Bewitching Their Hearts

Chapter Eight

Sang's PoV

Keeping out of sight of Mr. Lee and Mr. Griffin proved to be harder than I thought. They seem to pop up wherever I am; there have been many times where I've had to throw myself into some bushes on the side of the road or behind a wagon in town in order to not be seen by them. I am hoping that after a week or so they will have forgotten about me and I will be able to go back to living my life as usual.

Walking through the market I keep an eye out for any of the men as well as dodge my way through the crowds and stalls. Twice a month traders and merchants come through town to sell their products and on those days the marketplace is always bustling with people and animals. Usually I just go to see what new and interesting things there are but today I'm hoping to find some new books to read and maybe some fabric; all I have is the Bible which I can recite word for word by now. I should also check to see if there are any new medicinal herbs that would be useful for me as well.

Once I traded the vegetables from our garden for meats and fabric to make myself a new shift I decide it's time to explore the traders who came from the Southern territories. They always have the most interesting items like indigo-dyed fabric, mink, and otter furs. I try to imagine what it must be like to live like the traders do; to go on all these adventures, see so many exciting places, and just be free. Something I will never be living in this town under my mother's rule. Running my hand along some beautiful mink fur I allow myself a moment of self-pity before I lock those emotions back away, it's such a lovely day and I refuse to ruin it with dark thoughts. Taking a calming breath I turn towards the fish stalls only to run smack into a wall and fall flat on my butt. Just as I'm mentally criticizing the owner of the stall for facing a wall it starts talking to me in a deep and slightly accented masculine voice.

"Are you alright Aggele?"

A large tanned hand comes into my line of sight causing me to slightly flinch back. Berating myself for doing that I raise my eyes to see the largest man I've ever seen attached to the hand held out to me. Taking in his dark hair and dark eyes I let my gaze drift down to his enormous chest. He looks as though he can crush a pumpkin with is bare hands.

The sound of a throat being cleared jerks me back to the present as I see him raise an eyebrow trying to fight off a smirk. Ignoring his still outstretched hand I quickly scramble to my feet and brush myself off.

"I'm so sorry for running into you. I didn't see you at all when I turned around. I didn't hurt you did I?" I quickly stammer out as I internally wince at how foolish I sound. This man is a giant, how in to world could I possibly hurt him? I'm sure me running into him was about as painful as a kitten running into someone's foot.

A snort makes me look behind him and I have to physically force myself not to take a step back. While the man isn't as big as his friend, the dark aura he gives off definitely makes him more intimidating and every bit the pirate I'm almost positive he used to be. I tense up at the frown on his face not knowing if he is going to yell at me for getting in their way or not. The accented giant follows my stare to his friend and elbows him none too gently in the side. They stare at each other as though they are communicating silently before the smaller of the two returns to staring at me with the frown still in place causing the giant to roll his eyes with an exasperated sigh before turning back to me with a smile.

"Don't worry Aggele, no harm done. You're welcome to walk into me any time."

This time he is on the receiving end of an elbow to the stomach and he turns to glare at his friend for a few seconds. I tense up waiting for them to start fighting when they both turn back to me.