He would’ve been as agitated as a cat cornered by dogs, if not for the comforting scent of the night’s rainfall still clinging to the damp forest floor. It reminded him of his night curled up inside of his miserable blankets with the rain pelting him, which was hardly comforting. But, it also reminded him strangely of home.
A place I can never return to. He pushed that thought aside.
For a while, they rode in silence, the darkness and scent of life easing his aching head. Beneath them, their mounts’ hooves left a trail in the slightly muddy ground. He was thankful they’d put so much distance between themselves and Kadelynn’s home, or else he might be worried about the easy trail they were leaving since the rain. As it was, there was nothing to do about it except to make it through the day and hope for a warmer day tomorrow.
But then, she started up again. “Why do the Cahula store magic in the trees?”
He clenched his teeth. “The Cahula have only one power, but it’s a horrible, unnatural ability: to take magic from other creatures. But they can’t hold much of the magic in themselves. So they use the trees.”
“The Cahula can do more than that,” she responded, too quickly. “People say they can live forever. They say they’re faster and stronger than they should be.” She took a deep breath, as if deciding whether or not to continue. “The Cahula also slaughter people, cutting them into pieces. There has to be a reason for it.”
There is. Not that I’d tell you.
He rubbed his forehead. “Maybe it’s because they talked too much.”
“I bet the Cahula can hold their liquor a lot better than you can.” She challenged, with a sudden explosion of anger. “Especially when they know they have a full day of riding to do the next day.”
He dropped his hand and glared at her. “You’d think you were my wife, with how much you nag.”
She raised one clenched fist at him. “Do not make your overindulging my problem! Dealing with your sour mood has been bad enough!”
“My drinking isn’t the problem here,” he shot back, annoyed by her mood swing, “you are!”
Her eyes held a challenge as she met his gaze. “You didn’t seem to have much of a problem with me the last few days. Except, of course, when I said something you didn’t like.”
For some reason, arousal uncurled inside of him. Yes, the woman drove him crazy, but she was also damned beautiful when she was angry.
If she was a different woman, he’d move closer to her and ask her if she wanted to work her frustrations out with him. He’d strip her naked, pull her into his arms, and ride her right there in the middle of the magical woods. But she wasn’t a different woman. She was a Stonebuilder who thought herself better than him and would never fall into his bed.
No matter how much he might want her to.
So, he didn’t back down. He couldn’t back down. Something in him needed her to see him as a man, even if she could never want him the way he wanted her. “Any man can tolerate a woman with a nice ass for a few days.”
“With a nice…” she repeated, trailing off as her eyes narrowed. “Why not simply keep your mind on the job at hand?”
It’s hard when your ass is so damned perfect.
“And why don’t you stop pestering me with questions, I’m not your damned teacher.”
He thought that was the end of the conversation, as she turned from him, back rigid. But he was wrong.
“I wonder what kind of man you were before you tried Wipenhol.”
Tried Wipenhol?
“Go die in a ditch!” he roared back.
She implied he was some kind of drunk. He wasn’t a drunk; he was simply a man who had learned that drinking could give him a break from the endless guilt and loneliness that haunted him.
If there was something wrong with that, he didn’t want to be right.
“Nice,” she said, then rode away from him.
He tried to push aside the guilt that rose up inside of him, but it lingered. Men who yelled at women were disgusting assholes. So why had she awakened within him a temper he didn’t know he had?
Maybe because you know that ever since you first tasted that drink, your life has gotten worse, not better. Still, every time an apology blossomed on his lips, he couldn’t bring himself to speak it aloud.
Damn pride.
For the rest of the day, they rode, and stopped for breaks, in complete silence. Part of him thought he’d gone too far, but the other part felt justified. How dare she think he had a drinking problem? If anything, he did better when he drank.
Don’t I?
Being with her at the start of their trip had thrown him off his routine enough that he’d stopped having his nightly swig or two of Wipenhol. It wasn’t until he’d been drinking with Ekrem that he’d realized the source of his slight moodiness. She should’ve been thankful he’d relaxed and had fun with a friend; instead, she irritated him endlessly. Something he didn’t need. He’d had a lifetime of people pointing out his every flaw, namely his elder brother.
Drinking now and then isn’t the worst thing I could be doing…
“It’s getting dark,” she said, her voice breaking through both his thoughts and the calming sounds of the night creatures calling to one another. But instead of sounding angry, she just sounded tired. “When are we going to be out of these woods?”
“Do you see any end in sight?” he asked sarcastically, not yet ready to let her earlier insult be swept under the rug.
“No.” She answered, her voice tense. “So we ride through the night?”
He wanted to tell her what a dumb idea that would be, but instead, he held back. “We’ll camp just ahead.”
There, who said he couldn’t be the bigger man.
“Do we really have to?” Kadelynn’s voice held an edge of fear.
“We could ride all night and not reach the edge of the forest, so yes, we have to.” His words sounded harsh even to his own ears, so he softened them with. “Why do you ask?”
She whispered her response. “Can’t you feel it? Hear it? It’s… it’s hard to describe, but something is off.”
A shiver went up his spine as the unsettling feeling suddenly moved over his flesh.
