Hannah Howell Read Online Free PDF Page A

blue eyes, and a couple of other very big things, and their brains turn to warm gruel and leak right out their ears.”
    There was some painful truth in that, Revan thought, but he fought to ignore it. “Are ye planning to tell me more about your uncle?”
    “I canna be certain I have much to tell. I always kenned he wasna a good man, but I canna say I was witness to anything that carried the taint of treason.” She rubbed her forehead with one hand as she tried to think, but exhaustion was gaining on her, clouding her thoughts. “Mayhaps ye should have asked me earlier. I begin to have difficulty recalling my own name.”
    She did look tired, he thought and reined in his suspicions. He was feeling rather weary himself. There would be time enough after they had both rested to press her for information.
    “Ye can lie down where ye are,” he said as he started to bank the fire. “We can talk in the morning.”
    Nodding, she yanked off her boots and neatly stood them by her hat. She settled herself as comfortably as she could on the thin bedding, tugging the blanket over her and turning her back to the fire. Despite all the trouble she was in, she knew sleep would come quickly. It was just weighting her body when she felt Revan slip under the blanket and lay down beside her. Wide-eyed with shock, suddenly alert, she turned to stare at his broad back.
    “What are ye doing?” she squeaked.
    “Going to sleep.”
    “Ye canna sleep here.”
    “ ’Tis the only place to sleep there is. Wheesht, I am too weary to bother with some fool lass’s outrage. I am also too weary to be any threat to any female. So ye can just calm yourself down and go to sleep.”
    For a brief moment she gave serious thought to continuing the argument, then turned her back to him. He was fully dressed, and she knew he was telling the truth about being tired. She also suspected he meant to keep a close eye on her until he was more sure of her motives. As she closed her eyes, she decided she was also simply too tired to bother with propriety at the moment.
    Revan heard her breathing soften and knew she was asleep. He knew he would soon join her, his body aching with exhaustion. For now he felt they were safe, safe enough to rest up and gain some much needed strength for the dangerous days that stretched out ahead of them.

CHAPTER 3
    “Well, now that ye have rested, washed, and broken your fast, we can talk.” Revan crouched by the fire and poured himself some wine, trying to ignore the way the girl glared at him.
    That proved impossible. Since she had awoken, her sullenness had been unrelenting. He had thought a good night’s rest would soften her mood, make her see that they were uneasy allies, not enemies. Instead, she continued to regard him as though he were something nasty she had stepped in and could not scrape off of her boots. It was really beginning to annoy him.
    “Tess, I think ’twould be greatly to your benefit to aid me.”
    “Oh, aye? As it was to my benefit to spring ye from my uncle’s dungeon?”
    She saw his eyes narrow and knew that in this vulnerable situation she ought to tread more warily, just as she knew she would not. When she had awoken, she had slowly studied her surroundings, thought about the situation she was in, and gotten mad. She planned to stay mad, no amount of self-scolding cooling her temper. Although she knew he was not fully to blame for her predicament, he had had a hand in it. He was also there, big as life, a ready target for her frustration-bred fury.
    “I am sorry about that, but I didna have much choice. And it looks to me as if ye escaped that keep just in time. Perhaps ye should be thanking me. Dinna forget how your uncle’s men were aiming for you as much as me.”
    “I willna forget that for a minute. Neither will I forget that ye have given him the perfect way to murder me without suffering any consequences!”
    He winced at the truth of that, then scowled because it was not the whole