Free Shield of Fire (A Bringer and the Bane Novel) by Boone Brux

thing.” She crinkled her forehead in contemplation. “I think he wants to keep me around a bit longer.”
    “Can’t blame him.” Rhys dazzled her with his smile. He could be incredibly charming when he wanted. She’d have to remember that. “Your best room, please.”
    Matilda giggled. “Of course. Top of the stairs and down the hall. But you already know that.”
    “Of course I do.” He gave the girl a devilish wink and wrapped his arm around Ravyn again. As they walked toward the stairs, he stopped and turned back to Matilda. With a shake of his head he said, “Oh, to be ten years younger.”
    They slowly ascended the stairs, Matilda’s titter dancing behind them.
    “I think you have an admirer.”
    “Yes, I’m quite the ladies’ man. You’re one to talk. I’ve never seen poor Willie so besotted.”
    “He’s not besotted,” she argued. “Merely a little touched in the head.”
    “Why, because he’s infatuated with you?”
    “He’s not infatuated.” She hefted her body up the next step and ignored the heating of her cheeks. Bless The Sainted Ones, but she’d never spoken of men or lust this much in her entire life. Not even if she combined every lecture the Sisters ever gave.
    “I admit Willie seemed a bit more intense than usual, but you’re a beautiful woman and he’s a young man. I don’t see anything off about his response.”
    Twice in one day, somebody had called her beautiful. The Sisters reviled vanity and compliments. Perhaps because nobody had ever told them they were pretty. She wasn’t going to lie—compliments felt good, no matter how unfounded.
    Ravyn cleared her throat. “I admit I have little—well, no —experience with romance, but he’s not infatuated. He was just being hospitable.”
    “If he was any more hospitable I would have had to peel him from you like a Lake Leech.”
    The image almost made her laugh, but she refrained, desperately wanting to change the subject.
    He led her down what had to be the longest hallway ever built. At the last door, they stopped. Despite her exhaustion and aches, her heart raced at the thought of being alone with him—in a room—with a bed. He stepped around her and opened the door.
    A pleasant surprise waited inside. The room spanned the end of the building. A wall of multi-paned windows allowed the morning sun to bathe the space with gentle light.
    “This is lovely.” She stepped inside and walked to the windows. Activity buzzed below her. From here, they had a view of the outbuildings, stables, and, beyond that, the forest. “Are you sure we’ll be safe here?”
    “For a while. Until you’re well enough to travel.” He closed the door. “But I think you should use a different name. We don’t want to alert anybody looking for you by using Ravyn…” He paused. “What is your surname?”
    She turned and looked at him. Should she tell him? It wouldn’t take much for him to find out if he was determined. What would he gain by knowing or, more to the point, what would she lose? Truth be told, she wasn’t sure if Mayfield was truly her surname. “Mayfield.”
    “Ravyn Mayfield.” He gave her a hard look. “Where does your family hail from?”
    She shrugged and winced. “I don’t know. As far as I know I’m an orphan.”
    Rhys opened his mouth to ask more, but someone rapped against the door—much to her relief. She wasn’t sure how much about herself she wanted to share.
    He opened the door. “Come in.”
    Two young boys with flaming red hair and sheepish grins stumbled into the room. They reminded Ravyn of puppies—all feet and little grace. They hobbled a large wooden tub to a corner of the room, bowed, and left. A few seconds later, two girls arrived. One draped the tub with a cloth liner while the other opened a small door in the wall to reveal a wide spigot. She positioned the tap directly over the tub and pushed the iron lever above the tap in a wide arc. Water poured from the spigot and into the