Chael's Luck (A Knights of Dorathan Novel) (19 page)

I started to laugh and he smiled.

“And which head do you think you are, then?”
I asked.

“Oh, I’m the one with the brains, no
questions about it.”

I raised an eyebrow at him then turned my
attention to one of the Knights that had trained with me; the one
I’d heard defending me to his father. John stopped at our table,
smiled, stood at attention, and saluted.

“Sir Chaela.”

Ian managed to choke down the swallow of ale
he’d had in his mouth without letting it out of his nose. I stood,
grinning, and returned the honor.

“Sir John.”

“I ran into Mac this morning and he filled me
in on what’s been going on.” He nodded to Ian as well. “If the two
of you need a hand with anything, you can call on me.”

Ian nodded his thanks. He put a hand on my
thigh as we watched John walk back to his table.

“And you thought they’d all hate you.” He
gave me a squeeze before resuming his meal.

I looked around and noticed most people had
seemed to have lost interest and were deep in conversation with
their neighbor. I started to relax and enjoy my meal.

The platters had been cleared and the band
had started to play when I felt Ian tense beside me. I caught a
glimpse of his father making his way towards us through the crowd
of dancers. I reached between us and took his hand.

Sir Gavin stopped before us. “Ian.”

Ian stood and pulled me up with him.
“Gavin.”

His father glared at him and I was amazed on
how alike the two looked. Both had the dark blond hair, though Sir
Gavin kept his cropped short, and both had been blessed with those
amazing grey eyes.

“The last time I checked, I was your
father.”

Ian’s voice showed no emotion, though I could
feel the slight shaking of his hand in mine. “From what I remember,
the last time I talked with you, you had no son.” He started to
walk away, leading me along. “Let’s go dance, Chaela.”

I waited until his father was out of ear shot
before voicing my objection. “I can’t dance.”

He frowned. “You’re a Knight. All Knights
dance. It’s almost as much a requirement as riding and fighting.”
He grinned.

“Well, yes, of course…”

He stopped on the dance floor just as a
slower song started to play.

“Ian!” I hissed at him. “I don’t know how to
dance like a girl!”

His grin widened and he pulled me to him, his
hand pressed firmly to the small of my back. His other hand moved
down my bare arm and his grin gave way to a softer smile as I
shivered at the touch. He took my hand in his.

“Just follow my lead.” He pressed his lips to
my knuckles. “I won’t let you trip.” He took a step back, his whole
hold on my body pulling me along. I gazed into his piercing eyes
and soon, all I could hear was the music; all I could feel was the
strength in his arms as they moved me along with him.

The song ended and he bent down to kiss the
end of my nose. “See,” he whispered softly. “That wasn’t so
bad.”

I smiled then frowned as his father appeared
behind him.

“Why don’t you take your lying whore and
leave? The pair of you aren’t wanted here.”

Ian spun, his one hand grabbing his father by
the shoulder while the other connected with the man’s face before
clasping around the front of his throat.

“You’d do well to keep your mouth shut. Why
does it bother you that I’m here? Is it because people can finally
see your true colors? You’re the lying bastard. You preached to me
about honor and loyalty from the moment I was born and yet the
moment I questioned something, you cast me out and told the world I
had died.” He pushed his father away. “Stay away from us.”

Everyone watched his father wipe the blood on
his lip.

I reached for Ian’s hand and gave it a
squeeze. “Let’s take a walk.”

He gave a nod and I started to lead him
toward the doors that led to the gardens. I frowned as four of the
older Knights blocked our path.

“We thought we’d remind you that even though
your friends are putting quite a display on your behalf, rules were
still broken. What your father did was unforgiveable. To say the
least, the man is lucky he died before this came to light.”

My heart was pounding in my chest.

“My father did nothing wrong. It was my life
that was the lie, not his.”

“But he encouraged it. He was the one who
thought this up.”

“My father was a good man.”

“Your father was a fool.”

Someone standing behind us cleared his
throat. The Knights before me saluted.

“Is there a problem here?” General Krane
stood beside me.

“No, Sir.” The four of them turned on their
heels and left.

