Page 30 of While Angels Slept
He lifted his head, fighting off a grin. “You will never let me forget that, will you?”
She shook her head, an impish grin on her lips. At that moment, Hunt suddenly popped up with a tiny rabbit in his arms. He struggled with the little creature as he made his way to his mother.
“Mam!” he called. “Look, I have one!”
Cantia discreetly took her hand away from Tevin as Hunt approached. “My, he is a little one,” she said to her son as he drew near. “Perhaps he needs to go back to his mother.”
But Hunt was firm. “I will take care of him. I will be his mam.”
“He is too young, Hunt,” she insisted gently. “He will be missing his mother. Would you not miss me if you were taken away?”
Hunt cocked his head just as Brac used to. Squinting in the sunlight, he looked curiously at his mother. “But I will go away, some day. I will go away to learn to be a great knight.”
Cantia’s heart just about broke. Tevin eyed her, remembering their conversation on fostering and knowing how she had reacted to it. Hunt had unknowingly reopened the tender wound. He took control of the conversation before Cantia could react.
“You do not have to go away to be a great knight,” he said, moving for the boy and pretending to inspect the little brown bunny. “But your mother is right, Hunt. This rabbit is too small to be away from its mother. You had better let it go and try your luck with another.”
Hunt hesitated for a split second before doing as he was told. He brushed his little hands off on his breeches as he watched the rabbit hop away.
“Can I go with you to learn to be a great knight?” he asked. “I could live with you.”
“But what of your mother?”
His little brow furrowed thoughtfully. “Can’t she come, too?”
Tevin fought off a smile. “Mothers do not usually follow their sons to foster.”
Now Hunt’s little mouth twisted as he thought of a solution to the situation. He didn’t particularly want to leave his mother, but he wanted to be a great knight. His turmoil was evident and Tevin laid anenormous hand on his downy head. “We do not have to decide this today,” he told the boy. “Now, if you’re going to catch another rabbit, you’d better hurry up. The day grows late.”
Hunt turned around and went in search of his prey. Cantia watched her son, her gaze moving between the little blond head and the massive dark knight. When Tevin turned to look at her, she smiled sweetly.
“You are very good with children,” she said. “I think he likes you.”
“And I like him,” his dark eyes were on her, “as well as his mother.”
Cantia didn’t know what to say. She simply smiled. Tevin moved back to stand next to her and the two of them stood in silence as Hunt went off on another chase. Eventually, Tevin moved close enough to hold her hand. He tucked it into the crook of his elbow, his fingers playing gently with hers.
“How did you come to be so comfortable with children?” she asked, simply making conversation. “Most men are not so practiced.”
But it was not idle conversation to Tevin. He had been dreading a line of discussion just like this one. He could be evasive, but that would only delay the inevitable. Val had been correct. Cantia had to know, right from the start before things got out of control and it would be increasingly difficult to tell her. He felt so strongly about her that he would not disrespect her by lying or withholding the truth. He could only pray that she understood, for this was a situation he’d never before faced and he was unsure how adequately he could explain it.
“I am comfortable with them because I have one,” he said simply.
Cantia’s head snapped to him. “You have a child?”
He looked down at her. “Aye.”
A look of bafflement swept her. “But if you have a child…,” her eyes suddenly widened. “You must have a wife.”
He sighed heavily, holding her hand firmly as she tried to pull it away. The more he held on, the harder she pulled. “Stop, madam,” he commanded softly. “It is far more complicated than that.”
For too many reasons to guess, her eyes began to well. She lowered her head, but she also stopped pulling. “Please let me go,” shewhispered.
“Nay, not until you hear me,” he sounded strangely as if he was begging.
“There is nothing to hear,” she hissed through clenched teeth. “You have a wife, yet you have openly displayed feeling for me and.…”
She suddenly yanked hard and dislodged her hand. As she quickly walked away in the direction that Hunt had been leaping, Tevin followed.
