Page 110 of The Fury She Holds
His thick arms crossed over his chest. “You guess?”
Tal sighed. “Okay. Yes, I forgave him.”
He bit his cheeks to stop a smile from splitting his lips. “Good. So, I expect to see him around—withhis eyebrows intact.” He added the last part as Tal threw another dagger and sent it wide.
She pushed his arm, but the brute didn’t budge.
“I told you tonight’s round is yours!” he chuckled.
“You did that on purpose!”
“I most certainly did—Hey!” He dodged Tal’s next throw.
Laughter came easily in that moment. She grasped onto the feeling and let it embrace her. There was no telling how long it would last. Tal balanced on a knife’s edge, and the blade demanded that she fall.
“So, what about all that marriage business?” Carrick’s throw bested Tal’s again.
She answered with an impeccable throw of her own. “He’s got the council off his back for now.”
“And later? Will they let him choose?”
Tal flipped her weapon in the air. “If you’re suggesting I marry him, don’t. Marriage is not for me, least of all to a king.”
“Even if that king is Faron?”
“Forget it, Carrick. I am not fit to be a queen.” She threw her next dagger with more force than she meant to. It soared past the intended post and embedded in the next. Tal sighed heavily. “I am not fit for marriage at all.”
“He might be able to convince you otherwise. Besides, you really know how to turn heads in a dress.”
Tal elbowed him in the ribs, and Carrick retaliated by shoving her off the pier. She shrieked before hitting the water. It chilled her bones. The river engulfed her, and she stilled in its weightlessness. Despite the sun overhead, darkness filled her senses, the kind that swallowed all thought and left her with only silence. It was peaceful.
She paused a moment longer, relishing the coolness caressing her skin. When she resurfaced, Tal let the water brush across her face and smiled at the sun’s contrasting warmth.
“Hells, woman! Don’t scare me like that!”
Tal grabbed his outstretched arm and let him pull her to the pier. “What? Did you think I forgot how to swim?”
“Or something.” He stepped back and leaned against the nearest post.
“Orsomething? Are you alright, Duckie?” Water pooled beneath her while she checked her weapons and wrung out her hair. His frown gave her pause. He wedged a dagger in the wooden post and twisted it audibly. “You’re going to split the wood if you keep at it.”
“I’m strong, but not that strong.” His smile didn’t reach his eyes.
“Alright.” She sat cross-legged and slapped the wood in front of her. “Sit.”
Carrick sighed heavily. “You know—”
“Sit.”
He plopped in front of her and folded his legs, resting his elbows on his knees.
“Now, spit it out.”
He hesitated. The corners of his eyes wrinkled against the emotion he refused to release. “When you—” He frowned.
Tal held his gaze for three long breaths. She rested a hand on his knee, waiting.
His head fell into his hands. “When you were taken, it was—it feltwrong. You’re supposed to behere. I didn’t—” He lifted his head. “How are you so okay?”
