My Second Chance Mate is a Barbarian (Sera and Fenris) novel Chapter 473

Sera

"Wicket?" Runa said after a while. "Do you think... Hesper's baking bread today?"

"Do you think?" he said cruelly. "Of course she's baking bread. What else does she do?"

"She could be ill," Runa said. "She could be... I don't know, asleep."

"Asleep?" Wicket's laugh was scornful. "Hesper never sleeps. She bakes bread. That's what she does."

I felt the girl's heart beat a little faster. "I think I'm hungry," she said.

"Me too." Wicket grinned. "Come on."

The bread oven was a squat wooden building with a tall brick chimney. Smoke curled up from it lazily. The door was propped open, and I could smell the fresh bread baking inside, sweet and warm.

Runa and Wicket hesitated, then crept closer. I heard Hesper's voice murmuring inside the oven. "... need more flour... too much salt..."

Runa put her head around the open door. "Mrs. Hesper? Hello?"

"Ah!" The old woman's voice was sharp. "Runa! Wicket! What do you want?"

"Nothing," Runa said. "We just happened to be passing."

"Well, don't happen to be passing any closer," Hesper said. "I'm working."

I felt the girl's stomach tighten. I heard Wicket whisper, "Help me..." but she only smiled. "We'll go, Mrs. Hesper. We only... we only wanted to know if you were baking bread..."

"I'm baking bread," Hesper said. "What of it? You know I bake every day. Do you want some?"

Runa's eyes went wide. "Yes, please," she said. "We'll pay for it."

VERIFYCAPTCHA_LABELVerify