(art credit: Gustave Doré)
THE BEATING OF HER BOUND HEART
coming to Amazon
Kindle in a TRIO OF FAIRY TALES (working
title)
Once upon a
time a girl named Ysabeau lived with her mother and father
in a small village nestled on the edge of a great, green forest.
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Excerpt
The path to Grandmother’s led up the side of the mountain. The
trees wore fresh green leaves, and below on the ground grew blue thistle and purple
iris, pink orchids and buttercups. The flowers nodded, and her beautiful red
hood flew off her head so that her hair tangled in the wind.
“Where are you going, girl?” came a voice off the trail,
startling Ysabeau. She nearly dropped her basket.
“Who would like to know?” she asked, peering off into the gloom
of the trees. A young man stepped out from behind them, laughing.
“I’m Césaire. I live in these woods.”
He stepped closer, still smiling. He was tall and slim, chestnut-colored hair
falling nearly to his shoulders. He wore a few days growth of beard, which gave
him a bit of a rakish look but did nothing to hide the kindness in his brown
eyes.
“I think I’d know you by now if so,” Ysabeau
said, frowning a little.
“You’d be surprised how well I hide when I don’t want to be
found,” he said. The sun caught a bit of reddish beard on his cheek, turning it
to gold. “Would you like some company?”
“Why would you hide if you’ve done nothing wrong?” Ysabeau answered.
“I don’t know anyone, so I can’t have gotten myself in trouble.
I promise I haven’t.” He spread his arms and stepped back, waiting, but Ysabeau said nothing. He looked crestfallen. “Shall I leave
you alone, then?”
“You can walk where you will, Césaire,”
she said, and started up the trail.
“Where I will is with you, then,” he answered behind her, and
tugged a lock of her hair so that she stopped on the path. He promptly walked
into her back, jostling her basket, so that she sighed in exasperation.
But really, just for a moment, she forgot everything else and
instead felt the warmth of Césaire’s hand curling
around her waist as he righted himself. She knew he shouldn’t be touching her
as if he’d always known her. She just didn’t care.