Bound By Honour (Book 1)

Chapter 15

"That was entertaining." Sparrow forces her eyes open and studies Hunter as he stands by the window, looking out into the snow. The fire by her roars and the bright orange flames lick up towards the ceiling, disappearing into a dark, black consuming hole. She curls her legs up beneath her on the armchair and rests her head back.

Instead of Hunter leading her outside; to the stables or anywhere away from Wolfe, he led her further into the manor. He led her into a library, each and every wall filled to the brim with books. Well every wall apart from one where a large fireplace sat. Hunter left her side to build the fire and his efforts were certainly appreciated. The room held a certain kind of neglected chill when they first entered and all the books hold a thick coat of dust. The only object in the room that had been neglected by the dust was the chair. It had clearly been sat in recently and kept in pristine condition. Sparrow had easily sunk into it as Hunter worked hard.

The light casts strange shadows across his features when he turns to look back at her, perhaps to see her reaction to his statement. Her green eyes catch the light along with her golden hair that seems to gleam a coppery colour. She bites her lower lip as she considers her reply. "I'm embarrassed." She decides to go with the truth.

"About what?" He asks simply, his voice holding little emotion. She snorts, her hand going up to cover her mouth as she laughs at herself. "That?"

"No!" She shakes her head, exhaling as she does so. "I almost declared war." She looks skywards, her expression nonplussed. "I was sure he was going to kill me the moment those words left my mouth."

"So your training doesn't include strategic words, manipulative conversations?" Hunter enquires, no longer watching her.

"Of course it does." Sparrow pauses and frowns. Her silence makes him glance back at her. She stares into the flames and he sees her teeth tugging gently at her lip.

"Sparrow."

"Why is there so much tension between you and your brothers?" It is his turn to frown now and his hands, once hanging loosely by his side, clench tightly. "You're finding out far more than I feel I was prepared to tell. The balance needs to be equalled."

"You don't like to be on unequal footing."

"Nobody does. You clearly don't." He sighs and sits on the footstall in front of her, his dark eyes even darker in the shadows of the room. Half of his face light, half completely in shadow. "A truth for a truth, let's play."

"Our mothers are different, that's plenty of reason for tension." Hunter unwillingly drawls out, his jaw tightening at the end of his statement.

"I already knew that but you're all grown men, surely there's more to it."

"You're enjoying this."

"You enjoyed my discomfort earlier; you're simply now returning the favour."

"What do your sisters look like?"

"Excuse me?" The question unnerves Sparrow and she remembers with clarity Hunter mentioning Raven at the dinner in her honour. Her eyes narrow and Hunter smirks. "Why would you need to know that?"

"I have a theory. Your sister is very unlike you, black hair and brown eyes. You have three other sisters; Starling, Robin and... Dove? What are their hair colours?"

Sparrow takes a moment, trying to work out what he's getting at but his dark eyes are too difficult to read. "Dove has black hair like Raven; Starling and Robin are both brunette. Why?"

"Not yet. Dark brunettes or light?" Sparrow still can't read him and she finds herself wanting to answer, if only to see where his thoughts lead.

"Dark, they take after my mother and my father. I was an anomaly, some great grandmothers colouring." Hunter nods, satisfied with the information he has gathered. "Why?"