My Second Chance Mate is a Barbarian (Sera and Fenris) novel Chapter 495

Rurik

"Hard freeze last night," the old stablehand grunted. "Might need to herd the mares under closer. This'll be the coldest winter I've seen in many a year."

I grunted back, too focused on picking the ice from my mare's hooves to make more of a reply. The cold metal of the pick bit into my palm as I worked.

"Frostbite," the old man said, shaking his head. "That's a poor way for a beast to hobble through life. Gives 'em sorrow."

I didn't answer, not because I disagreed, but because the stablehand rarely expected a reply to his musings. They were just his way of passing the hours.

Finally, after a long moment, he spoke again. "Haven't seen Kael's girl about lately, have ye?"

"No," I said, flicking ice clumps onto the packed dirt and straw floor.

The stablehand said nothing.

"We had a fight," I said, after a moment.

The old man hummed and nodded. "Mean to go make it right, then?"

I hesitated, then shook my head. "No."

My silence stretched longer than the stablehand liked, and he asked in a gruff voice, "Why not? Good friendship is rare to find."

I kept working on the hoof as I answered, "Every time it's me who goes to her. This time she can come to me. She's not a child."

"Aye, lad," the old man grunted, "but pride's a cold blanket on a winter's night."

I didn't answer, just set the mare's hoof down and patted her sturdy neck. "I'm going to fetch her some water."

I grabbed the empty pail and headed out into the cold yard. It smelled of frost and leather and coal smoke from the smithy, where the hammer clanged. To my left, a man dragged a sled piled with split wood. I breathed out white air as I walked.

Two men stood at the water trough, their backs to me. I didn't give their low talk a second thought until I heard her name.

"You heard about Kael's girl?" the tall one asked.

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