by Vicky Savage
When we reach the lake, Ryder is nowhere in sight. Ralston unhitches the horses and lets them wander down to the water’s edge where they can nibble on the sweet grasses. I spread our picnic quilt under the shade of the old oak tree and sit down to wait for Ryder.
An uncomfortable hour passes without him making an appearance, and I’m getting worried that something terrible has happened. He’s just too reckless sometimes. He has no business being within a hundred miles of Domerica or me anyway. I curse myself for agreeing to meet him again. It was stupid, stupid, stupid! I should have sent him straight home.
Ralston spends the time placidly fishing and attempting to reassure me that Ryder can take care of himself. “Jade, quit fretting. Go for a swim or take a walk. We can eat lunch now if you like. Are you hungry?”
“No! I want to wait for Ryder.”
I’m on the verge of hitching up the carriage to go and look for him myself, when he finally rides into view. I’m so relieved to see him, I forget to be angry.
He jumps off his horse grinning. “Sorry to be tardy, Jade. I ran into one of your mother’s patrols. I was forced to double back and find another route—several miles out of the way.”
“We were worried about you,” Ralston says, cutting his eyes toward me to let Ryder know that I was the one worried about him.
“I am sorry to have worried you. I’m fine. No one saw me.”
Ryder looks different today. Very different. Instead of his usual black leather riding clothes or his body armor, he has on a billowy white shirt with a high collar and brown wool pants with black riding boots. His hair is pulled back in a ponytail tied with a leather thong. He looks darkly dashing in a weird pirate sort of way.
“Is this an attempt at a disguise?” I ask him. “Because if it is, I don’t think it will work. You’re still a foot taller than most Domericans, and nobody else on earth has hair quite like yours.”
He laughs. “No. Lorelei thought my riding clothes needed cleaning and mending. Jacob lent these to me. He is nearly as tall as I am but, you know, slimmer. The trousers are a bit tight.” He turns around displaying his amazing backside for me. Oh, yeah, delightfully tight.
So Lorelei is cleaning and mending his clothes? That means he has to go back to her place tonight. I don’t like that idea at all… for more than one reason.
“You’re staying in the village again?” I say.
“No. I must return to Unicoi tonight. Jacob will meet me on the road leading out of town this afternoon with my clothes.”
“Who is Jacob?” I ask.
“Lorelei’s husband, Lord Bartlett. I thought you knew him.”
Oops. “Oh him… Well, I told you we aren’t close.”
“Yes, well,” Ralston interrupts, “since young Blackthorn has arrived safe and sound, may we have lunch? I am famished, and we need to be on the road home before the rains begin.”
“Let’s eat,” I say, turning to follow Ralston to the carriage. Ryder catches hold of my hand.
“I am sorry, Jade. I’m not a very patient person. Will you have mercy on me and inform me of your decision before lunch?”
I get the part about not being patient. “Yes. I will go to Unicoi,” I say.
“Wonderful!” He rewards me with a brilliant smile.
“I’m not sure when I’ll be able to get away, though. I have to wait until my mother gets back from Dome Noir. I’ll also need to make arrangements with my father.”
“I understand. We shall accommodate whatever arrangements you must make. He lifts my hand, placing the back of it against his warm cheek. “Thank you,” he whispers.
I’m not sure if he’s thanking me or the spirit gods.
Ralston spreads out our portable feast on the blanket. Cook has outdone herself with pheasant, roasted vegetables, baked breads, and fresh pommera pie. Our lunch conversation is light and happy. Ryder and Ralston have an easy rapport. They banter back and forth on many subjects. Ryder doesn’t hide his enthusiasm for my upcoming visit. He’s anxious for me to meet his father who he speaks of with a kind of reverence.
“I fear I’ll never be capable of completely filling his shoes,” Ryder says. “He is wise and unfailingly just. Some of my recent actions have caused him concern over the fate of our people after he is gone. If I could undo anything I’ve ever done, I would take back what I did to you Jade. It was dishonorable and stupid.”
“Hey,” I say trying to lift his mood, “look at it this way, if you hadn’t abducted me, we wouldn’t be here right now, and I wouldn’t be going to Unicoi. Maybe something good has come of it.”
“You’re much too easy on me. I’m not sure I deserve it.”
“Your father has been chief for forty years,” Ralston says. “It takes time to learn how to be a wise leader.”
Ryder half-smiles. “You should know from being my teacher, I can be rather thick-headed at times. I hope forty years will be long enough for me.” I’m glad to hear the lightness back in his voice. He stands and holds out a hand for me. “Shall we go for a walk?”
“Absolutely!” I say, taking his hand.
“Ralston? Join us?” Ryder asks.
“No, no. You two go ahead. I think a little nap would be just the thing right now.” He leans back against the trunk of the old oak and closes his eyes.
