Page 43 of The Beast's Bride
“No, we don’t.”
“But ye were always going to win.”
Taran favored her with a small smile, although his gaze remained serious. “Or could it be that yer riddles are too easy?”
She glowered at him. “Or yers too hard?” She’d actually asked him the hardest riddles she could come up with, and yet he seemed to know them all.
“Come on,” he replied. “It’s yer turn.”
Rhona huffed a breath and sat down upon the window seat. The warm night air tickled the naked backs of her arms. She felt exposed sitting here, wearing only her léine. The material was thin and clung to her form; she was thankful that Taran didn’t let his gaze stray from her face as he waited for her riddle.
“Alright then,” she grumbled. “How about this one? What is the sister of the sun, though made for the night? The fire causes her tears to fall, and when she is near dying they cut off her head.”
Taran frowned at that, scratching his chin as he pondered it. He sat upon a stool opposite her. Rhona watched him, holding her breath as she waited for him to come up with the answer. Taran seemed stumped.
“It’s a candle?” he asked finally.
Rhona’s heart leaped.God’s nails…I’ve lost.“Aye,” she croaked. “That’s right.”
Silence drew out between them as she summoned the nerve to rise to her feet. They both knew what she had to do; there was no need for Taran to command it. “What happens,” she croaked as she reached for the hem of her shift, “when we’re both naked.”
His gaze grew limpid, even as it never left her face. “We go to bed.”
The promise in those words made her knees wobble beneath her. She truly was in the midst of a situation beyond her control, swept along by a tide she had long stopped fighting. The wine had taken the edge off, but even so, she was scared.
Holding her breath, Rhona grabbed her shift’s hem and pulled it up over her head in one swift movement. There was no point in drawing out the embarrassment. Best to get it over with.
A heartbeat later she stood there, naked before him.
Taran’s gaze did leave her face then. It swept down over the length of her body and then up so that he met her gaze once more. She watched his lips part, his pupils dilate. Rhona’s legs trembled underneath her in response.
He gave her a long look. “I suppose this means it’s my turn.”
Panic rose in Rhona’s chest. She wanted him to remain clothed; the longer this game went on, the longer she’d have to avoid the inevitable. She reached for her goblet of wine but found it empty.Satan’scods.She needed more wine if she was to endure this.
“Are ye ready?” he asked.
Rhona swallowed before wetting her lips. She had no more clothing to remove, and if she answered one more of his riddles correctly, he’d be completely naked. Men didn’t wear anything under their braies.
Reluctantly, she nodded.
“Truly no one is outstanding without me, nor fortunate,” he began. “I embrace all those whose hearts ask for me. He who goes without me goes about in the company of death; and he who bears me will remain lucky forever. But I stand lower than earth and higher than heaven.”
Inhaling deeply, Rhona paused. Curse him, but she knew the answer to this one. However, she needed to pretend otherwise. “Happiness?” she asked after a moment.
His brow furrowed. “The answer was ‘humility’ … but I think ye knew that.”
Rhona tensed. “No, I didn’t.”
He cocked his head. “No cheating.”
“I’m not!” Rhona glared back at him. She fought the urge to cover herself up, to cross her arms over her bared breasts.
“Ready for another riddle then?” His voice had a husky edge to it now.
Rhona inhaled deeply, steadying herself. “Go on.”
“I have one and ye have one,” he began slowly. “So do the woods, fields, streams and seas, fish, beasts and crops and everything else in this revolving world.”
