Free Choose the Sky: A Medieval Romance (Swordcross Knights Book 2) by Elizabeth Cole Page A

joining her. “I am only hawking today. It will not be a spectacle.”
    “I need no spectacle,” he said easily. “It’s always a pleasure to watch a clever and well-trained creature at work.”
    She bit her lip. There’d be no turning him away. So much for solitude! “Today I ride to the river,” she said. “There’s always game there.”
    “Excellent,” Luc said. “Then I can see more of the countryside.”
    “Is that your aim, to see the countryside?” she asked.
    “Among other things,” he replied.
    A quarter hour’s ride brought them to the banks of the river. Ice rimed the edges, but the water ran swiftly. Domina looked about, and listened for the sounds of wildlife. The shuffling and low talk of the grooms got in the way. Luc asked a question of one of them, earning a laugh and a quick response.
    “There are too many people about,” she told Luc pointedly. “My bird performs much better when there are fewer numbers.”
    He willfully misinterpreted her meaning. He turned to the grooms, saying, “My lady suggests that fewer people about will improve the hunt. You may return to the castle. I’ll remain to attend your mistress.”
    Before she could object, the grooms accepted Luc’s words and wheeled around to ride back to the castle gates, leaving only the boys to flush out game ahead. She’d be virtually alone with Luc.
    “That was not my meaning!” she said. “Nor is it your place to give orders to my men!”
    “They understood the order to be yours, my lady,” Luc said, with no trace of contrition. “I’ll serve as well as any groom when it comes to fetching and carrying. Believe me, you’ll be well protected. No one will be allowed to even say a word to you as long as I’m here.”
    Domina looked heavenward, seeking strength. “If I must endure your company, then at least heed my instructions when it comes to my Brilliant, and don’t get too close. She doesn’t care for strangers.”
    “Where did she learned that trait?” Luc commented.
    “She had a wonderful trainer,” Domina said as she dismounted. “Me.”
    Domina sent Brilliant on flight after flight. The sparrowhawk was eager for the kill on this day, and succeeded at least half the time. On failed flights, Domina called her back in by casting the meat-baited lure in a circle. When Brilliant fell on the lure, Domina quickly caught her by the jesses tied to her legs.
    “Better luck next time, my beauty,” she murmured, feeding the hawk a bit of cold liver.
    Luc remained fairly quiet at first, but he eventually asked a question, and then another and another. It started out innocuously enough, with questions about her birds. Domina was rather surprised at his interest, but she was pleased to talk about them.
    “You don’t have falcons in your mews,” he noted.
    “I used to,” she replied. “But since my last merlin died, I have not had time to select a new falcon.” Nor did she have the wealth to purchase the more expensive specimens. Hawks were far cheaper. “I shall remedy that someday, of course. My parents taught me how to hunt with falcons. There is nothing like it.”
    “You have a gift for hawking as well,” Luc said. “I’ve heard only one flight in ten may bring back a prize.” He nudged the basket at his feet, already half full of partridges and ducks.
    “Brilliant is a clever hunter,” Mina said proudly.
    “And well-behaved for a sparrowhawk. What could you do with a peregrine, I wonder?”
    “I shall likely never know,” Domina said. “That’s a bird far beyond my purse.”
    “Even with the fabled wealth of the de Warewics?” he asked. “I’ve heard your father has a cache of gold ingots, stamped with the sign of the swan.”
    Domina cursed herself for forgetting to maintain her facade. “Do I look as if I am the child of a man who encourages frivolous spending? That I would ask for a peregrine?”
    “I don’t know you, Domina,” he said. “So how would I know what you’d ask