Chael's Luck (A Knights of Dorathan Novel) (17 page)

“Where…”

He shook his head, turned me, and brushed the
hair away from my neck. His fingers traced the line of my shoulders
and I shivered. He gently closed the clasp on the chain. I closed
my eyes and leaned into him, the solid form of him against my back
reaffirming he truly was here and that all was well.

Harry cleared his throat from the doorway.
“Is this what you were looking for?” He grinned and held up the
book.

Ian’s arms tightened around me before letting
me go. “That would be the one.” I smiled and we returned to the
living room. All of us stood at attention as General Krane walked
through the decimated front door. Jasmine raced past him and threw
herself into Mac’s arms. He smiled.

“I’m fine. We’re all fine.”

“Actually, I got an elbow to the mouth,”
mentioned Hal. His brother punched him.

“By the looks of it, Ian is the one who took
the brunt of it,” commented the General as he shook his head. “By
gods, Ian, why did you let him tell us you were dead?”

Ian shrugged. “I seemed best at the time,
sir. Does he know I’m here?”

“I didn’t tell him and I don’t plan on it.
You’re a grown man. If you feel like disappearing again, it’s up to
you.” He turned his attention to me, his shock obvious.
“Chael…”

“Sir?”

“I’m at a loss.” He threw his hands up in
exasperation. “What in the world are my Knights thinking?”

“Sir?”

He shook his head. “Never mind. It’s of no
importance right now. We’ll deal with you later. Jasmine was
telling me quite a story on the way over.”

I nodded and Ian and I explained to him what
we believed to be happening. We started with the book, my aunt and
uncle’s murder, how my father and Alex had died, Caleb’s part in
it, and finally, what had just happened.

General Krane tapped his fingers against the
table, deep in thought. “Alright. Let’s get the two of you to the
castle. You can stay in a couple of the guest rooms. Tomorrow, I’ll
inform the king of what is going on.” He stood. “He’ll request your
presence at the queen’s birthday feast tomorrow evening.” He gave
his head another shake. “I’ll take down the warrant for your
arrest, Chael, so you’ll be free to walk around the city.”

“It’s Chaela, sir.”

He looked at me and smiled for the first time
since he’d walked into the house. “It does explain a lot.” He shook
his head and left.

“I don’t know if I should be insulted or
relieved,” I muttered.

Ian put an arm around me. “About what?”

I looked up at him and then gazed around at
my friends. “No one seems very surprised by the fact that I’m a
woman.”

Harry grinned. “Chaela, we all knew there was
something off about you, but really, since you can fight and ride
with the best of us, the fact that you might be a woman never
crossed our minds. You were just a runt.”

I started to laugh and watched as the guards
General Krane had brought took the two prisoners away. “Tomorrow
night is going to be horrible.”

Ian grunted. “I’ll say.”

I gave his waist a squeeze. “We’ve been
through worse.”

He kissed the top of my head and smiled. “We
have.”

Once we’d made it to the castle, we were
shown to our rooms. Ian walked me to mine. He took my face in his
hands and I closed my eyes at the feel of his thumb moving along my
cheek. His lips brushed against my forehead before he pulled me to
his chest.

“Have a good night, Chaela.”

“Sweet dreams, Ian.”

I made my way to my bed and flopped onto it.
Someone had put a clean pair of pants and a dark blue tunic on the
bed. I stripped, used the hot soapy water in the wash basin to
clean myself, and pulled on the clean clothes. I thought of Ian in
the next room, doing the same. He’d looked so shocked at seeing me
there. It made me wonder what Caleb had told him. I suddenly
regretted not having had a chance to tell him how I felt about him.
I got up and frowned at the sound of a knock on my door. I opened
it and smiled.

“I was just on my way to see you.”

He took my hand, shut the door, and led me to
the bed. “Do you remember the night we were assaulted by the sand
plains?” He watched as I slid under the covers before joining me. I
turned so I was facing him.

“I do.”

He swallowed and brushed the hair out of my
face. I frowned. “Ian…”

“I… do you remember asking me to hold you.
That you needed to be held.”

I nodded.

“I need to hold you. I lay in the other room
and suddenly I was sure I’d dreamed that you were here. I need to
sleep with you in my arms so that when I wake up in the morning, I
know I wasn’t dreaming.”

