Free Forever Her Champion by Suzan Tisdale

spot of open grass at the base of a hill. The sun shone brightly, casting the swaying grass in shades of silver. A clear blue sky, dotted with small fluffy clouds hung overhead. Rianna spread a blanket out carefully, placing her bundle on the edge. While Aiden tended to the horse, she went in search of her comb. When he returned, she was combing through her dark hair.
    He thought she looked a most magnificent sight, sitting on the blanket under the warm sun, combing through those long, silky tendrils. For a lengthy moment, he wished he was the comb, for then she could both hold him and he could feel the silkiness of her long locks.
    Deftly, she twisted her hair into a long braid and tied the ends with a tiny bit of leather. ’Twas both a treat and agony to watch. If he did not gain a hold on his desire, he’d take her then and there, on the blanket.
    “Why are ye starin’ at me?” she asked quizzically.
    He couldn’t very well admit he was thinking of divesting her of her clothing and slaking his lust here in the wide-open land. Nay, the truth would get him undoubtedly get him kicked in the groin, so he decided to lie. “Wonderin’ just how mad ye truly are.”
    Rianna knew exactly what kind of mad he meant. “I am as sane as ye are,” she told him.
    A warm chuckle escaped. “My own soundness of mind might nae be the right way to measure yer own, lass. I’ve been told I’m quite mad.”
    With a raised brow of indifference and a roll of her eyes, she said, “Now that I can believe.”
    As she began stuffing items back into her bundle, he caught sight of something quite old and familiar. “Ye still have the doll?” he said with a nod toward the object.
    Rianna made no effort to hide it. Instead, she picked it up and held it in her hands.
    Aiden could remember well the last time he’d seen it. She had come to him in tears because one of the arms had fallen off.
    “I can nae ask mum for a needle and thread”, she had cried. “If she finds out I have it, she’ll take it away.”
    Aiden consoled her with a pat on her back. “I can fix it, good as new,” he promised. And so he did. Carefully, he had sewn the arm back in place all the while Rianna sat at his feet, watching in awe at what a fine job he was doing. Once he was done, he examined the doll for any other injuries. ’Twas then he discovered something hard inside its body. “What is this?” he asked as he poked a finger inside.
    “’Tis her heart,” Rianna explained.
    “Her heart?” he had asked. “Dolls do nae have hearts, lass.
    “This one does. I think my papa put it there, but I cannae remember,” she told him. “I think he gave it to me the night we left.”
    Aiden had heard the story many times that summer. A story that sometimes changed, not through lies, but through misremembering.
    He continued to move the object around until he was able to poke it through the goose feather stuffing. His eyes opened wide in astonishment. There, just under the surface of the linen, something … glowed. ’Twas the only word he could think of to describe it. A small yet somehow brilliant light shone from within the doll.
    “What is it?” Rianna had asked in a hushed, nearly reverent tone.
    In truth, Aiden had no idea, but at the age of eleven, he was not one to admit there was something he might not be a worldly expert on. “’Tis clearly magik,” he said.
    “Good magik or bad?” she asked.
    Chewing on his bottom lip for a moment, he finally replied. “I say it be good. If ‘twere bad, we could feel it.”
    Flipping the doll over, he took out his small sgian dubh, fully prepared to cut open the doll to see just what it was that glowed from within. Rianna stopped him. “Nay!” she cried. “Dunnae cut it open!”
    “Why no’?” Aiden asked.
    Rianna took the doll from his grasp and held it close to her heart. “I dunnae think me da would like that. I am to keep the doll safe until he comes for me.”
    “How do ye ken that? Ye canna even