Tethered (The Avenlore Series) (11 page)

Of course
he
would have a white horse.

I wasn’t a particularly observant person to begin with and in light of all that had happened, my mind hadn’t had time to really process his horse.
  But, sure enough, there it stood in all its white horse glory. 

Next, he provided the horse with grain and then retrieved a small brush and proceeded to run it over the pure, white coat.
 

My eyes stalked him where he went, taking note of the way he moved.  He was all grace and strength and…swagger. 

It was a heady thing, sometimes, just to be in his presence.  Like a siren song, something about him called to you, demanded your attention.  And you gave it, reluctant or not, you gave it to him.  He had that x-factor.  Every woman knows it.  Like an undertow, its sneaks up and grabs you, dragging you away from safety until you’re in nothing but trouble. 

The
women were probably lined up around the castle, or wherever it was that he lived.  Much to my dismay, I did not care for that thought.  What was it with this place?  Hot guys running around being all chivalrous and dangerous and speaking with British accents like they grew on trees here. 

Reigning myself in and chalking the workings of my mind up to stress, I shook my head to clear it and went to rolling up the pallets that lay beneath our lean-to.

Returning with dried meat and grapes I assumed were from the orchard, Nikolas sat down on the damp earth.  “Come and eat, Dani.  You must be starved.”

I abandoned my efforts and joined him on the ground, realizing I was hungry, very hungry. 
We shoveled the food in, neither having completed our last meal, then finished cleaning up our campsite. 

My mind wandered back to our earlier conversation when I had brought up turning myself over.  “So, I guess you know about the prophecy?”  I said glancing over at him as he took out a small, black flask. 

He squatted by the fire and opened the flask and the fire, as if obeying a silent command, slithered into the mouth of the glass bottle.  Nikolas corked and pocketed it and I stood staring in awe, momentarily forgetting my question.

“I do.”  He said a little warily and I blinked myself back to the conversation, remembering I had started it.  My eyes found his and I could almost actually see it when the light bulb flicked on above his head.  “Wh—
how do
you
know of the prophecy?” 

I would’ve thought this question would’ve come up earlier, but I guess it took a back seat to my suicide mission.  “Liam.  Well, and some ladies I overheard in a village, but they didn’t know that.”  I said matter-of-factly.

He stared at me, but by the unfocused look in his eyes, he wasn’t seeing me.  After a moment, they focused back in and he turned to secure some straps on his saddle.  “Oh.”  He said. 

I felt uneasy because he did.  It rolled off him in waves.  I’d always been strangely in tune to other’s emotions.  At times, I felt them so strongly, it was like they were my own.

I continued.  “Yeah, he said he knew it was me because of my birthmark.” 

This stopped him in his tracks.  “How—how did he—what did he say, exactly?”
  His unease had grown with this revelation and anger sparked in his eyes.

“He said, ‘you will know her by the sun upon her skin.’  Yeah, I think that’s how he put it.”  I told him, my fingers finding the mark to draw circles around it.

Nikolas’ eyes widened and his mouth fell open.

I
was effectively confused.  I knew this specific portion of the prophecy was not known to everyone, but by the look on Nikolas’ face, it was a state secret.  “What?”  I asked, shrugging.

His body unlocked and he walked quickly to where I stood.  “Only a handful of people know that part of the prophecy.  Your mother and father, Soleil, myself, my parents, and…the other no longer lives.”

“Okay…um…but, how did you think he identified me?”  I didn’t understand why this hadn’t come up before either, why it hadn’t dawned on him or anyone else for that matter. 

“He did not mention your mark in the letter.  For all we knew,
it was a false report.” he looked at me for a moment.  “When we saw you, there was no denying who you were…you really do favor your mother.”  He stopped to take a slow breath.  “And it was almost as if we could feel it in the air, that this time it was different.  And of course, your father knew what you looked like.”

Oh, of course he did…w
hat?

“How?”  I asked.

“He has seen you.”  He said, evidently forgetting I was unaware of so much.

What?

“How?”  I asked again.

He looked at me and nodded.  “Right, you would not know that.”  He ran both hands through his tangled waves.  “I’m sorry, I do not know the specifics.  Your father, he told me on our way to you yesterday that Soleil was able to watch over you somehow, where ever you were.  She could show your parents
visions of you, but I do not know how.”

Oh, this Soleil character again.

I was beginning to wonder what was
not
possible here.  “Okay…so, what does it mean that Liam knows who I am, that he knows about my mark and why are you freaking out over it?”

Brow furrowed, he stared into the dirt for a moment before responding.  “I do not know and I am sure I am not freaking out, though I do not know what that is.”  He had suspicions, I was positive about that.  But he wouldn’t share them with me when that was all they were.  “We should go.  It would not have been safe to travel the road to the castle, so our journey will be longer, but if we hurry we may be there before the darkness returns.”

My heart sped up.  I would meet my mother, and see my father and Liam again…I hoped.  I nodded quickly in response.

Once we were done packing up, I decided to try and be brave and climb on the horse all by my lonesome.  I placed my foot in the stirrup and grabbed onto the saddle for leverage, pushing up.  I tried a few times unsuccessfully,
and on my fourth try, strong hands grasped my hips and lifted me easily the rest of the way.

When he touched me, I felt that same strange and pleasant twisting inside my chest and my stomach did a tiny flip
as the sparks danced upon my skin once more.  I turned to look at him once I was seated safely in the saddle.  My eyes met his and I was instantly trapped, sinking into their depths.  He pulled himself up onto the saddle behind me, his gaze never leaving my eyes. 

