Page 114 of Bride of Fire
He gave her a taunting grin. “Your last shot, I believe?”
She shot him a scathing glare and wrenched an arrow out of her quiver with a vengeance. Fatal flaw? She didn’t think so. Her fatal flaw was believing him when he said he was no archer.
She lined up sideways to the target.
“Watch carefully, William,” Morgan said in a loud whisper. “Ye see how she lines up sideways to the target?”
She ignored him. She knew what he was doing. He was trying to distract her. She wasn’t about to let him have the satisfaction.
She set her arrow atop the hand gripping the bow, twisting the shaft until the cock feather faced upward.
“See how she twists the shaft,” he murmured, “until the cock feather faces upward.”
She felt her blood start to simmer. But she was determined to pay him no heed. Drawing back the bowstring, she took aim.
“And here she holds her breath and… Ye do hold your breath, aye? Do ye take a breath before ye draw or after ye’ve got the target in your sights?”
What the devil was he yammering on about? Drawing a breath? Holding her breath? How was she supposed to know? She’d never thought about it before. And now that he’d planted the notion in her brain, suddenly she felt like she couldn’t breathe. Worse, her arm was beginning to shake from holding the string taut.
Before the bow could wobble out of her control, she took her best shot. The arrow landed in the second ring.
“Shite!” she cried, turning on him. “Look what you made me do.”
“Me? What didIdo?”
“You know very well,” she snarled. “Drawing your breath… Holding your breath…”
“I was only tryin’ to help the lad,” he claimed, “showin’ him how a master archer does it.” There was a mischievous twinkle in his eyes that belied his innocence.
“Cheating is what you were doing.” She turned to William. “See, lad, the depths to which an inferior archer will sink to win?”
“And how easy ’tis to use a foe’s weakness against them?” Morgan said to the lad. “A fatal flaw, that temper o’ hers.”
Her blood was boiling now. But saying any of the foul things that came to mind would only prove his point about her temper.
Instead, she took a deep breath, blowing out all her tension as she’d seen Feiyan do. While he was flexing the longbow, she considered whathisfatal flaw might be.
For most men, it was lust.
Now that she’d tried her hand at seduction and succeeded, she was sure she could summon up enough womanly wiles to throw him off his game.
She snagged one of his arrows from the ground and sidled up to offer it to him.
Drawing his attention with her smoldering gaze, she murmured just loud enough for him to hear, “Make sure thecockfeather isuprightbefore you release it.”
His nostrils flared briefly, but then he gave her a soft chuckle. “I always do.”
She sauntered away then, swaying her hips in what she hoped was a provocative fashion until she was standing out of the line of fire, but well in his line of sight. She leaned back against the castle wall and used her finger to coyly tease the neckline of her kirtle, something she’d seen a milkmaid do once.
Unfortunately, the smile he gave her wasn’t full of lust. It was sad and wistful. And in the end, her scheme only created unanticipated consequences.
From this angle, she could see every gesture he made. Every muscle he tensed. Every movement of his eyes. Every expression in his face. And it was painfully obvious to her now that he was no novice.
Before he shot, he examined the arrow itself, sighting down the length of it to make sure it was straight. Then he ran the fletching lightly across his lips to smooth the feathers.
She gulped. She’d never noticed before what an enticing gesture that was, almost like a kiss. She remembered the feel of those lips on hers.
When he fitted his arrow this time, it settled evenly on top of his fist without the awkward interference of his hooked finger.
