“You dare threaten me?” the witch snapped, and, with a slight snarl, the wolf quickly stood on all fours.
“Aye, I do,” he confirmed without hesitation and with a snarl of his own.
Bliss hurried to speak up. “No one wishes anyone harm. We must work together to end the threat that can destroy everything.”
“Do as I told you, Bliss,” the witch ordered and pointed a finger at Rannick. “And you, cursed one, appear in my presence again without my permission and you will be the one to suffer.”
“Come on my land again and summon my wife without my permission and you and I will battle,” he threatened.
The witch shook her finger at Rannick. “Watch your tongue with me or I will see that you lose it.”
Rannick shot back at her. “Try, and I will see that you lose your head.”
The witch swirled her hand in the air, thickening the mist. “You tempt fate, cursed one, be very careful or you may lose what you hold dear.”
“Bliss?” Rannick called out, her hand no longer in his.
“Rannick!” Bliss shouted, his voice in the distance and she hurried a glance at the witch. “Please do not harm him. He was only protecting me.”
“He chose the wrong way to do it. Warn him to guard his tongue around me or I will make him suffer for it,” the witch warned. “I do not suffer foolish men lightly. They never know when their tongues do more harm than good. Go! I am done with you for now.”
The mist swallowed her, taking with it the mist around Bliss and revealing her husband not far from her.
Bliss ran to him as he did to her, their arms reaching out to clasp tightly around each other.
Fear that he had lost her had Rannick’s heart beating like a thunderous drum in his chest and all he wanted to do was keep his wife locked tight and safe in his arms. Unfortunately, the truth of it was that the witch could snatch her away from him at any time and that put a blood-chilling fear in Rannick.
Bliss had realized it as well and did the only thing she believed would keep her husband safe. “You will not speak with the witch again. I will see to her.”
Rannick stepped back from her, though kept his hands at her waist. “That is not going to happen.”
“I would listen to her if I were you,” Brogan advised. “She does it for your own good.”
Bliss turned to see Brogan and Annis standing a short distance from them.
“You should heed Brogan’s suggestion. He knows of what he speaks,” Annis cautioned.
“Except I was the one cautioning my wife to watch her tongue since it got away from her far too often with the witch,” Brogan said and laughed when he felt a jab to his side. He grabbed his wife’s offending finger and held it tight. “From what I’ve witnessed of the witch so far, I do not believe she means anyone harm. I truly think she wants this curse ended as much as we do.”
“Why did she create such a powerful curse for Lady Aila in the first place?” Rannick asked.
“She didn’t create the curse,” Bliss said.
“Then who did?” Annis asked.
CHAPTER 29
Rannick stood in front of the bedchamber door he had just closed, his eyes on his wife. She stood in front of the hearth in her shift with her head bent to the flames. She had not heard him enter so deep was she in thought, but then much had gone on today.
The startling discovery that the witch did not create the curse that Aila had cast left them all wondering. Who would have such power and knowledge if not the witch?
Another witch was the only reasonable and confusing explanation, since the witch made no mention of another of her ilk. And where had Aila found this witch? Annis believed Gunna would know but it did them little good since they did not know where she was.
Rannick shook his head. This time alone with his wife was precious to him and he would not let either of their troublesome thoughts interfere with it.
He went to her, stopping behind her to rest his brow to the back of her head and slip one arm around her to splay his hand protectively over her stomach. “I will protect you both no matter what.”
Her hand drifted to rest over his and she marveled at his combined strength and tenderness.
“We will protect each other no matter what,” she corrected.
That she loved him with such courage amazed him and made him even more determined to make certain nothing happened to her. He had found a rare woman to love, and he was not about to lose her.
Bliss leaned back against her husband, relaxing into his embrace. “I recalled something the healer who taught me said when I asked her how she was able to determine what troubled a person. She told me never to look far and wide, that the answers are always right in front of us, easy for us to see if we but moved the unnecessary aside. If we applied that to the present situation, we might find what we look for.”