The raw emotions in his voice and the fear in
his eyes overwhelmed me and all I could do was nod before he pulled
me to him, his arms like vices around me. I felt him shake and I
wrapped my arms around him. Not sure of what else to do, I pressed
my lips to his chest.

“I’m here, Ian.” I cleared my throat. “I’m
here.”

He finally relaxed, took a deep breath, and
pressed his lips to my forehead before letting me go so I could
press my back against him. His fingers laced with mine.

“I’m here, Ian.”

His breathing evened out and mine followed
suit. Soon, I was sleeping soundly.

*****

He felt the tears soaking into his arm before
he heard her crying. She still lay on his arm, but he’d rolled onto
his back. He turned onto his side, wrapped his arm around her and
pulled her to his chest. She shook her head, though whether it was
at the fact he was holding her or it was to tell him she didn’t
want to talk, he wasn’t sure. He moved backwards and rolled her so
he could see her face. He frowned, wiping the tears from her cheeks
and she closed her eyes at the feel of his thumb over her skin. He
leaned toward her and had one second to ask himself what in the
world he was doing before his lips touched hers. She jerked in
surprise, her eyes flying open to look into his. He pulled back
slightly. Such beautiful green eyes, he thought. When she didn’t
try to stab him, he moved up on his elbow and looked down at her,
brushing her dark hair out of her eyes. She bit her bottom lip
nervously and he smiled softly. His lips brushed against hers
tenderly and his heart skipped at the feel of her fingers running
through his hair. He moved his kiss down her neck so he could bury
his face there. His tongue ran across her collar bone and he smiled
at the way she shivered under him. He kissed his way back to her
mouth where her tongue met his. She sighed.

“Are you alright?” he whispered, his forehead
against hers.

She nodded. “I’m just glad I have you back.”
Her hushed voice broke and she tilted her head so she could kiss
him again.

He lay back down and pulled her to his
chest.

“When I heard Caleb had you… I couldn’t get
here soon enough. I prayed to every god I could think of that you
wouldn’t be hurt. I even prayed to Chael.” She frowned and touched
the cut over his eye.

He smiled.

“What?”

“The look on his face when Mac, Harry, and
Hal came crashing through the door. It was priceless.” He kissed
the end of her nose. “Though not as priceless as when you walked in
behind them looking like a wild woman.” He remembered her green
eyes flashing as her gaze had fallen on Caleb. Her hair, past her
shoulders by this time, had blown across her face with the wind.
She’d twirled her slaggens in her hands and pointed to a shocked
Caleb with them. His throat tightened and he swallowed hard. “By
gods, Chaela, I thought you were dead. He told me he’d killed you.”
He closed his eyes and held her. “When you walked in…”

She laid a hand on his cheek and ran her
thumb over his lips. “I’m here, Ian. I’m much harder to get rid of
than he gave me credit for.” She frowned. “Bastard. I can’t believe
he managed to get away.”

“At least we have the book.” He tucked her
hair behind her ear. “You know, before I thought you were dead, I’d
convinced myself I wouldn’t see you again.”

Her frown deepened. “Why is that?”

“When we parted ways, I was sure that had I
not been transported away, you would have killed me.”

“I did want to kill you. You can’t just tell
someone something like that when there’s a good chance you’ll never
see them again! By gods, Ian! ‘Chaela, I need you to know, I love
you,’ and poof! You disappear in a cloud of smoke.”

He started to laugh.

“It’s not funny!”

“Oh, come on, now. You can’t tell me you
didn’t know!”

“It doesn’t matter if I knew or not, you’d
finally said it! I’d never even had a kiss to remember you by.”

“Ah, I see. It’s the kiss you’re upset
about.” He nuzzled her cheek and brushed his lips gently over hers.
She shivered and he deepened the kiss, relishing the way she
responded to him. “And what about you, then?” he asked huskily.

She ran her fingers through his hair. “What
about me?”

He rolled his eyes and she grinned. He
touched her face softly, gazing deeply into her eyes. “Chaela, I do
love you.”

She smiled softly. “I know.”

He brought his lips down to hers and kissed
her deeply. When he pulled away, she laced her fingers behind his
head to keep him close.

“Ian.”

“Hmm?”

“I do love you.”