I followed suit, even turning my head to look over my shoulder at him once he was in the saddle.
I realized I’d been holding my breath and when I exhaled, he blinked in rapid succession and then looked out into the trees toward our intended path.  “Are you ready?”  he asked, a hint of unsteadiness coloring his tone.

Turning my head toward the front I exhaled heavily again.  “Yes.”

He leaned up, and I reluctantly turned to meet his gaze.  That mischievous grin was spread across his face again, and all traces of unsteadiness gone.  “You should hold on.”  With that, he snapped the reigns and the horse lurched forward, effectively throwing me back against him.  And his golden laugh rang through the forest as we sped away.

Chapter 14

Since my arrival in Avenlore, the weather had been near perfect.  It wasn’t too hot or too cold.  A light breeze blew occasionally and the nights were only marginally cooler than the days.  The sun cast warm and golden rays toward the earth and I was beginning to think the weather was persistently perfect here.

That was an incorrect assumption.

While this day had started out a little overcast, the sun was still making regular appearances and the temperature only felt maybe a few degrees cooler.

By midday, all of that changed. 
The light breeze morphed into a wind, driving thick gray clouds across the sky, effectively cloaking the sun.  The air dampened and the temperature had to have dropped by twenty degrees.  Chills sprang up over my arms and my legs and I thought I’d have to get my hands on a razor soon.  That, or braid the hair that was growing on my legs.  Or maybe sell them as Christmas trees.  Then I looked to the skies and remembered where hairy legs fell in the scheme of things.     

The clouds loomed overhead, threatening to drench us at any given moment. 
We had ridden out of what cover the trees could provide and were making our way over a flat expanse of golden wheat fields.  We kept to a sparse path, no doubt used by those who tended the land.  My eyes alternated between scanning the clouds above for the start of rain and the fields of wheat for something far worse.

I felt like we were sitting ducks in multiple ways.  Far in the distance, the flat land gave way to rolling hills again, spotted with trees.  But, for the moment, there was nowhere to hide, not from rain or Black Knights.

We trotted across the fields at a steady pace and I listened as birds sang somewhere close by.  I shivered as a cold wind beat against us.  Nikolas pulled the reigns taught and his feet hit the ground before the horse had come to a complete stop.  In response, my heart rate kicked up and my eyes darted around to all corners of the wide fields. 

“What is it?”  I asked around the lump in my throat, eyes still shifting uneasily.

Nikolas was already hauling himself up behind me again.  “It’s cool, I did not want you to be uncomfortable.”  He said as he wrapped the thick gray blanket around me again. 

Relief washed over me and I smiled to myself at his thoughtfulness.  Looking over my shoulder I gave him a small smile as well.  “Thank you.”

The warmth in his eyes did more for my temperature than the blanket could.

“Shall we?”  He asked, eyes sparkling.

I nodded and we were covering ground again with a quickness.  To my great happiness, we made the spotty trees without being attacked by water droplets or anything else.  On the hills, I could make out a blue mountain rising, not too terribly far in the distance.  It wasn’t particularly tall as far as mountains go, only reaching far enough to obscure the view of what lay beyond it. 

We talked about
simple, easy things to pass the time, like how the landscape was beautiful and that his horse’s name was Drift (which I thought was awesome).  The storm clouds decided to leave us in peace, but I still heard when the down pour started somewhere behind us.

We pressed on, deciding to skip out on meals and by dusk, we had almost crested the blue mountain.
  The clouds had abated, and the sun made its return, splashing the sky with deep pinks, pale purples and blues, and yellowish-oranges.  The wind died down, a calm breeze replacing it once again. 

Right before we’d made the top of the mountain, Nikolas pulled the horse to a stop and jumped down from the saddle.  Facing me, he reached out his arms.  “May I?”

“What are we doing?”  I asked, glancing around in search of the reason for this unexpected stop.

A traffic stopping smile spread across his face.  “Allow me to show you something?”
  he asked, eyes twinkling.

Dumbstruck by
him, I simply nodded. 

He lifted me down from saddle carefull
y, eyes never leaving mine.  Setting me safely on the ground, he looked down at me with a full on grin as he leaned down to whisper in my ear.  “Close your eyes.”  I could smell the salt on his skin he was so close.

I blinked at him.

He cocked his head to the side, mouth still pulled up at one corner.  “Dani, close your eyes.”

I stared at him for a few seconds before obeying.  The moment my eyes closed, I felt his hand
at my elbow and his touch slid lightly down my arm until he had my hand in his.  Goosebumps rose along my skin in the wake of his fingers and I could feel the tingles gliding over my body.  He towed me forward silently and I could feel the ground rise beneath my feet. 

Instead of concentrating on my footing, I was solely focused on his skin against mine.  Our fingers weren’t interlocked
, but the way he held to my hand felt more intimate than that.  My fingers were draped over his and his thumb spread across the space between my knuckles, like being led onto the floor for a slow dance.  I could hear his breath, slightly ragged just like my, reacting to the electricity we seemed to conduct between our bodies. 

When the ground leveled off, he pulled me to him and I could feel his breath against my temple
when he spoke.  “Open your eyes.”

I
obeyed and inhaled sharply at the scene before me.  The ground sloped down from us in deep green rolling hills that gave way to fields bordered by low rock walls that contained fruit bearing trees, their bounty glimmering like jewels in the light.