Page 57 of Rhaz's Redemption
“Will you write your name? I want to see what it looks like.”
“Sure,” she took the leaf in her hands again and drew more letters. Her name looked elegant when written out. Like a flower with many petals. It was long with many shapes just like Beatrice who had many sides to her.
“Can you write my name next to yours?”
“Hmm,” she paused and looked up at me. “We don’t have your name in my language. I’d have to make up a spelling for it if that’s alright.”
“That sounds fine to me.”
She drew my name next to hers and it was so small I nearly laughed. R-H-A-Z. That was it, just four letters.
“I’m half your size,” I teased.
“In name only,” she replied with a grin. “You’re very big everywhere else.”
Her gaze drifted from my arms, to my chest, and then lower.
“I don’t know about that. Besides Axon, I’m one of the shortest hunters in our dekes.”
“You might be short for a Sirret, but you’d still be tall for a human.” Beatrice’s gaze shifted back up to the top of my horns, which only served to emphasize her statement. Compared to her I was tall, even without my horns.
The sky had been turning gray as we talked under the fruit tree, and then the second snow of the season was upon us. Big white flakes drifted down from the sky quickly coating everything around us.
“I better get these inside before they get wet,” Beatrice commented as she rushed to gather the leaves she’d been writing on. I helped her pack up and together we made our back into the warm cabin.
Chapter 25
Beatrice
Rhaz helped me carry my things inside. If it hadn’t been for his help I doubt I would have been able to get all my papers out of the snow in time. It was really coming down. It had started out slow with big flakes drifting to the ground, but now it looked like it was turning into a blizzard. I shivered as I looked out the window one last time, then closed the shutters to keep out the cold.
Rhaz added a log to the fire and I sat down on my bed of furs.
“What do you guys usually do when it snows this hard?”
“Stay inside,” Rhaz gave me a deadpan answer followed by a sly smile.
“I know that,” I laughed. “But what do you do? Like what activities do you and the hunters do inside when it snows like this?”
Rhaz sat down on his bed and thought for a moment before answering. Then he lifted his head and the corner of his mouth turned up in a smile.
“Oh no.” I braced myself for whatever he was going to say next. “What is it?”
“We would use the time to hone our wrestling skills. It’s not uncommon for a jagwa to try to take us down from behind, so we would wrestle each other to keep our skills sharp and to be prepared for such things.”
“You wrestled?” My cheeks heated at the thought of being that close to Rhaz, to have my body pressed against his… It wouldn’t exactly be a hardship.
“Yep, and I think it would benefit you to learn some of those same skills. You never know what you might find out in the forest.”
“You want to wrestle me? Don’t you think that would be a little unfair?” I crossed my arms over my chest and tried not to smile. But I was enjoying this. Our tense awkwardness had faded away to reveal something new. It was getting easier to talk to Rhaz and there was a distinct flow to our conversations that was pleasant almost like floating down a lazy river.
“I won’t be wrestling you. Not at first,” he amended. “I’ll be teaching you how to move out of someone’s grasp or how to throw a creature off your back.”
“Alright,” I stood up and moved my furs out of the way. “I’m willing to learn if you’re willing to teach me.”
The rakish grin that spread across Rhaz’s face was to die for. I could have died happy right then and there, but then he stalked toward me and I felt weak in the knees. No one should be that sexy, but here was Rhaz, grumpy, kind, intense, and sexy as hell.
“May I?” he asked as he walked behind me, ready to wrap his arms around me in a wrestling grip.