The General gave us a nod and walked back to
the banquet. Ian changed our direction and led me out the doors
that led to the hallway. I followed him, trying to keep the tears
from falling. He pushed open the door to my room and closed it
quickly behind us, dropping the lock into place. He walked toward
the bed and spun back toward me.

“Your father was a brilliant man who was able
to see your true character. Where most fathers would have looked at
their daughter and started to plan who he would marry her off to,
yours took the time to teach you all he knew.” He held my face and
wiped the tears from my cheeks. “Don’t you ever let them tell you
otherwise.”

I nodded and took a deep breath. “And your
father is an ass for not being able to see what an honorable and
loyal man you have become.” I stood on my tip toes and kissed him
softly. I turned and lifted my hair up. “Can you get the laces
please? I need to get a tunic on.” I shivered as his lips brushed
against the back of my neck. I heard him dip a cloth in the wash
basin before he gently turned me so that I faced him again.

“You looked like a dream tonight,” he
murmured softly. He brought the cloth up and proceeded to wipe my
face. I frowned but let him do as he pleased. He smiled. “Ah, there
she is.”

“Who’s that?”

“The Chaela I love.”

I laughed and went to find my clothes.
“Chael’s luck and damn it all.”

“What’s wrong?”

“Jasmine took my clothes to wash them and she
never brought them back.”

Ian proceeded to take his jacket off and
pulled the tunic over his head. “Here. This should cover you.”

I pulled it over my head, wiggled my arms out
of the dress, and smoothed the tunic down as I stepped out of the
gown. I frowned as Ian swallowed hard.

“What’s wrong?”

He blinked and shook his head. “You’d better
get under the covers.” He watched as I did as I was told. He slid
in beside me and I kissed his chest. I sighed at the feel of his
fingers running up and down my back.

“Chaela…”

I looked up and found myself looking into his
piercing grey eyes. My heart skipped at the look in them. I reached
up and ran a hand through his hair, pulling him down to me. His
lips brushed against mine and his tongue slipped across them. I
wiggled so that I was more under him. His groan vibrated through
both of us.

“Tell me no, Chaela.” He contradicted himself
by letting his hand move up under the shirt I’d worn to bed. Though
I had no clue what I was doing, my body seemed to know exactly what
it wanted and I gave it free rein to do as it wished.

Ian ran his fingers along my ribs, down to my
hip, and back up again.

“Can I take it off?” His voice was husky and
my whole body tightened at the sound of it. I nodded. He tugged the
tunic over my head. “By gods, you’re beautiful.”

I blushed as he sat, letting his gaze move
over my bare body. He brought his lips back down to mine, his body
pressing me into the mattress.

“Gods, Ian.” I arched up into him, my fingers
grabbing handfuls of his hair as his hand trailed down my body.

“Chaela, if I hurt you…”

I shook my head. “I trust you, Ian.”

He groaned and brought his lips down to mine.
Whatever I’d been expecting was nothing to how I was feeling at
this moment. Ian’s slow attention and movements continued until I
found myself boneless under him, my breaths short pants of
pleasure. Ian brought his face down to my neck, his words hot puffs
of air against my skin.

“You’re alright?”

I nodded, still too out of breath to talk. He
got off of me slowly.

“Don’t move.” He went to the other room and
reappeared a few minutes later with the wash basin and a clean
cloth. He dipped the cloth, wrung it out, and wiped me down
gingerly. When he’d finished cleaning me, he crawled into bed and
pulled the covers over us and I pressed my back against his chest,
the sensation of skin on skin along my entire body sending a shiver
running through me. His lips pressed to my neck.

“I do love you, Chaela.”

I smiled and snuggled as close to him as I
could, linking my fingers with his. I yawn which caused him to
chuckle.

“And I love you, Ian.”

*****

“Sir Chael!”

I jerked awake at the sound of my name being
screamed down the hallway.

“Sir Chael!”

There was pounding at the door and I wrapped
the sheet around myself as Ian pulled on his pants. He went to the
door.

“Sir Chael!” Nate rushed into the room and
stopped short at the sight of me in my sheet.

“What’s wrong? What happened?”

The boy quickly composed himself. “It’s
Klora, sir! Miss! I…”

I waved off his confusion. “How did Klora get
here?”

