Read Surrender My Love for Free Online

“’Tis no easy task to force gruel down the throat of a man who is half dead and cannot swallow. He will weaken by the day and perish in a sennight.”
    “Mayhap two hundred—”
    “So help me get him into the cart. But I warn you, girl, if he has not wakened by the time we reach Bedford, I will dump him in the bushes myself. We cannot come to Aldrich with thisman, or he would not let us in the door. My cousin does not like to draw the attention of nobles, even grateful ones. Naught good ever comes of it. So your promise, or he does not budge from this spot. There will be no argument from you when the time comes to be rid of him.”
    Blythe nodded eagerly, her confidence strong that they could heal the man in a fortnight, the time it would likely take to reach Bedford with their old ox. He did not fit in the cart, of course. The back had to be left down so his feet could hang over the end, and even then because his legs were so long, every bump in the road had his feet striking the ground. None of which woke him.
    The days passed, with Valda grumbling continuously, though she did show Blythe how to rub the man’s throat to get liquid to trickle down it. Not much liquid went down in that way, however, though she couldn’t tell if he was weakening, he had been so healthy and muscular to begin with.
    But she gave him the tenderest care, already far gone in love with him. She even sold herself to buy meat for his broth, when she and Valda rarely ever had meat for themselves. She did it gladly, determined that he would live despite the fact that he never made a sound, never moved a limb on his own, never opened his eyes, and was running a fever that came and went.
    In truth, Blythe did the best she could, though neither she nor Valda knew aught of healing.Still, they reached Bedford with the man’s condition unchanged. With the promise she had made hanging over her head, Blythe managed to cajole and coerce her aunt into making camp for two extra days, but she could ask for no more than that. Her own future was at stake, a better life to be gained. Valda made sure she realized that their future couldn’t be risked for a man they did not know.
    But, God help her, it was the hardest thing Blythe had ever done, leaving the man behind. She cried all the while she dressed him from Valda’s store of stolen garments, fighting with her aunt to do so, for Valda could not see the waste, whereas Blythe refused to leave the man as naked as they had found him. That was the least she could do, now that she was deserting him. But her feelings also overwhelmed her at the end, and she slapped him again and again, screaming at him to wake up, raging at the unfairness of it, after all she had done, to have her aunt be right. He was not going to wake up, ever.
    Finally Valda dragged her away, complaining about her puffy eyes, complaining that Aldrich wouldn’t like a weeping woman. Blythe didn’t care at the moment. She would get Aldrich to wed her, puffy eyes or not. And although she would never see the man again, whoever he was, she was going to remember him for the rest of her life.

Chapter 6
    I T WAS THE rain that woke Selig, steady drops that gathered on the clump of leaves over his head and struck the dead center of his forehead. But the pain at the back of his head that greeted him was so excruciating, it sent him straight into blackness for another day.
    The sun was shining when he woke again, and the very brightness of it hurt him, even though he could see, through the narrow slit of his eyes, that it didn’t touch him directly, that he was shielded by the bushes he lay under. That other pain was there again also, and it wasn’t so merciful this time, did not render him into oblivion again and did not go away either. He was afraid to move because of it, and for long, disoriented minutes he did not, adjusting to the throb of it, gritting his teeth to keep from groaning.
    When he finally lifted a hand to locate the source of the