Birth Stone: Hidden Gem Series Book One

by Kate Kelley

  I don’t know if you are getting any of my letters. I don’t know if you are well, if you are even alive. I am a desperate man, desperate to have you back in my arms. I recall our days of lounging in the meadows together, our own personal tabernacle. I should have kissed you every day, but I was cowardly. I have something in the works, Lyra. It won’t be long now. I’ll be seeing you soon, and then we will be together forever.

  Truly Yours,

  Edwin Garreson

  They all read pretty much the same. They were sweet and quick and to the point. It saddened her to think that he had been suffering, not knowing whether she lived or died. A wayward thought struck her:

  But if he was with Abner for weeks before he came to me, then he would have known exactly how I was.

  Lyra shook her head, setting the letter to the side. Tomorrow was the last day of training with Oriel and Terrin. They were meeting in the morning in order to rest up and prepare for their journey.

  Trepidation coursed through Lyra’s gut. She tossed to her side, trying to get comfortable. She had no idea what lay in store for her. The farthest she had traveled was to Gem, and that was by force. She didn’t know how she would fare traveling all the way to Thane Mountains. Instinctively, Lyra reached for her pendant at her neck. It had become a habit to smooth her fingers over it when she was anxious. But the pendant was missing. Panicking, Lyra sat up in bed, rubbing around her throat and inside her silk chemise for it. She leapt off the bed, checking under her covers, and all other surfaces of her room. Suddenly she had a thought.

  Terrin pocketed it in his vest today during training.

  Without hesitating, Lyra was out of her door and knocking on Terrin’s door within a matter of seconds. She stood in the almost pitch dark hallway, waiting for the heavy door to swing open. Glancing at the space between the door and the floor, she noticed that no light shown through.

  Damn. He’s asleep. Maybe I can just go in and grab it. Find the vest, grab the pendant, leave. It will be like I was never there.

  Praying to the gods that the door was unlocked, she turned the handle. It clicked and she pushed.

  Success!

  Slinking into the dark room, Lyra closed the door without a sound and waited for her eyes to adjust. A few minutes later, blue moonlight lit the room, objects coming into shape. She watched Terrin laying in his oversized bed, halfway covered by a heavy comforter, his chest rising and falling silently.

  He really should lock his door at night. I could kill him right now, if I was of the King murdering variety.

  She surveyed her surroundings. To the right were a few stone steps leading to a lower level living area where large couches and chairs surrounded a glass table. Some lumpy shapes on the couch sparked her interest.

  Those could be discarded clothing, and where my pendant could be.

  Making her way slowly across the floor, she praised herself on her stealth. She couldn’t even hear her own footsteps. Training was paying off.

  When she got to the bottom of the three steps, she peered over her shoulder at Terrin, reassured by his steady breathing. Tip-toeing to the couch, she picked up a discarded piece of clothing, running it through her hands.

  It was a shirt. Not what she was looking for.

  Lowering it carefully back to the ground, she felt around the couch for another article of clothing. Nothing. Time was getting heavy now, the seconds dripping by, and beads of sweat pebbled across her forehead. She slunk to the other couch.

  BAM.

  Her toe hit the foot of that damned glass table, the clunky metal reverberating with the hard contact. She clutched her throbbing foot, tears in her eyes. She could hold her own in a fight with the king but when it came to stubbing her toe, she was down the for count.

  Lowering her foot to the floor, she breathed a sigh of relief that Terrin hadn’t woken up. She glanced back at his bed to make sure. Moonlight trickled over the bedding, stark white sheets shone brightly, the covers drawn back. The bed was empty.

  Lyra whipped back around just before her body was slammed against the stone wall, her head luckily thudding against a thick hanging tapestry. Terrin snarled in her face, his bare forearm locking her in place against the wall. Rough stone scraped her legs as she struggled against his hold. And a sharp pain struck her neck. Glancing down, she saw the golden hilt of a knife glinting in the moonlight. She recognized it.

  “A little bit overkill, isn’t it Terrin?” Lyra said flatly, feigning calm.

