Candace C. Bowen - A Knight Series 01 Read Online Free PDF Page A

hair from his brow with a trembling hand.   With her sodden chemise clinging like a
second skin, her entire body shivered from the cold.  
    Fulke had never before witnessed such a selfless act.
    Warin dashed down the bank into the water as Fulke crashed back into
the moment finding his voice. “Zounds mistress, come away,” he shouted.
    About to follow Warin, Hylda’s faint words stopped him. “My mistress
cannot hear you, your lordship.”
    Stumbling away from the edge of the bank, he swung around to face her.
“What did you say?”
    “Mistress Reina cannot hear you.   She lost her hearing as a wee babe, your lordship.”
    Fulke focused on the couple in the frigid water.   Their mouths moved as if they quarreled, yet
he could not hear a single word being spoken.
    “Tell me how this is possible,” he breathed.
    “She can understand what is being said by following lips.   Master Warin began showing her from the
moment he could speak,” Hylda replied proudly.  
    He stood transfixed a few moments longer.   Seeing Reina refuse to leave the water, he
slid down the bank and into the water.
    Surprise registered on Reina’s face as he splashed his way towards her
and her eyes widened in alarm the moment she recognized him.
    Reaching her side, Fulke gently lifted Rolfe from her arms.   Passing him to Warin, he said. “Take him to
his mother.”  
    “Aye my liege.” Holding Rolfe high against his chest, Warin waded for
the shore.     
    Facing Reina, Fulke paid no heed to the frigid water soaking him.
    Before she could even cross her arms in modesty, he swept her up in his
arms.   Holding her close against him, he
turned for the bank.
    His leather boots slipping in the mud, he struggled to scale the steep
incline.   Entering the darkness of the
trees, he protected Reina the best he could from the thick foliage.   Calling ahead to Warin, “Make haste lad, your
sister is nigh to freezing.”  
    Cradled in his arms, he felt Reina tremble uncontrollably.   Hazarding a peek down, he saw her eyes
briefly focus on him, before drifting closed.   Praying they were not too late, he inhaled sharply when she went limp,
her head rolling back against his arm.
    Struggling with their burdens through the thick underbrush, Fulke
shouted to Hylda, “Stoke the fire in the boy's hut.”  
    Without a word or glimpse back, she hiked up her kirtle to take flight.
    Fulke followed her departure as she crashed through the thick bracken,
before he lost her to the darkness.
    He sprinted past Warin once they cleared the trees to the hut he had
seen Reina enter earlier in the day.   Bending low through the portal, he rushed inside.
    Having stoked the fire, Hylda gathered blankets, alongside another
woman.  
    As Warin entered, the woman hastened to lead him to a small pallet
beside the hearth. “I shall take him, Master Warin.”   Gathering the boy in her arms, she stripped
off his sodden clothes before bundling him in blankets.
    Fulke brought Reina to the opposite side of the now blazing hearth,
laying her down on the thin straw pallet set beside it.   Forsaking modesty, he knelt beside her to
grasp the hem of her chemise. Ripping it down the middle, he flung it aside as
he snatched a blanket from Hylda to cover her pale, trembling form.   Lifting a delicate foot, he began to chafe
warmth into her frozen toes.
    He briefly looked up when Hylda knelt beside him. “See to her fingers
and pray it is not too late to save them.”
    Catching Hylda’s eye as he began to caress life into Reina’s frozen
calves, he managed a wry smile. “I assure you, I am not taking liberties with
your mistress.”
    “I know very well the difference between a lustful eye and a healing
one.   I place Reina’s life above any
modesty she would cleave to, your lordship.”
    Fulke gazed at Reina as he massaged color back into her frozen
limbs.   With high-sculpted cheekbones,
small pert nose and full pouting lips, he found her to be the most