Read Traitor, Book 1 of The Turner Chronicles Page 33

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  "I like my toy," Sarah said later. She flipped a sausage onto a slab of bread and spread mustard over it. The frightening apparition she had been earlier was gone. The old Sarah was back in residence. Aaron was glad. Her earlier mien had turned his knees weak. If this relationship died she was going to have to be the one who killed it because he would never have the courage to tell her he had lost interest.

  "That situation could have turned out bloody. They were going to riot, and I would have had to kill somebody. Instead I let Mrs. Boom live up to her name. They were so shocked they just folded."

  "Folded," Aaron said. "It didn't look like a fold to me. I thought you were going to destroy the entire bunch of them, and they looked like they were willing for you to try."

  Flo set tea down before him. "Now you know why so many of us walk careful around you. You two are just alike. I've never seen a more dangerous pair."

  "Why does everyone say that?" Aaron protested. "I never want to hurt anybody. The time at the bank is the only time in my life that I've tried to deliberately hurt anyone. Even then I failed at finishing the chore, and look at what I was like afterward. I hate stress."

  "Maybe." Sarah folded her bread around the sausage and tried an experimental bite. "Mmmm, Phlo thith ith good."

  "Don't talk with your mouth full," Flo admonished before thumping Sarah on the top of the head with two of her knuckles. Grinning, Flo went back into the kitchen.

  "You scared off Beech," Sarah said after swallowing. She lifted the tea and took a careful sip. "Too hot still."

  She continued. "Okay, look, Beech wanted one of your knives very badly. He would have made himself a pauper to get one if he could have come up with the money, but you scared him off, and that says something. Cathy was right. He does have a Talent Stone. Not only that, he's a Talent Master too. After you left today I spent some time talking to Mistress Spangle. She said Beech apparently found his Stone a few trips ago. As best she knows he can create a shield and make fire just like that man did a few years ago. He also throws things without touching them, and she once saw him break the earth open by merely looking at it. Bad enough already, but we don't know what else he can do." Sara took another bite of her food. "Thith ith really good."

  "Here they are." Flo came back to the table with packages in her hands. She dropped them on the table before Sarah and left. Sarah stared with a total lack of comprehension at the two paper wrapped boxes and the long, rolled up potato sack.

  "What's this?"

  "Present time. Do me a favor. Just rip the paper off. Don't try to save it."

  "Okay." The paper and Sarah went to war. The wrapping paper did not stand a chance, proving that Sarah had little of Cathy's persnickety nature in her makeup. There was no way mere wrapping paper would stand between her and a present.

  The necklace brought a small smile and a "that's nice" from her. A miss, Aaron realized. She would probably seldom wear it, and when she did, it would only be because she was with him. Thinking it over, he could not remember ever seeing her wear jewelry. Okay, so that was one area he did not have to worry about in the future. No jewelry for Sarah, which was fine, because he would not accidentally buy the same thing for her as he did Cathy.

  The knife got a much better reaction.

  "This is pretty," Sarah exclaimed as she turned it over and studied it. "What kind of cat is that?"

  "A tiger," Aaron told her. "Hold it in the palm of your hand so the raised ridge is free. Grip it firm and press that button by your thumb.

  "How clever," she said when the blade flicked out. "Aaron, I always wanted one of your steel knives. Thank you." Her voice was so warm and caring that Aaron wanted to wiggle like an excited puppy. He showed her how to lower the blade, and she set it on the table.

  "Now how about this." She lifted the potato sack. "It's heavy." Quickly unrolling the bag, she looked inside and gasped.

  "Oh Aaron! Oh dear." Reaching inside, she pulled out the scabbard encased sword, slowly drew the blade from its scabbard, and gazed unbelievingly at the gleaming steel. "It's perfect. Perfect. The balance is wonderful." Her voice was soft, almost inaudible. "I can never give you anything to equal this."

  "You can," Aaron told her, silently thanking Hill and Gore. "Time, conversation, affection. They all have more worth if it is you giving them to me."

  She did not kiss him. She did not touch him. She only looked at him, and Aaron thought he would drown in the warmth of her tear-wet eyes.