  Terrin lowered the knife with a low growl at the back of his throat. He threw it behind him onto the table with a loud clank, keeping her pinned, then brought his hands up to rest on either side of her head, boxing her in. “That’s rich. Stealing a knife from a thief.”

  “If I remember correctly, you’re the one who foolishly took it.”

  Lyra shrugged. “I got caught up in the excitement.”

  “What are you doing in my room in the middle of the night?” Terrin’s voice was still scratchy from sleep. A part of her stirred in response to sandpapery sound.

  “You should lock your door,” she said, “You go out of your way to lock mine, but don’t lock your own?”

  Terrin’s eyes widened and then narrowed. “Your safety is my concern,” he said darkly.

  Aha!

  She hadn’t really known who had been locking her door. The guess that Terrin had been doing it was a shot in the dark.

  Lyra pointedly looked down at his arm inches away from crushing her windpipe. "My safety, huh?" she said dryly.

  Terrin removed his arm.

  “My pendant is missing," she told him.

  Terrin looked at her a moment longer, eyes dipping to her chemise that rode up, exposing most of her thighs. She shivered under his gaze and her nippled hardened. She hoped he couldn’t see that in the dark.

  It was then that she realized the man before her wore nothing. He was completely unclothed. She stilled, her eyes dipping to his abdomen, then lower, and her jaw dropped. He was huge--and harder than the stone wall behind her. She snapped her eyes upward again, mad heat inflaming her body.

  Terrin growled low in his throat and backed up, snatching a pair of black pants off the floor and tugging into them.

  “You think I took it?” he snapped, extending his arm toward a candle and lighting it with his aura.

  “You put it in your leather vest while you had me do those exercises, remember?” Lyra scanned the floor for the vest. Ah-ha! There it was, halfway tucked under the couch. She grabbed her prize, digging her hands into the front pocket.

  “Eureka!” she sighed, her hand closing around the delicate piece of jewelry. She slid it over her head, lifting her heavy hair out of the way. A sense of rightness, of calmness overtook her senses. She turned to go.

  “Never come into my room without permission again,” Terrin said roughly, closing in on her before she ran out of the door. He grabbed her waist from behind, stopping her in her tracks as his thumbs began lightly grazing her lower back.

  The heat of him warmed her, and she turned to face him, his hands never leaving her body. Lyra’s stomach erupted into butterflies as she watched his gray eyes flickering in the candlelight. He continued his light stroking in the hollows right next to her hip bones. Like clay in his hands, she let him touch her as he pleased, stirring at every manipulation of his hands. She was under his spell.

  Lyra’s breath shuddered out as he drew her nearer, placing his forehead on her own. It was like looking in on herself, an out of body experience. His hair mingled with hers, fell to her cheek. Their noses softly touched. Their lips a breath apart. What would it feel like to bring her lips to his, even just lightly? Would he taste as good as he smelled? The distant rumble of thunder sounded.

  “Don’t come into my room in the middle of the night,’ Terrin rasped, “unless you want to warm my bed.”

  Liquid heat pooled in her center, the apex of her legs now throbbing deeply. She wanted nothing more than to warm his bed. She couldn’t den
y it even to herself.

  Reaching up, she grabbed his arms, the muscles flexing under her touch. Terrin nuzzled the side of her neck and she gasped, giving him more access. He growled, his hot mouth dragging up to her pulse, the prickly stubble of his beard scraping her neck lightly. He kissed the skin over her pulse. A moan escaped her lips, and she leaned herself against him fully, needing more.

  A bright glint to her left suddenly caught her eye. Her ring winked in the candle light. Her engagement ring. Heavy guilt threatened to suffocate her, dousing her body in ice water. She wrenched herself away, her whole body shaking. Anger replaced the guilt, saving her from self-deprecation, giving her someone to blame for her wanton actions.

  “I know Kings and Princesses play by their own set of rules, but normal folk--decent, common folk--don’t betray the ones they love. They don’t seduce taken women.” She held up her engagement ring for emphasis, her hand still shaking.

  Terrin watched her, the heat still simmering in his gaze. “You love him, do you?” A smirk twisted his features.