“There’s actually the three, sir. Klora,
Klard, and a mare I’ve never seen before.”

“That would be True.” I made to get out of
bed and stopped. “Where are they?”

“They’re in the stables Sir. Just as I was
getting to work a few minutes ago, a strange little man with white
hair was walking out of the barns. He told me to tell the two of
you to be careful and you’d be in need of the horses.”

“Blarenagin,” mumbled Ian. “What else did he
say?”

“It’s, well, it doesn’t make sense, but he
told me to memorize this word for word.” He closed his eyes. “Tell
them that the key to finding the book goes over her head. He said
that when you had that bit figured out, all you’d need would be
trust.”

Ian frowned. “I hate riddles, but that
doesn’t explain why you came barging in here screaming at the top
of your lungs.”

I sighed and shook my head. “He’s destroying
the stall?”

Nate nodded just as Jasmine entered the room
with my clothes. I grinned.

“You have perfect timing.” I turned to the
lad. “I’ll be right there.”

He nodded and raced away. I pulled my dark
green tunic over my head and slipped on my pants.

“I’ll be back.” I was just stepping into the
hallway when the alert for intruders sounded. Ian tossed me my
slaggens and I strapped them to my back. Nate ran back into the
room, stopping a fraction of a second to take a few deep gulps of
air.

“Sir… Sir Mac… The great hall… I’ll try… to
calm Klora…”

I nodded and Ian and I ran toward the great
hall. Ian pushed the doors open and we made our way to where a
group was gathering. Sir Gavin glared at his son.

“What’s amiss?” I questioned, ignoring the
stares from some of the Knights that hadn’t heard of me yet.

General Krane ran a hand over his face. “The
book’s been stolen.”

My heart dropped. “Chael’s luck and blast it
all,” I mumbled. Ian put a hand on my shoulder.

“We found it once. We’ll find it again.”

“How did they get in the palace vault?” I
frowned.

“Whoever it was knew where to look and how to
disarm all the traps.”

“A Knight,” grumbled Harry.

Everyone looked at him, shocked by
suggestion. His brother nodded. “It has to be. No one else knows
them.”

“Caleb,” I growled and looked up at Ian. “We
have to go now. The longer we wait, the farther he gets.

“How do you plan on finding out where he is?”
questioned the General.

“I have no idea, but Blarenagin said we’d be
able to find the book should it go missing.”

“Sir, I’d like permission to go along.” Mac
stepped forward. Harry and Hal went to stand by him. The General
nodded and tilted his head in question at John, who was looking
uncomfortable.

“Sir John? How about you?”

John ran a hand through his hair and met his
father’s hard gaze before nodding to the General. “Yes, Sir. I’d
like to be included.”

“John!” His father’s voice was low but held
all the warning of a parent who promised to spank a child once they
got home.

John shook his head. “I’m going with Chaela,
father.”

The General nodded. “Go saddle your horses.
I’ll have someone meet you at the gates with supplies for your
trip.” He dismissed us with a salute and we hurried to the
stables.

“Damn it, Klora!” The stable boy’s
exasperation sounded from inside the barn. He turned toward us,
relief clear on his face at the sight of me, though I noticed the
two weren’t battling nearly as badly as they usually did. I gave a
soft whistle and the slamming inside the stall stopped.

“Klora, you really need to stop giving Nate
such a hard time.” I patted his nose as he stuck his head over the
half door to look at me. Klard and True nickered their welcome.

“So what’s the plan, then?” inquired Harry as
he threw his saddle on his horse.

“I’ve not a clue, to be honest.” I opened the
stall door and grinned at the sight of Whisk. “Blarenagin said that
the key to finding the book would go over my head and that once
we’d figured that out, all we would need would be trust.”

Hal frowned. “Does that make any sense to
you?”

“Not even a bit.”

We mounted and trotted the horses toward the
gate. By the time we got there, a crowd had started to gather to
see us off. General Krane watched as the pack horses were led to
us. Micheal, Greg, and Brent, all of whom had been a part of our
training group, were joined by quite a few of the Knights that were
stationed in the city at this time. I watched as Mac leaned down
and kissed Jasmine softly.