He smiled and pulled her to his chest, his
hand running up and down her back. “I know.” He felt her sigh and
he realized that for the first time in a very long time, he was
truly happy. Whatever it was that tomorrow would bring, this night,
this moment, was perfect.

*****

I awoke with a sigh at the feel of Ian’s lips
on the back of my neck. I reached back and ran my fingers through
his hair.

“Good morning,” I said softly.

He hugged me close in answer. “It’s actually
more along the lines of good afternoon, by the looks of the light
outside.”

There was a knock at our door.

“Are the two of you decent?” inquired
Jasmine.

“Of course, we’re decent. What do you take me
for?” I asked.

She let herself in and raised an eyebrow as
we sat up in bed. “I take you for a woman who is in the same bed as
the man she obviously cares about.” She grinned. “I also take you
as woman who lived most of her life as a man.”

I threw a pillow at her and got out of bed to
show I was most certainly still fully dressed. Ian laughed.

“I object to that last one. Not all men
simply want to get a beautiful woman into bed to satisfy his
needs.” He smiled as she left the room and returned with a large
bag. “What’s in there?”

She laughed. “Dresses.”

I shook my head. “No. Now that I don’t need
to hide, I’m sticking to pants and tunics.”

She rolled her eyes. “These dresses aren’t
for walking around in everyday, silly. These are my ball gowns.
We’re going to find one that fits you for tonight.”

Ian got out of bed and straightened the
covers so she could lay them on the bed. He smiled. Jasmine pointed
to the door.

“You can go get cleaned up and Mac has some
clothes for you as well. He’s in the lunch room with Hal at the
moment. They’re expecting you.”

Ian grinned and saluted her. “Yes, ma’am.” He
stopped as he passed me and his gaze softened. “I’ll see you
later.” He tilted my chin up with his fingers and kissed me softly.
I smiled as I watched him leave.

Jasmine cleared her throat. “Are you
ready?”

I raised an eyebrow at her. “No. Quite
honestly, I was planning on waking first thing in the morning and
leaving.”

She started to laugh.

“Honestly, Jasmine, I don’t think I’ve ever
been this nervous to go to anything. It was one thing to put up
with the Knights teasing me because I was small. I was used to it
and really, I think most of them did it in good fun. Tonight, those
who haven’t already heard will find out I’ve been living a lie;
that I’ve been lying to them for the past eighteen years. And Ian…
by gods, his father told the world he’d died! What’s going to
happen when he sees his son stroll into the room and with me on his
arm to boot?”

She smiled. “Do you want to know what I
think?”

I nodded.

“I think that you’ve spent the past eighteen
years ignoring what people think about you. I don’t think you
should pick up this habit now. Now, come on. We’ll wash your hair
and this time, you’ll let me put the eye smudge on. I want to see
Ian’s mouth drop when he sees you.”

“Ian likes it just fine when I’m in pants and
a tunic.”

She smiled. “So I noticed. However, tonight,
you stand before the king and queen.”

“I’ve stood before them on other occasions,
Jasmine.”

She let out an exasperated breath. “Tonight,
you stand before them as Chaela, not Chael. You’re a woman, now,
not a Knight.”

I frowned as what she said registered. “I am
a Knight.”

She looked away from the dresses she’s been
fussing over and stared at me, her eyes wide. “I didn’t mean it
like that.”

I waved away her concern. “I know you didn’t,
but…” My stomach knotted and I was sure I would throw up. “I am a
Knight, Jasmine. I’ve worked very hard my entire life to become
one. They can’t take that away from me now, can they?” I left the
room without waiting for her answer picking up speed until I was
running through the halls; running until I was sitting in the hay
loft over the royal barn.

I clenched my jaw, overwhelmed by what
Jasmine had so innocently pointed out. Of course they wouldn’t let
me keep my Knight title. Women couldn’t be Knights. It was the one
and only reason I’d had to pretend to be a man. Tears welled in my
eyes as I thought of everything I had worked so hard for simply
being taken away because I’d had Chael’s luck to be born a girl. I
thought of how proud my father had been; more proud even than most
fathers for he’d known the extra work I’d had to put in to achieve
my goal. And yet, for as good as I had become, it hadn’t been good
enough to keep him alive, or Alex. I hadn’t even been able to catch
Caleb to make him pay for all the hell he’d caused.