My Second Chance Mate is a Barbarian (Sera and Fenris) novel Chapter 516

Rurik

Later that day, I crept through the shadows and found Taya at the trough behind the stables.

I heard the clang of the trough's iron handle. Taya's hands were already under the ice-crusted water. She glanced at me, then back at her scrubbing fingers.

"I'm not sorry," she said.

I sat down on the trough edge beside her. My face still stung. "What are you doing?"

She didn't answer. The water was frozen at the edges, a thin sheet of ice. She broke it, plunging her hands in again. Her fingers were red and raw.

"It's cold," I said.

"Shut up."

I waited. She knew I would wait. It was why she had come here to the stables, away from the town.

Finally she pulled her hands out of the trough. Water dripped down her wrists into her sleeves. She wiped her nose on the back of one hand, then glared at me.

"Would you really tell my father?"

"No."

"I said would you really tell."

"I won't tell."

"You can't swear on that. You have to swear it proper, like an oath."

"Oh." I licked my lips, tasting salt. "I swear it, Taya. I won't tell your father about what you did to Mina. I promise."

She watched me for a long time. I held still, not even breathing. Then she nodded once, hard. "Good."

I swallowed. "Do you want me to go?"

"No."

I sat. She put her hands back in the trough. I heard the ice crackle.

Taya shifted beside me. I felt her eyes on my face. I didn't look at her.

Then, without a word, she reached out and wiped at my mouth with her wet sleeve. It stung. I flinched. She did it again, harder. I didn't move.

When she was done, she put her hands back in the trough and went back to scrubbing. I sat still, my face throbbing, and watched her.

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