When he kept his thoughts busy, he didn’t sense it. But like some kind of foolish child, pointing out a cruelty that couldn’t be stopped, Kadelynn had recklessly drawn attention to it. And now, he couldn’t ignore the strange energy sizzling through the air.
The trees spread out in all directions, radiating an overwhelming sense of pain, like that of a man taking his last breath. It sought out Acker, begging for an end to its misery.
An end he couldn’t give it, not if he wanted to continue trading with the Cahula.
He tore his gaze away from the trees, focusing on anything but them. Brown grass poked out from beneath a sea of gray leaves, an unpleasant sight. What he needed now was something to ease his fraying nerves. Otherwise, his guilt would destroy him.
His ears strained as he tried to ignore the night birds singing their sad songs and the crickets playing their merry melodies. But he was rewarded by hearing exactly what he hoped for, the rush of the stream just up ahead. They’d almost reached their resting place for the night.
Trying his best, he pushed aside his awareness of the tortured presence, focusing instead on the peace a nice fire and warm blankets would bring. “They’re only trees.” He clutched his reigns just a bit tighter. “You just need a good night’s rest.”
“Maybe.” Her eyes darted from tree to tree, even as she spoke.
He watched her from the corner of his eye, finally coming to a surprising conclusion. She couldn’t possibly detect the magic the Cahula had cruelly forced into the trees, not with a Stonebuilders’ almost non-existent magic. His pulse raced. Unless there is more to her than what meets the eye.
“Is your mother dead?”
She turned to him, surprised. “What?”
“Your mother—“
But this time, she cut h
im off. “None of your business.”
He shrugged, realizing that just perhaps he could have approached the topic with a bit more sensitivity. So he’d leave it for now. For a while.
They reached the campsite, where half-burned logs still lay in a dug-out fire pit. The sounds of the large stream, just thirty or so feet from them, chased away the lesser noises of the night. She unsaddled her horse, and then stiffly announced that she’d be bathing further downstream.
He grunted his acknowledgment but watched her retreating back with regret. Maybe if he’d been nicer to her, she’d have told him about her mother.
And let her bathe with him.
The thought brought a smile to his lips as he gathered wood and started a fire. What would it be like if she found me attractive? Would I get more of her smiles? Would she touch me, even in small ways? And eventually, would she lie with me? He wondered if he’d discover the source of her delicious scent, if his new job would become washing her hair… and body.
The thought made his dick harden. Kadelynn fascinated him. She was tall, even for one of her kind, but muscled. On their days of traveling, he’d expected her to complain and whine like the delicate lady he’d imagined her to be. But very quickly, he’d realized that she was accustomed to long rides. How, he had no idea. He’d also realized that while she was a bit lean, she was also muscular, at least for a woman.
He’d never slept with a woman like her before. One who was both refined and familiar with masculine things like riding and fighting with a sword. He wondered what she would look like spread on a blanket before him, naked to his eager gaze. Her blonde hair spread beneath her, those hazel eyes looking up at him with arousal.
Would she be quiet in bed? Demanding? Would she moan his name?
Hell, he caught his breath. That was something he’d want to hear. His name, not angrily spoken, but said with passion from those full lips of hers while he slid between her thighs and made her come.
His thoughts ran to very pleasant places when, a short time later, she returned. Her damp hair was tied back in its usual simple style, but when slicked back, drew attention to her gorgeously high cheekbones. But what really drew his eyes was her change in clothes.
Holy hell.
His jaw dropped open. She wore a leather top that exposed her belly and leather shorts along with a warrior’s long leather gloves. Her tall boots covered all the rest of her legs, with the exception of her knees. Her clothes were like a soldier’s uniform, if the soldiers were beautiful women, or like a strange kind of armor, that was somehow familiar to him. She clutched a small, damp blanket to her chest, but dropped it when she tripped over a rock and fell to her knees.
“You all right?” he asked, standing up from beside the roaring fire and moving to offer her a hand.
She looked up at him, those stunning hazel eyes of hers catching his, and took his hand.
He drew her to her feet and they stood, the closest that they’d been to each other in a long time.
Desire awoke inside of him, but her expression was frightened rather than aroused. Which dampened his own.
She stared at him, looking lost. “I just felt…”
But she never finished her thought.
She’s scared. She can feel the wrongness of this place. Get your dick under control and make her feel better.
“Here,” he leaned down and picked up her blanket from where it’d fallen.
She didn’t take it from him.
“Kadelynn?”
Her eyes snapped to his face, then the blanket.
“You all right?”
“Of course,” she said, reaching out and taking it from him with shaking hands.
No, she’s not. And it bothered him more than he liked to see her so shaken. Wasn’t she just today the woman calling him on his bullshit? Hadn’t she been the woman to leave home in search of a different destiny?
Kadelynn was brave. Seeing her frightened made every protective instinct roar to life inside of him. He’d do anything to comfort her. Anything to ease the worry he saw so clearly on her face.
“I’m here if you need me,” he said, his words coming out softer than he ever imagined he could speak.
