A Warrior's Redemption

  Chapter Fifteen

  The Dark Ones

  Krista lay awake in her bed wondering over the events of the evening. The poor little girl had only managed a couple mouthfuls of fresh doughnut and a cup of milk before she had slumped over in her chair, fast asleep. She lay beside her in the bed now, sleeping peacefully.

  Krista’s thoughts kept drifting back to the girl’s protector and the odd unspoken sense of connection she felt with him. What was it about him that was somehow familiar? A blush rose to her cheeks as she acknowledged that he hadn’t been the only one looking. Usually she didn’t pay attention to men any longer than it took for her to judge how much of a threat to her they were and what their weaknesses were. After she knew those things, it was much easier to handle them and keep them at arm’s length, but with him it had been different.

  With him, her thoughts had been of what it would be like to be within arm’s length. He was strong and yet he handled Zarsha with tenderness, as the evening Zacka bird does her young. Would he be like that with a woman or would he turn into the groping monster so many men seemed to be, when they thought no one was looking. He liked the way she looked, she was sure of that, but then she hadn’t met any men who hadn’t liked the way she looked either. But it was different with him somehow. She wanted him to see her as beautiful.

  What was wrong with her? She needed to get her head on straight. She was a slave even though Sebastian treated her more like a granddaughter. To be seen as beautiful in her world was only to have more of oneself taken advantage of. Sebastian had been good to her and she was lucky to have it as good as she did now. Everything could have been a lot worse without him.

  She closed her eyes and finally drifted off to sleep. The big, serious eyed warrior from the north would just have to stay in her dreams and be nothing more, because she already had it as good as a slave could hope to and she would be content with that.