Read Online The Ruby Moon by Trisha Priebe - Free Book Online Page A

his mouth curved into a smile.
    “Yes,” Avery said kindly, moving in. “Who are you?”
    Tuck held out a hand to keep her from getting closer.
    “Nice of you to protect your girlfriend,” the man said, “but despite what you all want to think, I wasn’t going to hurt her.”
    “Then why were you in her chamber in the middle of the night?”
    The massive brute looked strong enough to take them all on, but he said, “This is not the time or place, but I’ll be back tomorrow morning. We can talk then.”
    Avery feared if they let him go, she’d never see him again. But what choice did they have? They were no match for him. If he wanted to leave, no one would stop him.
    She didn’t sleep the rest of the night.
    She sat on the floor scratching Bronte’s ears and whispering her thanks.

    The clatter of cutlery told Avery everyone else was up and eating, but she had no appetite and didn’t want to get out of bed.
    She desperately wanted a bath to ease her chilled bones, but with no copper basin in the underworld, she would have to settle for lukewarm water in the cleansing alcove. Instead, Avery stayed under her scratchy wool blanket listening to the miserable constant dripping—the first thing she heard every morning and the last thing she heard every night.
    Then it hit her. Would the strange man show up as he promised? She scrambled from her bed and dressed, pulling her hair back into a sloppy braid and stepping into her slippers.
    Maybe the scouts had discovered something new about him. She swept aside the blanket door—and there he sat, lounging on one of the faded velvet chairs the kids had brought from upstairs, one leg propped on a stool, hands folded on his rotund belly. He had draped his coat over the chair, and his head was tilted back, eyes closed.
    Avery cleared her throat.
    “ ’Bout time you woke up,” he said, sitting up. “Been waitin’ half the day.”
    He laughed loudly.
    Avery considered calling for backup, but she didn’t want him to think she was scared. Plus, he had chosen to come back. How dangerous could he be?
    “I’d offer you this chair like a gentleman,” he said, “but I’ve had this limp since childhood that’s getting worse with age.”
    Avery took a stool from her room and sat a safe distance from him. “Why were you watching me sleep last night?”
    “Don’t enjoy small talk, do you?” he asked with a wink. “Fair enough. I’ve been sent to keep you safe.”
    “Yeah, okay, I’ll play along. Who sent you to keep me safe?”
    “I wish I knew.”
    “Who are you?”
    “Name’s Babs.”
    Avery snorted. “Seriously? Babs? That’s a girl’s name.”
    He shrugged.
    “Come on. You were sent but you don’t know by whom? You didn’t show up here on your own. Tell me more.”
    Babs retrieved from his shirt pocket a large gold coin that could pay for a month of living in the village. “A fishwife gave me this and asked me to watch out for you. She described you, so I’ve been searching in each of the chambers. That’s what I was doing until your dog got involved.”
    “Uh, rule number one: watching someone sleep is a bad idea.”
    Avery had to admit his smile was warm and kind.
    “I suppose you’re right,” he said, “and I apologize for scaring you. The woman will be pleased to know I found you. May I tell her you’re safe?”
    “Frankly, I don’t know how safe I am.” Avery wondered if she dared tell this strange man she was at the castle against her will. “First tell me who this fishwife is.”
    “I don’t know.”
    “What? She pays you that handsome amount and … I don’t understand.”
    “She saw me emerge from the underworld and asked me to look for you; that’s all I can tell you. I wasn’t supposed to say she was even a
she.
But I felt I owed it to you since I frightened you.”
    “What does she look like?”
    “I’d better not say.”
    “How does she know me? Why does she care?”
    “I shouldn’t say more. She gave me no reason to