Her hazel eyes looked endless as she met his gaze. And for just a moment he lost himself in them, wanting more than anything to have the right to comfort her. Fear and sadness cast an innocence to her normally strong features, reminding him of how young she was in comparison to him. Yes, to his people, he was in the prime of his youth, just like her, but in her years he was far older and more experienced.
“I’m going to get some water and hopefully some fish.” He reached out and ran one finger along her cheek, pretending to push back a strand of her honey-colored hair. “Will you be all right?”
“Want me to go with you?” she asked, but her voice betrayed only fear, not any enjoyment from his touch, like he’d hoped.
Disappointed, he stepped away. “You’re shivering. Go wrap yourself in some blankets and sit by the fire. I’ll be back as quickly as I can.”
To his surprise, and worry, she didn’t argue. And that alone made him quicken his steps as he hurried to the river. With swift movements, he removed his shirt and lay down in the dead leaves on the riverbank, to hopefully snatch their supper from the murky waters. He wished he could see her through the twisting branches of the trees, but knew he was within calling distance should she need him.
What felt like an eternity later, he returned to camp, clutching two small fish in one hand, and a pot full of water in the other. The last rays of the sun had finally vanished, leaving behind a bright moon and wandering gray clouds. But even in the darkness, one thing was obvious; Kadelynn was nowhere in sight.
He called her name, but only the lonely wind answered.
He threw the fish in the pot and placed it over the fire, then stood, searching the darkness for her. It shocked him how fast his heart pounded and how sick he felt with her out-of-sight, He should be seeing her as a prize lost, but instead, he was simply worried about her.
He called her name louder and louder and paced around their camp, but still, only silence greeted him.
Suddenly, power surged from one of the trees, washing over him like a grasping wave. It tingled along his chilled skin, warming it to an uncomfortable level. His heart raced. His muscles clenched. But it was like the moment before taking pleasure in a woman; it was both painful and intoxicatingly incredible.
He wondered if that was how it felt when his brother used real magic.
But just the thought of what he could never have shook him from his stupor. It fueled his anger and resentment, emotions he’d drawn strength from for years, refocusing his attention. Kadelynn must be near the tree.
But why?
He hurried to it, even while he wondered if he was making a mistake. Maybe Kadelynn went another way? Maybe she has nothing to do with the tree surging magic? Anxiety crept through his bones but he moved forward, pushing aside the leaves of the trees and going deeper and deeper, closer to its trunk.
And that’s where he found her, in the shadows beneath the trees giant branches, with her hands pressed to the trunk of the oily black tree. A pale light pulsed from the tree, illuminating the shadows of the night, and Kadelynn herself.
His blood ran cold. What the hell? Something was terribly wrong with Kadelynn. Only the whites of her eyes showed as magic flowed through her.
Fucking hell.
A shiver raced along his spine, but he clenched his fists and gritted his teeth. Whatever the tree was doing to her, he doubted it had her permission. She looked pale, frozen with her back arched towards the tree. Her fingers splayed unnaturally against the perfect black of the tree bark.
With great care, he took her by the shoulders and pulled her back, separating her from the tree. He’d thought it’d be more difficult, but the radiating power simply faded, although the tree continued to produce a slight glow. A harsh cold descended into his bones, and the night felt somehow
darker.
He held her crumpled form in his lap. Only her rapid breathing, a reassurance that she still lived, kept him from laying her down and inspecting her for any harm. Instead, he didn’t let her go. Sensing that whatever she was experiencing, she needed time.
But within him, he felt wound too tight. If she was hurt, if she died here in these woods, he’d never forgive himself.
For a second he pictured his life before her, trading and traveling alone, and a tremor moved through his body. He’d been lonely then, miserable, and trapped in his own regrets. With her, he was an asshole. Finally, he was able to admit it, if only to himself, but he was also happier. He knew that. She frustrated him, but with her he felt like his life had purpose, if only a little.
You’re pathetic. It’s only been a few days.
And yet, he couldn’t shake the feeling that he had no idea what he’d do without her anymore.
“Come back to me,” he whispered, his voice shaking. “It’s all right.”
She tilted her head back and opened her eyes, confusion marring her features. “I’m alone. So alone,” she sobbed the last word, then curled against his chest, shaking.
He hated himself for the way his body responded to her closeness. That sweet scent of hers washed over him, surrounding him, and the curves of her body melded with his own. It was troubling to him how perfectly she seemed to fit in his arms. And how right it felt to hold her.
Even while his heart ached as he looked down at her. This strong, brave woman should never feel alone. Not when he was here, more than willing to give her anything and everything.
“It’s all right. I’ve got you now,” he told her, and meant every word.
She pressed against him, her breasts, her body, touching every part of him. “I’m so alone.”
Great Mother and Father, he wanted her. But he also knew he couldn’t take advantage of her when she was like this. Whatever the tree had done to her, it’d left her upset.
“Let’s just go back to camp.”
Lifting her into his arms, he carried her away from the tree, his steps light. He would help her. He would calm her. And he’d do everything in his power to focus on reassuring her, and not the fact that he ached to touch her for his own reasons.
Dragon Memories: A High Fantasy Reverse Harem Romance (Legacy of Blood and Magic Book 2) Page 7
