Naked by Eliza Redgold Read Free Book Online

fireplace to offer one.
    Avoided touching him.
    “How old are you?” he asked, as I took a frothy sip of ale.
    “I will be twenty years of age this autumn.” My birthday was just before All Hallows. It had always been celebrated in the town.
    “You’re not yet twenty? That’s young to fight.”
    Edmund was a few years older than me and he’d been fighting for years. Again I peered around the dim-lit hall, wondering where he could be. I wanted him beside me on this battle eve.
    “How old were you, my lord, when you first fought in battle?” I asked Lord Leofric.
    “Younger than you,” he conceded. “But not as small.”
    I bristled. I wasn’t small for a woman. “When my father taught me to fight he showed me how to move my body to defend myself, how to wait and spot the best opportunity to attack my opponents. It’s not about brute force, he believed. ‘Don’t let your smaller size deter you from victory. Skill and intelligence can be just as powerful.’ That’s what he said.”
    The memory was now bittersweet.
    Leofric nodded. “There’s something in that. Are you an archer as well?”
    “Sword-craft is what I prefer. Edmund always won in bow-craft. He’s the finest shot in the Middle Lands. But I once bested him in a sword fight.” I grinned. “He didn’t like that much.”
    “If you were taught by Lord Radulf then you’ll fight well. Your father was a strong warrior, I know.”
    “On my sixteenth birthday he gave me my sword and my set of armor. It’s light yet strong.”
    “Light yet strong.” The earl’s voice seemed to brush my skin. As I stared into the fire I could only hope he assumed the warmth stealing into my cheeks came from its heat.
    I changed the subject. “Will you tell me more of Mercia, Lord Leofric?”
    “What would you know of my homeland?”
    “I know that you have towns of great size. I’ve heard of Chester.”
    “There’s also Derby and Nottingham. Yes, our towns are growing apace at last. When Thurkill had control of Mercia he stripped it of all its wealth. Mercia was once powerful in this isle. But we fared badly when the Danes came. We were too much of a threat. They sought to crush us.”
    “But you won your lands again.”
    “Not without cost. My three brothers and I were outlaws for years.”
    “You have other brothers?”
    “Two younger. Edwin and Godwin.” He brooded into the fire. “They are still in the north or what’s left of it. Thurkill left our coffers bare. I’ve had to raise our taxes. But my people understand. Mercia must be rebuilt. I’m determined on it.”
    “I believe you’ll do it.” How could I believe otherwise with his tone edged with metal, his profile carved as if from fierce rock?
    “Are you afraid of facing open battle?” he asked abruptly.
    “Yes.” Impossible to lie. “I’m afraid. But courage is going on whether you’re afraid or not, isn’t it? It isn’t courage if you don’t feel afraid. Courage is what we need at our worst not our best. That’s what my father taught me.”
    “That’s true. When you have courage you have no choice but to go forward, to do what needs to be done, no matter how difficult.”
    “You know courage, I think, Lord Leofric.”
    Again he stared into the flickering fire as if scrying them, and then at me. “It’s been called upon for me to show courage. But like all men, I didn’t know I possessed it until the moment for requiring it had passed. Courage is only known after the battle is won.”
    I shivered. “I hope I’ll know it.”
    Standing up, he lifted his tankard and drained the ale. “I’ll leave you now. I can’t stay indoors.”
    “You’re going outside? Into the cold?”
    “When we were outlaws, I began to prefer sleeping in the open air. It’s almost too warm in here.” His mouth curved slightly as he glanced at my cheeks. “Do you not find it so?”
    My blush deepened.
    “Sleep well, battle maid. At dawn we’ll be ready. And have faith. I don’t think