Page 63 of Bound By Blood
He also didn’t seehis sister relinquishing the stones and walking away from them.Which meant she would come with them and stay here. And he didnotwant to be trapped on this property with her.
Caro disappearedinto her shop and slid the door shut, something she never did. Withnothing else to do, he turned and trudged back to the house. Heshould text Ronan to give an update but didn’t feel like it rightnow.
Instead of goinginside, he veered to the right and the woods. He needed to huntagain.
CHAPTER 47
For the next sixdays, they managed to mostly avoid each other. She had to ask himfor the stone, and he handed it over, but that was the extent oftheir interaction.
That was about tochange as she lifted the finished project and admired the honededges of the blade. If she had more time, she would’ve spent monthsdesigning and working on the weapon, but there was no moretime.
Even if it wasn’tas detailed and beautiful as she would have liked, the blade wasfar stronger than anything another smith—besides her dad—couldcreate. The combination of metals and the way they were foldedtogether and over each other was a secret only she nowpossessed.
A pang tugged ather heart as she briefly pondered if she would ever have anychildren to pass her secret on to. It wasn’t likely, as all theirfutures looked a little bleak.
She ran her fingeralong the sword’s razor-sharp edge. It would slice through anythingand hold up in battle; she didn’t doubt it.
There was no signof weakness in her design. It was plain but perfect.
Turning it over,she rested the tip on the ground while she examined the stone inthe hilt. Pure black, it reflected the fire as flames danced withinits opaque center.
It was a beautifulstone, and she’d seen what it could do in Saber’s hands, but shefelt no extra power from the sword. To her, it was the same as anyother blade she’d ever welded or held.
Will it feelthe same to him?After what happened to the bodies of thoseSavages, she doubted it.
Maybe the samething would happen if she stabbed a Savage or Saber with it. Shewouldn’t know until she tried, and she meant to try. She hadn’tforged this thing to not have answers about it.
She lifted theweapon and slid it into the scabbard she’d pilfered from adifferent sword. The covering was nothing fancy either, but itwould keep the blade protected and allow Saber to carry it withhim.
She realized shewould have to take the blade to him, which meant they would have toseeeach other again. She far preferred the ignoring thingthey had going on where they occasionally saw one another.
The last time theyhad any interaction was two days ago; he grunted a greeting at her,and she didn’t bother to reply. It was nice.
She told herselfthat, but areallyannoying part of herself missed histouch. He continued to haunt her dreams every night and made herache for things she couldn’t have. Itinfuriatedher.
Caro wanted himout of her life, but when she slept, her mind and body refused torelinquish him. If she was honest with herself, she didn’t want tolose him while awake either, but she was okay with lying toherself.
Sometimes, it hadto happen. Maybe she could stab him with his sword and be done withit all. As exhausted, cranky, and frustrated as she was, the ideawas rather appealing.
It didn’t helpthat grief remained a knife sticking into her chest. It stalked herthrough her waking moments and her sleep.
If she wasn’tdreaming of Saber, she was dreaming of her parents. Sometimes, inthose dreams, love enveloped her again, and she relived one memoryor another. At other times, her parents sat beside her, holding herhands and assuring her it would be all right.
And other times,she had nightmares of her parents’ brutal deaths, the sufferingthey endured, and demons roasting them in Hell. She woke from thosedreams shivering, sweating, and unable to shake the horribleness ofthem.
When thosenightmares happened, she wouldn’t go back to sleep, so she wouldroll out of bed and return to her design plans for their memorialor the sword. The monument was still slow going, but at least she’dfinished the blade.
Unlike the dreamsof Saber, where she woke aching and frustrated, she still wokecrying from the dreams of her parents. With every breath she took,she missed them. She didn’t know if the knot in her chest wouldever ease, but it continued to make breathing difficult.
Now, she wasrunning on barely three hours of sleep, and it was nearly midnightas she pulled off her work overalls. She hung them up beforewalking toward the house. She’d seen Saber enter a couple of hoursago.
He should beasleep, but she doubted it. From what she’d witnessed, he was asrestless as her most nights. Not like she was paying attention tohim or anything.
Despite thegrowing chill in the air, sweat still cleaved her shirt to herback. She pulled at the front a little to fan herself while shewalked.
She’d prefer notto see him while she was all sweaty and dirty again. For somereason, it made her feel like she was at a disadvantage. Caro hadno idea why, she shouldn’t care, but she was aware she stunk whilehe’d most likely showered after returning home.
He’d probablywashed his clothes, and they were clean again. If he were smart, hewould have crawled into bed like she yearned to do, but she didn’tgive him much credit in the brain department.
