Echoes of Magic (7 page)

God knew she didn’t want to resist him, but
she must. Her desire was nothing compared to keeping him alive to
face the evil. If only there wasn’t the curse, then she could give
in to her desire. She still needed to know more of the future, to
look further and see what Grayson needed to do in order to win.

If he wins.

She inwardly winced and
finished combing her hair. Grayson losing against the evil wasn’t
something she wanted to think about, or know for that matter. But
would not seeing the future hurt Grayson? If she looked, she might
be able to prepare him. She wasn’t sure how Grayson would feel
about it, but he didn’t have to know. Adrianna wasn’t naïve enough
to believe her people would continue. She was one of the last of
the
bana
‐
bhuidseach
, and she intended to make use of the gifts she’d been
given.

Her gaze shifted to Grayson
as he returned from the river, his hair wet and his tunic in his
hands. His skin, darkened to a golden hue, glistened with water
droplets. She licked her lips as her gaze slid down his wide
shoulders, chiseled stomach to his narrow waist.

Desire. Need. Hunger.

The words echoed in her mind, weakening her
will to stay away from him. It would be so easy to give in, to
listen to her body. But she had experienced firsthand what it was
like to lose everything.

Adrianna inhaled deeply and turned her mind
to the evil. There was so much wrong Grayson could set right. She
had no choice but to use the gifts given her. She’d just have to
make sure the evil didn’t find her first.

Chapter Eight

The tune his mother hummed was soft,
soothing as they returned from the fields. She laughed as he ran in
front chasing the pheasants.

“
Grayson, be careful,” she
warned when he got too far ahead.

But he wanted to surprise her. He hurriedly
picked a handful of the wild flowers and rushed back to her. As
soon as she saw him and his outstretched hand, she fell to her
knees and opened her arms for him.

She held him tightly a moment before pulling
back and giving him a kiss. “Are those for me, or did some girl
catch your fancy?”

“
They’re for you,” he said
and held them out in front of her face.

“
They’re lovely. Thank
you.”

His chest puffed up, and he took his
mother’s hand as she rose and started toward the castle. The day
had been glorious. The sun bright, the breeze cool, and he’d had
his mother all to himself.

But no sooner had they walked through the
gates of the castle than thunder rumbled in the distance.

He looked to the sky. “Is a storm
coming?”

“
Nay, love. Something much
worse,” she said calmly, but her steps quickened.

“
Mum?” he asked as he
nearly tripped and she jerked him.

She glanced over her shoulder. “Not now,
Grayson. Hurry, love. You must hide for me.”

“
I don’t want to
hide.”

She slid to a halt and turned toward the
gates, her face void of color. Her gaze then slid to him. “Grayson,
listen closely. You must hide. Don’t come out, no matter what you
hear.”

He knew something was wrong by the
seriousness of her dark eyes. She held his arms tightly, but he
didn’t complain. He was too frightened to do more than stand there.
Unable to help himself, he hugged her.

What he thought was thunder was an army of
men who came barreling into the bailey, dust billowing around them
as horses snorted and jerked their heads up and down. Grayson
squeezed his eyes shut when the horses surrounded them. He could
feel his mother shaking, knew she was terrified.

“
Remember. Run, Grayson,”
she whispered in his ear just before someone jerked her out of his
arms.

“
Mum,” he yelled and tried
to reach for her.

A man laughed and backhanded him. Grayson’s
cheek exploded with pain as he landed on his back a few feet away,
but he never took his eyes off his mother. Tears threatened, but he
refused to let the men see. It took three of them to hold his
mother as she reached for him, tears streaming down her face.

Grayson began to rise, to go to her. Then a
man’s bearded face filled his vision, halting him. Eyes so pale
they held no color glared at him.

“
Well, well, well,” he
murmured. “What have we got here?”

Grayson’s eyes flew open. He lay still,
listening to his own ragged breathing as he recalled the nightmare,
so vivid he had thought he was that young lad once again. Sweat
trickled down his brow, and he could still feel the horse’s breath
on the back of his neck, feel the malevolence in the colorless
gaze.

“
Grayson?”

Adrianna’s hand touched his hand. He
threaded his fingers with hers, needing her warmth. It had been so
many years since he’d suffered from that nightmare, not since he
was a lad actually. To have it again, now, was like a kick in the
teeth.

He tried to rise, but she pushed on his
shoulder to keep him down as she sat on the side of the bed.
“Nightmare?”

“
Aye,” he croaked
out.

He needed to get up, to move around.
Anything to get the images from his mind. Once more he tried to
rise and, when she put her hands on his shoulders, he easily dodged
them. Maybe it was because he needed her soft touch. Maybe it was
because he hungered for her body but, instead of walking from the
cart, he dragged her to his chest and wrapped his arms around
her.

“
Your heart is beating
wildly,” she whispered, her hands rubbing up and down his
back.

Did she know how she soothed him, that her
touch was exactly what he needed? His hands plunged into her hair
to keep them from shaking as he buried his head in her neck. She
smelled of lavender and sunshine and magic.

“
You’re frightening me.
Please. Talk to me,” she pleaded.

He inhaled a shaky breath and raised his
head to look at her. “You’re making a mistake coming with me. Don’t
make me regret taking you, Adrianna. Please, stay here where it’s
safe.”

“
But it isn’t safe. Those
men will come. If I’m here, it will only bring about death to my
friends. I know too much about you. I have no choice but to go with
you.”

He closed his eyes and leaned his forehead
against hers. “I saw him, Adrianna. I saw the man who took my
mother.”

Her hands halted on his back. “What did he
look like?”

“
He looked...normal,” he
said and shrugged as he straightened. “I used to have that
nightmare nearly every night after my mother was taken. I rarely
slept during that time. Then one day, they just
stopped.”