  Lyra swallowed the lump constricting her throat. “It doesn’t matter if I love him or not. I made a promise.” Terrin’s face sobered then, the hurt flashing through his eyes for a fraction of a second. in his eyes rising to the surface “You’re right,” he said softly, his gaze taking in her features, “Leave me.”

  Lyra watched him for a moment more despite herself, before she followed his order, clutching the pendant on her way out to calm her frazzled nerves.

  ✽✽✽

  It had become tradition to wake in this castle with a headache, or some sort of foggy brain. Lyra rubbed her eyes, forcing the sleep away. She slung her legs to the side of the bed but couldn’t bring herself to get out just yet. Today was the day. The last day of training. Tomorrow they would journey. A sense of foreboding laced her veins. Outside of her travel to Haven Shore, and her forced travel to Gem, she had never traveled outside of her village. It wasn’t something common folk did.

  We stay put and make due with what we have.

  Ambitious folk, like scholars or artists or politicians or mages were the ones who left home. Like Alec. She wasn’t like that. Or was she? Lyra from a month ago was content to stay in one place. Maybe she did have the drive now, but just didn’t have the trust in herself to venture out. Lyra felt a strengthening within herself, a confidence that grew each day. She wasn’t so sure she could go back to sitting in her village and teaching the children their letters and numbers day in and day out.

  But isn’t that what I signed up for when I agreed to marry Edwin?

  “Ughhh,” Lyra set out a groan, “it’s too early to think about this shyte.”

  And now I’m talking out loud to myself, too. Wonderful. With a deep breath, Lyra hopped off of the bed and made her way to the wash room, relieving herself and then scrubbing her hands and face clean. She braided her hair into two tight, long braids on each side of her head, then flipped them over her shoulders. She looked at her outfit options--the two training outfits. The less revealing one was smudged with dirt and grass. She’d forgotten to take it to the launder.

  Damn, I really miss having Poppi here.

  But the thought of having a different lady’s maid turned her off. Considering the clean training outfit, she really couldn’t bring herself to put it on. It was cold outside, being October. It just didn’t make sense to wear that, unless she wanted to freeze to death.

  She tugged the dirty outfit on and attempted to wipe at some of the dirt. When she was got most of it off, she tugged her boots on and left. Taking a roundabout path through the kitchens, Lyra grabbed a pastry from a hot pan sitting on top of the range. The bustling cook and other servants didn’t pay her any mind—they were used to her coming through from time to time, and if they thought her dress was odd, they didn’t say it out loud. At least, not to her face. Chewing the warm, sweet bread enthusiastically, she made her way to the throne room, where Oriel was already standing outside.

  “Good morning, sleeping beauty. It’s nice to see you in the morning when the day’s troubles haven’t weighed you down yet.” He winked, and glanced at her ring before returning his gaze to hers. He seemed to silently imply her “troubles” were connected to the ring she wore on her left ring finger. It was perfectly fine; she wouldn’t discuss or defend her betrothment to Edwin any longer. She ignored his silent communication.

  “Good morning, Oriel. You have bed head,” she returned flatly. He let out a rich laugh, and Lyra giggled in turn. When the doors opened with an effortless woosh, they straightened up at Terrin came barging through. Seeing Lyra, he looked away quickly, as if avoiding her gaze, and focused on Oriel.

  “I hope you have everything in order. Lyra and I are traveling to Thane Mountains today,” he said flatly. His voice was gravelly, reminding Lyra of how his voice sounded when she woke him up in his room last night. The atmosphere warmed around her. Then it clicked what Terrin had just said. Lyra opened her mouth to protest but Terrin held up his hand to stop her.

  “You’re ready. You’ve been ready for a damn long time. Delaying any further will only hurt us.” He turned toward Oriel, who was looking on somberly.

  “I take it you need an extra day to track Abner’s whereabouts?” Terrin asked Oriel.

  Oriel nodded briefly. Terrin nodded back with a breath and turned back to Lyra, who’s mouth was still open.

