Highland Bear (Book 4)

Chapter 13

               

                As Artair took a step closer, Rohesia decided enough was enough. Male posturing and ego thumping was all well and good, but there came a point when a level head had to step in before blows meant nothing peaceful could ever be reached. The bridges burned for good with the flow of fresh crimson blood. If that life’s blood was never spilled then anything could be repaired, no matter the reason the smouldering fire had been lit. Her father had taught her that. Not that he did not think there was a time for spilling blood, but he tried to make sure all other options had been exhausted first. It meant that some thought he had been weak, while all she had seen was the strong ties of loyalty from those who would have been decimated under the charge of any other baron she had had the displeasure of meeting.

               

                Taking a moment to assess how she was going to act, as Artair had closed the distance to the door, and now blocked her way even more than possible. She could only wait, unknowing of what was being said between the two before her, she waited for the perfect opportunity to appear, and wily as the wild hare her father had once compared her too, managing to run and hide in the most unlikely of places, she pounced on the opportunity when it presented itself.

               

                Whatever was being said was obviously directed at her, not in the way they wanted to include her in the conversation, but making statements about her as if she were not there…not that she could hear anyway, but one of them did not know that. Or at least they did not know, until she turned and saw the words as they flew out of Alfred. The only words she had been able to cleanly distinguish since that first word.

               

                “You would take advantage of her, especially considering her condition…” a pause, and her entire world went still. The pause must have been only seconds in which Artair must have made a comment, but all at the same point, for her it lasted an eternity. The chance she had had to be the same as everyone else in the eyes of someone who knew nothing of her past and her inability to hear, all of it was slipping through her fingers like water. Unable to keep a grasp upon it, unable to quench a thirst which had lasted since that fated morn she had awoken to silence. That dream was always going to crash to the earth and shatter. But never had she thought it would happen this quickly. Never when she had felt for a fleeting instant that maybe he could look past her inability if only he had chanced knowing her more before finding out the truth…

               

                But as time caught up with her, and Alfred spoke the words, the opportunity she was looking for presented itself, but it was too late. Always too late. Never could she win. Not now, not in the past, and it seemed she was destined to be that step too late her entire life. Slipping under an arm which Artair used to gesture back at her, her head snapped up as she rounded him, to see Alfred throw the words at him which would seal her fate in the eyes of this man forever.

               

                “The fact she cannot hear a word you say, or the actions you do, or the steps you take. How does she know if you had not been watching her while I have been out, even if you say she invited you here. She could not have been alerted to your presence without you being close to her. Are you telling me you have not noticed her distinct ability to not hear?” Her world froze once more, moving at a snail’s pace as her breath caught in her throat. Her eyes locked on Alfred as he slowly turned his attention to her, making her think she must have made a sound of some sort, not that she could tell, or even recall the vibrations of.