Ryder and I take the same lake path we strolled along the day before, but in the opposite direction. Everything glows silver and gold in the afternoon light. I can’t decide if it’s the illusion created by the dome, or my own bright spirits that make the scenery so intensely vivid.
Ryder stops to admire the lake. “It looks brilliant this afternoon.”
“I was thinking the same thing.”
He cocks his head to the side. “Would you like to take a swim? Jacob was kind enough to furnish me with a bathing suit.”
I have a fleeting suspicion that he may be hoping I’m wearing that underwear swimsuit again. “I’d love to.”
I sit on a boulder to take off my shoes. I pull my dress off over my head revealing my demure, blue swimsuit.
“Very nice,” Ryder says, taking off his boots and stepping out of his trousers. Underneath his pants he is wearing a pair of black swimming shorts made from the same fabric as my suit.
I dip my toe into the lake to test the water. The temperature is perfect—probably controlled by the dome maintenance workers.
Ryder unbuttons his shirt. “May I?” he asks before removing it. “It seems to have unnerved you a little yesterday.”
I kick water at him, soaking the front of his shirt. “Well, it’s wet now anyway, so why even bother?”
He’s momentarily stunned by the spray of water, but throws off his shirt and starts after me.
“Race to the waterfall,” I call, diving into the lake. I figure I can beat him. He’s stronger and longer, but I’m lighter and a decent swimmer. Plus I gave myself a generous head start.
I won by a nose.
“You cheat,” he says, out of breath.
“I like to win.”
He dunks my head underwater, and I swim beneath the waterfall to the small, hidden alcove I discovered the day before.
“Jade? Jade where are you?” he calls after a moment.
I don’t answer. The water in the small pool is shallow enough for me to balance on the bottom with my head above water. He dives underwater. A few seconds later, his head pops up next to mine.
“You found me!” I say.
“Of course. I shall always find you, no matter where you are hiding.” He kisses me playfully.
“Oh really?”
“Really.”
“How would you find me?”
“You draw me to you like a magnet. I feel your pull even when I’m back in Unicoi and you are here.”
In the weak light that filters through the curtain of the waterfall I can see by his face that he is serious. “When did you discover this?” I ask.
“I don’t know.” He smoothes back his wet hair, which
has fallen loose. “On that first day, I believe.”
“Oh, you mean when you kidna—”
He puts his hand to my mouth to quiet me.
“Yes, when I ruthlessly abducted you. I knew I had seriously miscalculated the moment I saw you go over the cliff. I was panicked… then relieved that you weren’t badly hurt. I wanted to take you straight home to your mother right then, but I couldn’t force myself to let you go. I convinced myself you would understand everything once we reached Unicoi, and you wouldn’t hate me.
“When Ralston helped you get away, I was furious at first, but I quickly realized that it was for the best. I trusted he would return you safely home.”
“Why didn’t this magnetic thing work when Ralston and I were hiding out?” I ask, skeptical, but intrigued.
He shrugs. “It did. We easily tracked you across the field to the hills where the herd of fargen grazed. Unicoi are talented trackers even in the dark. Dozens of caves exist in those hills. I knew exactly in which one you were hiding, but I sent Catherine and most of the men back to Unicoi, saying I was certain we would never find you.
“My two most trusted friends, Alexander and Makoda, stayed with me. I told them I knew where you were, but planned to let Ralston escort you home. I’m certain they thought I was mad, especially after all the trouble we went through to capture you. But, they did not question me.”
He pulls me over to a rock ledge at the back of the alcove and lifts me up. We sit side by side, our legs dangling in the water.
“We waited until morning,” he continues. “When we saw you and Ralston emerge from the hillside, we followed until Prince Andrew found you. Then we made for Wall’s Edge. By that time, your mother’s soldiers had discovered our escape tunnel. They ambushed us inside the entrance.”
I look at him curiously. “You let me go?”
He nods.
“And you waited until my brother found me?”
“Yes.”
“But you could have been executed, or worse.”
“I know and I was miserable afterward. I made a terrible mess of the entire situation. I had failed Makoda and Alexander and shamed my family, on top of causing injury to you. But when you helped me escape from the palace, I knew…” He trails off.
“Knew what?”
He laughs nervously. “I don’t know what I knew. Perhaps that it had all been for a reason. That something exists between us… a bond.” He slides off the ledge into the water and looks up at me. “Am I mad or do you feel it too?”
I hesitate. I don’t know if I’m ready to be quite as honest with my feelings. It’s a little scary. But what do I gain by lying? I don’t really have time to play hard-to-get.
“I feel it,” I admit. “But, I don’t think it affects me in the same way as you. Besides that electricity thing when we touch, I feel it mostly when we part.”
