“Before you yell at me, you should know that I come bearing gifts.” He stepped back to reveal the sack filled with meat and vegetables.

“What is that?” Scarlet looked down at the sack suspiciously.

“Food.”

She rolled her eyes. “I know it is food. Why did you bring it?”

“For you…to…eat…?”

Why was this so difficult?

Scarlet crossed her arms. “I have no way to pay you for it. Take it away.”

Tristan raised his eyebrows. “It is a gift. It costs nothing.”

“Everything costs something.”

Tristan opened his mouth, then shut it. With a quick shake of his head he held out his hands. “The eastern forest is dangerous. If you accept my gift, you won’t need to hunt or gather or stealfor weeks.”

“I like hunting.”

He pursed his lips and put his palms together. “Please accept the food.”

“No.”

“Why not?”

“Because I am perfectly capable of taking care of myself and my mother without your charity.”

“I believe you are. But the penalty for stealing on the earl’s land is death. And the wicked thieves that roam these woods are sometimes hungry for more than just…food.”

Scarlet eyed him a moment. “What do you care what happens to me?”

Tristan rubbed the back of his neck and sighed. “Fine. Be stubborn. But if you think I’m going to lug that sack of goods,” he pointed to the ground, “back home with me, you’re mad. You can let it go bad, for all I care. But I don’t want it.”

Tristan turned to leave, cursing under his breath.

Crazy, incorrigible, stubborn—

“Scarlet!” a voice rang out from within the small hut. Scarlet’s mother. “You let that boy in with his gift right now!”

Tristan indulged in a brief smile before turning back around with a straight face.

Scarlet had her hands on her hips, staring at him like he was a stray animal.

“Well?” Tristan asked, lifting brow.

She stood back, gestured to the small interior and, through her teeth, said, “Come in.”

***************

After the hunter had left, Scarlet caught her mother staring at her as she tended to the pitiful garden. “What, Mama?”

“I like your young man,” Ana said casually.

“He is not mine.” Scarlet pulled at the ground. “I’m not sure why I let him see our home in the first place. I am foolish.”

“You are not foolish. You are beautiful. And your young man does not fail to notice as much.”

Scarlet sighed in frustration. “What does it matter if I am beautiful or hideous? I am nothing to him.”

Ana scoffed. “Men of nobility do not bring food to those who are nothing to them.”

Scarlet stopped plowing around the few vegetables they had and looked at her mother. “Nobility?”

“Yes, dear. Did you not notice his fine clothes?”

“Of course, I did. But I did not ask him who his family was.” Scarlet went back to the dirt. She could feel her mother’s eyes on her for a long moment.

“He is the earl’s son, my love.”

“He is what?” Scarlet sat back on her heels and stared at her mother.

Ana nodded. “The patch on his sleeve is his family’s crest. He is Earl Archer’s son.”

The implications of the earl’s son knowing where Scarlet and her mother lived hit Scarlet like an avalanche of boulders. She clambered to her feet and shook her head in apology. “I am so sorry, mama. I did not know. I never would have brought him here—” Scarlet felt ill.

The hunter had come into her home like a wolf in sheep’s clothing and would surely turn her in to his father. She was a thief living on the earl’s land. A thief hunting in the earl’s forest.

Scarlet and her mother would be enslaved. Or put to death.

Scarlet blinked several times. “I’m so sorry, mama. I’m so foolish. We can pack up at once. I will take care of us wherever we go—”

“Hush,” Ana said with a smile. “Your young man has no intention of reporting us to the earl.”

“How do you know?” Suspicion rose in Scarlet.

Ana shrugged. “Because of how he looks at you. He does not wish to destroy you, my love. He wishes to protect you.”

Scarlet returned to her knees in the dirt. “I need no protection.”

Ana tucked in her lips. “Someday you might.”

“Ha,” Scarlet said. “I will never let a nobleman hold power over me like papa did with you. Wealthy men know nothing of life, love, or honor.”

Ana clucked her tongue. “Your young man seems to know about generosity.”

Scarlet thought back to the hunter’s leniency with the deer in the forest and his sack of food this morning. “Maybe. But now I am in his debt.” Scarlet shook her head, angry with herself for accepting a gift from a nobleman.

“I do not believe he intends to hold a debt over you,” Ana said.

Scarlet sat back on her heels again and wiped her hands on her dress. “It’s no matter. I will never see him again.”

Ana smiled. “That is a shame, my dear, for he is so handsome.”

“Mama, stop.” Scarlet blushed.

“Did you not see his face, child? He was heavenly.” Ana eyed her playfully.

Scarlet went back to the dirt. “Even the face of an angel can mislead you.”

Ana winked. “Or take you right where you need to go.”

“Enough, mama.” Scarlet felt her blush grow hotter and hated herself for being attracted to the hunter. “I need no man. I can take care of us.” She looked at her mother. “I can take care of you.”

Ana nodded slowly. “Yes, but who will care for you?”