Page 36 of The Herald's Heart
“Fool!” The killer struck the man, drew a blade, and gutted him all in one instant.
Larkin ignored the spatter of blood. She’d seen so much blood today. But a shard of fierce horror and dark vindication at Blue Boots’s punishment lingered among the wreckage of violence, loss, and fear.
“Wh ... Why?” The man sank to the ground watching his blood spill out of his belly.
“That was the earl’s bride, you asshole. He wanted the marriage consummated so the Rosham lands could be his without question. We were to fetch her back to Hawksedge Keep, not kill her.”
“But the others; we killed them all.” The statement was weak, and red trickled from the man’s mouth.
“Witnesses, like you, my friend. The earl and I can’t have witnesses.” Red Boots bent and slit the man’s throat. “Leastwise, none other than myself. Wouldn’t want anyone suggesting it was not Scots raiders who did this.” He wiped his blade on her mother’s skirt then stepped on the bodies of the fallen Rosham guards as he walked to his horse.
Larkin waited a long time, listening to the fading sound of hoofbeats and the ensuing quiet. She waited all the long night for her mother to stir, for some sign that her family lived. She waited until the dark bled into dawn before she crept from the thorn bush to her mother’s still form. That all were dead was inconceivable, especially her mother. She needed her mother to tell her this was just some horrid dream.
She touched her mother’s hair and patted the soft cheek covered in blood. “Mother. Mother! Wake up, Mother.” Larkin’s mind screamed, and her mouth moved, but no sound emerged.
She became aware of Talon’s arms around her, aware that he stroked her hair and crooned to her the same tune she’d sung to Aedwin. His physical touch comforted, but could not make up for the massacre of her family or banish completely the memory of blood and death. Only the return of her home and lands and justice for her murdered family might bring some resolution. Those she would have or die trying. Nothing would ever erase her intimate knowledge of violence and death.
