Page 49 of The Unencumbered Warrior
“You didn’t put a spell on Raff, did you?” Ingrid asked upset.
“She granted a wish I made, but it had nothing to do with a woman. It was the opposite. I wanted freedom and she gave it to me,” Raff explained, then smiled. “It brought me to you.”
“I simply gave a helpful nudge to fate.” She waved a hand. “I find three warriors—drunk, muddy, and battle-weary—but with honor in their bones. I thought, these’ll do. Just had to knock afew lessons into your thick heads first. Who they chose out of the three of you was up to them.”
Raff stared. “So, all of this… was matchmaking?”
“Magical matchmaking,” the witch said proudly. “The finest kind.”
Ingrid crossed her arms. “Mum?—”
“Oh don’t ‘Mum’ me. You love him, don’t you?”
Ingrid softened. “Of course I do.”
“And he clearly loves you. Followed you into a cursed village and he would have burned with you if I hadn’t helped him. That he would face death for you proved he was the honorable man I believed him to be. And a good husband for one of my daughters. He came to you of his own accord. Fell in love with you without an ounce of help from me. Do you want to argue with that?”
“Nay,” Ingrid said, turning a smile on her husband.
“I have no fault with it,” Raff agreed, his arm circling his wife’s waist and drawing her against him.
“Good,” the witch said. “Now that that is settled, I will stay for the harvest celebration and make certain all is well with you two.” She glared at Raff. “And if you’re thinking of warning your friends, forget it. I’ll silence any message you send them.”
“If their wishes turned out like mine, I wouldn’t dare interfere with their chances of correcting them,” Raff said, silently hoping his friends would do as well as he did.
“Wise man,” the witch said. “When I leave?—”
“Which won’t be soon enough,” Raff mumbled, which got him a poke in the side from his wife and a glare from his mother-in-law.
“I have your sisters and two other prospective husbands to check up on,” the witch continued. “I just hope they’re not as slow on the uptake, though that one sister of yours can be terribly stubborn.”
“I wonder who she gets that from?” Raff mumbled.
“Be careful with your words, Raff,” the witch warned.
“Why? Will you turn me into a frog?” Raff said with a chuckle.
“Don’t tempt me,” the witch snapped.
“I would just change him back, Mum,” Ingrid said.
Raff’s head snapped toward his wife. “What? Wait?—”
“Didn’t stop to think that since her mum’s a witch that your wife might be one too?” the witch asked with a chuckle.
Raff looked at his wife bewildered.
“I’m not powerful like her,” Ingrid said as if trying to reassure him. “My magic is in my weaving. It comforts and sometimes heals.”
He stared at her speechless.
“We’ll discuss it later when we’re alone,” Ingrid said, wrapping her arm around his. “We should head home now.”
The witch led the way, still chuckling. “That’s not the only surprise that awaits him.”
Ingrid shook her head. “Mum, what did you do now?”
CHAPTER 21
