Meig arranged for Galley to join me that night. His slightly older brother, Darlien, also came along, but I didn’t complain as I’d have someone else to help with the shoveling. We carried two shovels and a torch with us out to an empty field on a small rise just outside the edge of town. There was a stick stuck in a relatively recent grave that I had to assume was Meig’s marker.

  We got to work quickly, but it took some time to get to the body. Galley held the torch and excitedly told us where to dig and how slow we were. When we finally got to the body, we had reached the bloated stomach, so we still had to dig our way to its head. My spells couldn’t detect anything on its body which surprised me, but as soon as we got close to its head, it was clear it had, indeed been poisoned.

  I was breathing hard from all the work and indicated that Darl should stop.

  “That's all I need,” I said, gasping and stretching my sore arms.

  “That's it? I thought we were going to dig him up!” Galley said, outraged.

  “That's all. Let’s cover him back up,” I said. I climbed out of the hole and helped Darl out.

  Galley insisted he could take over for me if I held the torch. I let him, but soon enough, he was grunting with the exertion of it and we traded back. Luckily, covering the grave was easier than digging it out.

  I had thought I could get more done tonight, but I was tired and dirty. I paid the boys when we got back to the manor, telling them to put the tools away, and went right up to get cleaned up. It wasn’t that late and I managed to get a maid to help me prepare a warm bath. I sent her out telling her I could get myself dried and dressed and she gratefully left me to myself probably to seek her own bed.

  I didn’t linger as the water was just warm and cooled quickly, but it was warm enough to allow me to scrub the dirt from my nails and hair. I wrapped myself in my towel and meant to dart back to my room where I had left my clean clothes when I ran straight into a hard body that grunted on impact.

  “Oh, sorry,” I mumbled and tried to scramble away from the stranger. Strong arms grabbed my upper arms and held me in place.

  “Aebbe?” said a gruff voice in the dark. Strong arms pushed me against a wall and I could just make out a face and features from light spilling from an open door down the hall a short ways. His face was in silhouette, but I knew it was Kaarlo.

  He seemed to contemplate me a moment. I opened my mouth to say something, but he pressed his lips to mine followed by his warm body. I gasped in surprise only to have him deepen the kiss by pressing his tongue into my mouth. I shivered in surprise as every nerve in me came alive at his touch. I had forgotten what a good kisser he was. When we broke apart, he pressed his forehead to mine.

  “Come to my bedchamber,” Kaarlo whispered. My breath caught in my throat. I swallowed nervously, but nodded. He walked on down the hallway and into the lit room as if nothing had happened. I watched him go, frozen for a moment.

  When I recovered myself, I scurried into my room and put on some clean clothes and combed my short hair, doing this quietly to let Meig sleep undisturbed. When I went back into the hall, the light from that room was out and the door closed. I crept quietly down the halls of the Issakainen manor house to the door of Kaarlo’s bed chamber. I pushed the heavy door open and it creaked softly as it opened.

  I stepped into the room. It was dark and I wondered for a moment if he was here. I gasped in surprise when Kaarlo captured my lips with his again, pressing me against the door as it closed behind me. I could feel his hard body against mine. He seemed to hesitate and wait for my reaction. His kiss was hot and his tongue in my mouth made me tingle from my head to my toes. I put my arms around his neck and pulled him in closer to me, returning the kiss.

  “So you are attracted to me?” he asked me gruffly, a sudden wave of anger and possessiveness seemed to go through him which surprised me, but I couldn’t read his face in the gloom.

  “I never didn’t want you, Kaarlo,” I told him. “I just never wanted to be a wife, not for anyone. Even you,” he growled.

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  “I want you, painfully so. Let me have you tonight. This one night,” he insisted and kissed me again in another searing kiss, his tongue seeking mine. I moaned without meaning to. “I won’t demand anything else from you,” he promised me, kissing my neck making my whole body shiver.

  “But, Pardy…” I started, when another hot kiss had ended.

  “I know, I disgrace her and myself in this moment. I have never cheated on her and I will never do so again. You have been the desire of my heart since I first laid eyes on you. One night and I will be satisfied,” he said, and it sounded like he was making a promise to himself as much as to me. Feelings I had pushed down for so long resurfaced and a longing I had never known crowded into my mind or perhaps it was my body responding to his.