  “But—we haven’t really discussed what we are doing—“

  “We’re going to travel via portal to the precipice on Thane’s that Alec disappeared over. To see if you pick anything up with that pendant.” He nodded toward the spectacular gem nestled between her breasts.

  A stone dropped in Lyra’s gut. “And it will take us straight to the mountains?”

  “Not directly. It will take us to Northern Mainland. It will take about two weeks to travel up to the mountains.”

  “Do we need to pack anything?” Lyra asked, her voice higher pitched than usual.

  “I have everything we need as far as blankets and food. You may want to take an extra change of clothes,” he frowned at her disheveled outfit. She crossed her arms over her chest to shield herself from his gaze.

  “It’s too cold for the other outfit I have,” Lyra admitted.

  “Fine. Are you ready then?” He asked bluntly.

  “Now? You want to leave right now?” Lyra swallowed the lump in her throat. Her heart sped up, beating a staccato pattern against her ribs. She felt a warm hand on her shoulder then and turned to Oriel. He could always tell how she was feeling, even when she was shielding herself.

  “He’s right. You are ready. And the mountains are calling your name, Lyra.” Oriel’s brown eyes stared into hers, forcing her to calm down and feel the truth of his words. When her heart finally slowed again, she nodded and Oriel removed his hand from her shoulder. Lyra lunged at Oriel, attacking him in a fierce hug. He caught her, chuckling.

  “I’ll see you soon, bright one,” he said softly into her ear.

  “If you two are done, we’ll be on our way. Daylight fades fast,” Terrin growled behind her. Lyra let go of Oriel and took a deep breath, and turned back toward Terrin, who led the way to the familiar portal in the back of the throne room.

  Her spine tingled at their proximity as they stood in the dark room. After last night, the thought of touching him was so much more complex than it was before. She knew what it felt like now, his strong hands on her hips, his lips on her skin. She hated that moment for making her yearn for his touch with every fiber of her being.

  Bastard.

  His stiff hand clasped her waist, awkwardly holding her as far away from him as possible in the small space, but still keeping contact. Lyra held her hand up until it brushed his and he grabbed it loosely before hovering it over the stone. He then muttered a combination of words that Lyra didn’t understand before firmly pressing her hand into the stone.

  Chapter 22

  The travel this time felt longer, more drawn out; the
stars, the air, the slight vacuum pulling at her limbs as they bent time and space felt stronger this time. When they landed, it was rough, with Lyra falling into Terrin’s chest.

  “Oomph,” he sounded, stumbling backward with her but managing to prevent completely toppling over. Righting herself, she removed her hands from his as if burning herself on a hot stove. The second thing she did was look at her surroundings. Terrin was looking in each direction, as if trying to root out the right path. They were in a forest, a mature one, from the looks of it. Thick trees, wide across and tall as the sky stood strong and plenty around them, sprinklings of butter yellow and crimson leaves decorating their branches. The forest floor was a rich array of fallen leaves, dark earth, and various forest foliage. It didn’t seem to be a forest that people frequented.

  Terrin started off in a seemingly random direction, Lyra following behind, stepping around trees and fallen trunks. Soon the path they took cleared and Lyra realized he had found a man-made path.

  “Where are we, exactly?” Lyra finally asked, their pace steady.

  “Northern Mainland, as I said. In the Haust Forest.”

  “How far north exactly?” Lyra asked, the morning chill causing her breath to fog with each exhalation.

  “Quite far. Once out of this forest, it’s a half a day’s walk to a tavern and stable. We can sup there and buy horses. After that, we will ride to the next town and stay at the inn there.”

  “How many more inns are there until we reach the mountains?” Lyra asked, trying not to imagine sleeping in the near-freezing temperatures.

  “Several more. But once in the mountains, we will certainly be devoid of a proper roof.” Lyra inwardly cursed. She was not looking forward to that. So she pushed it from her mind. An hour later they broke out of the forest into a grassy clearing, her nose numb and legs aching from the swift pace Terrin had set. On the other side of the large clearing was a narrow stone path that disappeared over a hill. Walking up to it, the sound of clomping hooves became clearer and houses began to appear down the slope.