The Final Redemption by Michael Manning (little red riding hood ebook free .txt) 📕

it was the sort ofpressure you applied when you wanted to break the wrist. She hadjust been kind enough to give me a moment to wake upfirst.

“Get it away from me,” she orderedfiercely.

I immediately understood. It wasmorning, and my new lower half had risen before me, as it usuallydid. At the moment it was pressed against something warm and soft,namely, her.

Rather than try to explain, I squirmedrapidly to create some distance between her and all the parts of methat weren’t being broken yet. She didn’t release my wrist, but shedid ease the pressure slightly, so that I wasn’t in immediatedanger.

“If you have an explanation for thisGareth, you should make it quickly,” she warned. She spoke throughclenched jaws, and her tone was one I had rarely heard, except onthe rare occasions when she was killing people.

“I do,” I blurted out, “but it willtake some time to tell.” As I spoke I noticed how clammy her skinwas. Although she was awake her color was pallid, and there was atremor in her shoulders. She was probably as sick and weak as shehad ever been, and she had awoken to find Gareth holding her. Shehad made an obvious leap of logic.

Despite the pain I was still in, Ifelt terrible for frightening her. “How much do you remember?” Iasked.

The pain in my arm went up sharply,“That doesn’t sound like an explanation.”

I had no easy answer. I didn’t want touse magic against her. That would only make things worse. As acompromise, I used a silent spell to block the nerves leading to myarm. That way I could at least think clearly, and it had the addedadvantage of leaving her with a feeling of control. I couldn’tthink of much worse than having awakened half dead and thinking shehad been violated while she was helpless.

That’s love for you. I figured in theworst case scenario I could probably heal whatever damage she didlater.

“I’m not Gareth Gaelyn,” I saidcarefully, continuing to feign helplessness.

Her body tensed so I squirmed as if inpain. She followed by stating, “Lie to me again, and I’ll breakit.”

“This used to be his body,” I toldher. “I was dead, but somehow he and Walter saved me.”

She froze, staring at me with eyesthat didn’t dare to hope. It made me want to cry to see her sovulnerable. “That’s too cruel. You can’t say that. No one could saysomething so terrible,” she replied, her face showing clearly thestorm winds that were blowing her heartstrings back andforth.

“Only you, Penny, I’ve never lovedanother—only you,” I said, rephrasing what she had said to me atthe end.

She began crying then, so I joinedher. Just to be companionable of course, no one likes to cryalone.

After a bit she relaxed and let mehold her with my one good arm. I still couldn’t feel the other one.I tried to kiss her, but she turned her head. “No.”

That hurt, but I tried to hideit.

“It’s your face,” she said, seeing thepain in my eyes. “It feels like I’m doing somethingwrong.”

“I really am Mordecai,” I assuredher.

“That’s not his face,” she repeated.“The beard, the eyes, they’re different—even yourvoice.”

“I’m sorry.” In front ofme I realized, we had a whole minefield of strange body issues tosort out. Maybe if I use illusions so thatI look and sound like myself…

She kissed me without warning. It wasquick and awkward and still wonderful. I could tell she was tryingto avoid the beard, though. My own had been short and well-kept,but Gareth’s was a red wilderness of danger. “We’ll figure thisout,” she told me.

The kissing had done wonderful thingsfor my—state of—mind, but I pulled away from her. The rest couldwait. She was far too ill for me to let her go further. “I’ll getyou something to eat,” I said instead. In truth, I was starving aswell.

Rising from the bed I tried to dress,but my arm was still out of operation.

“I didn’t do that,” saidPenny.

I explained the paralysis while Irestored the nerves. For some reason she thought that washilarious. The wrist was still pretty sore when the sensationreturned.

Dressing quickly, I found Walter inthe kitchen, already tending a pot. It smelled like ham and peaswith a mixture of spices. I hadn’t expected him to be a good cook,but then considering his many years away from his wife andfamily…

“You look good in an apron,” I toldhim.

He looked up from his pot, “You lookgood breathing.”

“You probably tell all the redheadsthat.” We both laughed then.

“How is she?” he asked after aminute.

“Unwell,” I admitted. “I nearly killedher before…”

“That was as much her fault as yours,”said Walter as he tasted his handiwork. “Your wife is onlymarginally brighter than you are at times, and twice asstubborn.”

“We’re well matched,” I agreed. “Iwant to thank you again. You risked everything for me.”

He kept his eyes on his pot. “We’vebeen through too much to start getting sentimental this early inthe day,” he answered in a slightly gruff voice.

I agreed with him there, so I changedthe subject, “Why did you put us in one of the guestrooms?”

“We couldn’t get to your ‘other’home,” he replied with a faint tinge of frustration in his voice.“When we opened the door, it just led into your false livingquarters.”

That aside, our ‘false’ livingquarters were still quite comfortable and did in fact hold a lot ofpersonal items such as some of our clothing. “I’m surprised youdidn’t just use that room, though.”

“I preferred to have you in a roomcloser by, in case either of you needed me,” he said, passing me aplatter with two large bowls of steaming soup.

Once again I was reminded of howsurprisingly kind Walter could be. Some had faulted him in the pastfor his excessive caution, myself included, but he was a complexman. The truth was, his courage had never failed me when it reallycounted and his ability to care and nurture those around him hadalways been an example for me to follow.

A new presence gave me pause; a flier,closing on the castle. Adjusting my focus I examined the newcomer.It wasn’t one of the gods. It appeared to be an eagle, but itsaythar was far too powerful. It shone with a radiance