He’s not laughing yet, so I go on. “When you leave me… it hurts. It’s like a piece of me—of my heart—is being torn away. God, that sounds so stupid!”
He pulls me into the water and wraps his arms around my waist. “No, it doesn’t. It’s good to know I’m not a complete fool. I am sorry for causing you pain, though.”
“It’s not that bad,” I say. “So, this magnet thing—do you think it works anywhere?”
“Probably. It’s quite strong.”
“Over space and time?” I ask.
“I believe so.”
“What if I were to just suddenly disappear one day, without a trace? Do you think you could find me then?”
He looks at me oddly and pulls me closer to him. I clasp my arms around his neck, buoyed by the water. “Of course,” he whispers, nuzzling my ear. “That would not stop me. I’d find you no matter what.”
My arms and legs twine around him, and he holds me in our own private alcove. His mouth covers mine—warm, sweet, and moist. Heat and electricity course through my body. He kisses me deeply, hungrily. I hold on tightly, melding into him, like he’s part of me now, sharing everything vital inside me. Blood blazes in my veins. I’m certain if I open my eyes steam will be rising from the water surrounding us.
His lips break away from mine and we face each other silently, reading each other’s eyes, feeling each other’s thoughts, glimpsing each other’s souls. This is all happening so fast. I hardly know him, yet it seems I’ve known him forever.
He carries me toward the backside of the waterfall and with one swift motion positions us both directly under the cascading falls. The cold shock of water on my head startles me.
“Why did you do that?” I choke.
“I needed to cool off,” he says, laughing. “Can you even imagine how desirable you are to me?”
“Uh, yeah. I was on the other side of that kiss. Is this you behaving badly again?”
“Rather trying not to,” he says. “Come on.”
We swim to the large flat rock next to the waterfall, then hoist ourselves up. The rock feels warm and inviting. We lay on our backs, gazing at the swirling silver ceiling above. I roll onto my side and prop myself up so I can see him.
“What is it?” he asks.
“I want to know more about you,” I say.
He tilts his head to the side. “What do you wish to know?”
“Well, I guess I already know some things from what you’ve shared with me and what Ralston has told me, so tell me something I don’t know. Tell me three things about yourself that would shock me.”
“Oh, you want shocking things, like I was raised by wolves?”
“Yeah, like that. Were you?”
“I’m sorry to disappoint, but no. My upbringing was strictly human.” He looks pensive for a moment. “Hmm, shocking things…. All right, number one: I love to dance.”
“That’s not shocking,” I say. “But it is kind of hard to believe.” I can’t picture this giant warrior dancing.
“It’s absolutely true. I do not know whether it is my Cherokee or my Irish heritage, since both cultures include much ritualistic dancing. War dances are my specialty, but I can hold my own in a ballroom also.”
“All right, I believe you. That’s great. I like to dance too.”
“I hope we have the opportunity to dance together one day,” he says.
I like the visual that conjures up. “All right, what’s number two?”
He grins. “It is embarrassing…but I get choked-up at weddings, baby christenings, any solemn occasion.”
“Really? Like you cry or something?”
“Fortunately, I have learned to control it fairly well, but last month when my friend Alexander got married, I had to leave the ceremony to avoid making a scene.”
“Why? I like a man who can show his feelings.”
“I doubt it would favorably impress the Unicoi people to see their future chief bawling like a baby.”
“Good point. I guess you have to worry about ‘appearances’ all the time, huh?”
“As do you,” he reminds me.
“Yes, well, so you like to dance and you’re a cream puff when it comes to weddings, what’s number three?”
“You’re enjoying this aren’t you? Learning all my darkest secrets?”
“I’d hardly classify those things as ‘dark.’ Although, I suspect there may be another side to you, judging from the way we met. But, I’ll get those secrets out of you later.”
“Well, number three,” he says, stretching languorously, “is that I can fall asleep anywhere. Allow me to demonstrate.” He closes his eyes and feigns sleep.
“You’re just trying to avoid answering me.”
His eyes remain closed, a slight smile playing at his lips.
“All right, I’ll let you off this time,” I say. “But you still owe me one.”
I get no reply from his reclining form, so I steal the opportunity to stare shamelessly at his seriously impressive body. He’s beautifully put together—long limbs, muscled but lithe, broad well-defined chest, muscular abdomen, firm, flat belly. Simply put
, he’s splendid. The Cherokee prince, not yet quite grown into himself.
I watch the rhythmic rise and fall of his chest. His blue-black hair fans out like a sunburst beneath his head. His face is peaceful and perfect in sleep, and my heart swells with the sheer joy of just being near him. There is so much more to him, and I want to learn it all.
At that moment I’m struck by a stunning realization—I’m happy! Truly happy, for the first time in more than a year. I’d almost forgotten what it feels like, and I welcome it back into my life like an old friend.