“
Only to resurface tonight.
Was there anything about the man you can remember?”

Grayson chuckled. “Oh, aye. His eyes. They
were almost colorless and had a vacant, evil look to them.”

“
He should be easy to spot
then. You need to try to rest.”

But that was the last thing he could do, not
after such a nightmare, and not after having her breasts against
his chest. Already his desire replaced the panic of the
nightmare.

He lifted a strand of her hair in his
fingers. It looked like spun gold and was as soft as ermine. How he
longed to run his fingers through it as he claimed her mouth in a
kiss that would leave them both breathless and hungry for more.

She said not a word as she rose from the bed
to lie on the pallet she had made on the floor. She had told him
she had a place to sleep, or he would never have taken her bed
again.

Grayson rose from the bed and reached for
his tunic as he walked to the cart’s entrance.

“
Where are you going?” she
asked.

“
I’m well enough to sleep
elsewhere. Take your bed,” he ground out as he hurried from the
cart.

He walked to the fire and nodded to one of
the gypsies who stood guard. He wouldn’t get much sleep now, but at
least he had Adrianna’s soft curves and heady scent to think about
rather than the nightmare.

* * * * *

Adrianna woke well before dawn. After
Grayson’s departure, she’d been unable to sleep. Her body’s instant
reaction to him had scared her more than the fact he had seen who
had taken his mother.

She liked being in his embrace entirely too
much. Her loneliness was something she easily managed, or so she
had thought. Each time Grayson was near, all she wanted was for him
to touch her, to pull her against him and hold her.

Adrianna dressed in a simple gown of light
blue. It was her favorite and one of her best. The wide, trailing
sleeves and hem were patterned with small flowers in a darker blue.
She wrapped the girdle twice around her waist before tying it in
front and letting it trail nearly to her feet before she braided
her hair.

When she finished, she left the cart to
break her fast and spotted Grayson smiling at Nadya. Nadya was an
exquisite beauty with her dark skin, exotic eyes and hair as black
as midnight. Adrianna didn’t like the jealousy that surged within
her as she watched the easy way in which Grayson flirted with
Nadya.

He isn’t mine.

Yet, no matter how many times she told
herself that, it didn’t stop the resentment. This was a side of
Grayson she hadn’t seen, the charming, roguish side that could make
even the sternest of women melt.

Adrianna forced herself to look away, but
even then she could hear him as he chuckled at something Nadya
said. When Adrianna glanced up after getting her food, she found
Yoska watching her.

She gave him a smile and went back to her
cart to eat before they got on their way. Adrianna checked her
herbs as she ate to make sure she wasn’t low on anything. When her
stomach was full, she readied to face the day. The rest of the camp
had woken and begun moving about. When she left her wagon, several
gypsies had already hooked their cows to the carts.

Adrianna dusted off her hands and started
for her cows when she glimpsed Grayson walking toward her leading
the animals.

“
Good morn,” he said as he
passed her.

Adrianna had no choice but to follow him. “I
can get the animals myself,” she told him once she caught up with
him.

“
I’m sure you
can.”

“
I can even get them hooked
up.”

He glanced at her and
smiled. “I’ve no doubt.”

Adrianna shrugged her shoulders in defeat.
Together, she and Grayson got the cows secured. She was so used to
doing it herself, she was surprised at how well they worked
together, almost as if they had known what the other was
thinking.

She shrugged it off,
refusing to think more about it than what it was. Instead, she
grabbed her skirts and began to climb to the seat when his hands
gripped her waist to steady her.

The movement was so
unexpected that she nearly lost her balance and fell. She glanced
over her shoulder at him, which was a mistake as she became lost in
his silver gaze that had darkened with desire. White-hot longing
shot through her, urging her, begging her to give in to the
hunger.

“
I’m just helping,” he said
softly.

Adrianna didn’t bother to respond since she
couldn’t form a coherent word. She managed a nod, at least she
hoped she did, before she finished her climb and took her seat. As
she reached for the reins, Grayson’s hands were quicker and
snatched them from her grasp.

“
I’m not helpless,” she
ground out.

He threw her a grin. “I never said you were.
I’m also not used to having nothing to do.”

She bit back her next retort. He was a
warrior, used to aiding and defending those too weak to do so
themselves. She should have known he needed to do something.

They sat in a comfortable silence as the
gypsies pulled out and continued down the road. She noticed this
time, however, her cart didn’t bring up the rear. Yoska maneuvered
his wagon behind hers.

“
Did you know they were
going to do that?”

Grayson shook his head.
“But it’s a smart move. They’re protecting you.”

“
How is your
wound?”

He flexed his shoulder. “It barely pulls,
but I will need to work the muscles. If I had my sword.”

“
We’ll find you
another.”

“
Let’s hope it’s before we
encounter any trouble,” he murmured.

She happened to agree with him. The gypsies
did have a few weapons to defend themselves, but nothing that could
stop the men after Grayson.

“
When will we
leave?”

“
Soon,” he answered. “I
don’t like putting these people at risk any more than I have to.
I’d leave today if I were able.”

“
You mean if you had your
sword.”

He looked at her. “If I had my sword and my
horse, aye, I’d already be gone.”

“
And what about your
armor?”

“
It’s added protection, but
I’ve seen these men fight. I’m better off without it so I can move
quicker.”

She gathered the long length of her sleeve
between her fingers. “I always assumed knights never fought without
their armor.”

“
Ah. Then there is much you
don’t know of knights.”

She chuckled. “Apparently.
I’ve some coin saved. It may be enough to buy you a horse, though
it won’t be what you’re used to.”

“
I won’t take your coin, ”
he said as his gaze slid back to the road. “Though I thank you for
offering.”