  “One night,” I told him, my voice shaky. There was really too much to worry about with the threats and attacks, but in this moment none of that seemed to matter to either of us. I had to push the image of his wife out of my head. I didn’t doubt his devotion to her nor hers to him.

  Kaarlo pulled me further into to his bed chamber and lit several candles around the bed. I had hoped for relative anonymity of the dark.

  “Do we need so much light?” I asked feeling uncomfortable, now things were headed in this new and unexpected direction. Kaarlo chuckled. I looked around the room and noticed the door to Pardy’s chamber was closed.

  “Oh, love. There is no way we will do this in the dark. I want to see all of you clearly so I can remember our one night of passion forever as it will be our last.” I hadn’t seen him smile in some time and was pleased to have been the cause of it.

  When he was satisfied, he strode confidently to me and began undressing me. He did it slowly, letting his hands move along my bare skin as each garment was removed. He kissed my lips from time to time. He smirked at me as he undid my breeches.

  “I've never had to take breeches off a woman before. At least it’s something I’m familiar with…” he joked, but I was too nervous to laugh. I knew I was not much to look at. Other men had called me mannish and coarse, so I was worried I wouldn’t live up to Kaarlo’s expectations. His wife was a good deal curvier and bustier than me. Once he had pulled off my boots and I was completely bare, he stood back and looked me over. It made me self-conscious, so I tried to cover myself.

  “Don’t,” he told me. “You're beautiful and strong. You amaze me. You always have,” he stared and I decided I wouldn’t be the only one bared for viewing. I reached up and pushed his rich robe from his shoulders. He smiled and let it fall behind him. I started undoing the buttons of his shirt as he pushed his feet out of his rich leather boots. He just watched me. His breath would catch when my hands met his bare skin. He felt hot and firm under my hands. Manor life had not softened him.

  I pushed the shirt from his shoulders and it fluttered down to join his other clothes. Soon, his breeches had joined the rest of the clothes on the floor and I could admire his naked body. I was really nervous now as I hadn’t thought a man would be quite that size. I tentatively ran my hands through the smattering of hair on his chest and up to his strong shoulders. He ran his arms down my back and pressed me to him. He must have noticed me looking and how nervous I was. He cupped my face and kissed me softly this time.

  “Have you ever been with a man before, Aebbe?” he asked me in a gentle voice. I shook my head not wanting to look into his eyes. He sighed deeply. “Are you sure you want to, love? I shouldn’t have pressured you. Maybe, if there’s someone special…”

  “There's no one, Kaarlo,” I told him, looking up at him now. “Only you.” At that admission, he groaned and captured my lips in another hot kiss and pushed me back and down into his bed. When I fell into it, I giggled at how soft it was, feeling I might fall in never to come out again, but I moved into the middle of the bed and Kaarlo crawled in on top of me.

  I was nervous again, but he rubbed my skin softly and planted kisses on my lips and body until I was relaxed and my heart rate had slowed down. It was clear he was not in a heated rush as I had feared. I couldn’t say whether Kaarlo was a skilled lover or not, having nothing to compare it to, but I did figure out what all the fuss was about. I had never felt like that before and, while a bit uncomfortable at first, each time seemed to be better than the last. He took his time with me and when his eyes finally fluttered closed, I got up and blew out the candles in the room.

  I was used to being awake all night, so when he finally fell asleep, I curled up into him and enjoyed his warmth until the dawn filled the sky. I gave his strong lips a final kiss before I got out of his bed while he slept on. I pulled on my clothes and rushed into my room to get my mind back on my mission here.

  Meig was already awake when I went into our room. She gave me a once-over that let me know she had no doubt of my activities that night, but I just rolled my eyes at her and read her reports and observations from the day before and we set up a plan so I could get some sleep before I had to get back to work. Kaarlo was still in danger and I had yet to figure out from whom.

  At least I had a lead now. The horse had been poisoned. Meig and I agreed it had been a test run. The choice of a large animal to make sure a small dose would work. Then the attempt, the poison spread to many to deflect blame perhaps. I needed Meig’s skills the next night and she agreed to help me in my plan. We were close to solving the mystery. We had to be.