Shattered Sanctuary: The First Luna's Severance novel · Chapter 23 of 24
Chapter 23: By Choice
Agnes stitched the shoulder at the kitchen table with her mouth set in a line.
"Four weeks to heal if you rest," she said. "Two if you don't, and a scar either way."
"Then I'll scar."
"You will."
Agnes tied the last knot and patted the wound with a clean cloth.
She looked from Rosalind to the man standing in the doorway.
She picked up her bag.
"I'll be at the clinic," she said, and went out without another word.
Hamish came in and shut the door.
He had not said a word since the court.
He took a clean shirt off the chair and held it out.
She couldn't lift her arm, so he put it on her himself, one sleeve at a time.
"Rosalind," he said. "I've been trying to find the way to say this for a month."
"Say it badly."
"I lost my wife eleven years ago."
"I know."
"I didn't look at anyone for ten of them."
He took a breath.
"Then I sat across a table from a woman who smiled at the people wrecking her life. I thought, there she is. There's the one who finishes things."
She waited.
"Nobody gave me you. There's no mark on my wrist, and there never will be."
He turned his hand over and showed her the bare skin.
"The Goddess has nothing to do with this. If you want me, you'll have to pick me yourself, and I'll know you did."
"Hamish."
"It's a bite and a vow. Wolves did it before the Goddess had a name for them. It doesn't feed from anyone. It's a thread you can cut whenever you like."
He swallowed.
"I'm asking."
Rosalind stood up and put her good hand on his face.
"Yes," she said.
He closed his eyes.
"Take me home."
The cabin on the river was cold, so he lit the fire.
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