Ember (58 page)

My chest rose, bottom lip beginning to
quiver, then I plopped back down dejectedly.

“Oh. . . .” I squeaked out.

His brow lowered and he dropped down from the
ledge, bending beside me. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to scare
you.”

My head shook. “That’s okay . . . I was just
. . .” I looked over to the trees.

“Nightmare?” he asked.

I frowned, then nodded to him, surprised at
his quick guess. He seemed to catch this.

“Yeah, I ah . . . saw you tossing, but I
didn’t know whether to wake you or not.”

My face flushed a little, embarrassed that
I’d been that obvious, but more than that, the reaction of it was
still making my blood pump quicker.

“It seemed pretty bad . . . you wanna talk
about it?” His face was searching and sympathetic, enough to make
me feel better in and of itself.

“No,” I said, smiling bravely. “I hate
talking about dreams, they never make sense to anyone but
yourself.”

His mouth lifted a bit, then he started to
lean up.

“But, Ikovos?” I said, stopping him with a
hand to his arm. He waited expectantly. “Since the Meoden broke the
treaty . . . have you heard anything about Sylvanus?” I couldn’t
keep the effect from my voice.

He narrowed immediately, obviously realizing
at least a piece of what my nightmare included. Then his head
shook. “No. I haven’t heard anything about him since that fight he
had with Jaden . . .” He leaned closer to me. “I never asked you
about that, was it?—”

That’s right, Ikovos still doesn’t know that
Sylvanus was the one that first found me . . .

“It was fine,” I said, interrupting him with
a quick shake of my head. Then I forced a smile. “I don’t know why
I’m even asking about him.”

Ikovos straightened, sighing. “He’s not much
of a fighter - too cowardly. He wouldn’t show up until much later
in the game.”

I “Assuming that later in the game means we
lose.”

Ikovos reproached himself immediately.
“Shoot, I didn’t mean it like that. We—”

I lifted my head to meet his eyes, they were
strained and disconcerted and I knew we were thinking the same
thing.

He swallowed hard and I put my hands on the
ground beside me.

“That’s why we have to fine the Gaeln,” I
said, and propelled myself up.

His gaze followed me. Then he stood straight
and
I
was the one looking up. He wasn’t smiling, but the
face he held was, for me, just as reassuring. “Alright, let’s hurry
then.”

We ate a quick breakfast of fruit and cheese,
packed up, then started on into the trees. The morning was cold,
very cold. I could tell it would be overcast again. It was dim
enough that the air from our lips came out white and foggy. Ikovos
once again lent me his coat.

Before too long we reached the base of the
mountain. The summit at the top was our supposed destination. Why
did it always have to work that way? We started up fervently
anyways, doing a bit less talking today then yesterday. My mind was
still on my dreams, on Sylvanus, but I didn’t want to bring it up
with Ikovos anymore.

The sky grew to a fairly bright silver, but
there was nothing warming about it. When we’d gone up at least five
miles, probably getting close to noon now, I asked for a break,
shrugging the jacket off to set on a boulder along the path.

“Oh, sorry, I forgot,” he said, nodding
dumbly. “I should have had us do that sooner.”

High pine trees surrounded us, allowing for a
quite a cleared space below. A mix of rocks, shrubs, and uneven
terrain.

“Of course you should have,” I declared wryly
as he sat across from me on a tall rock. “I’m a girl and couldn’t
possibly
be expected to go on for more than a few hours
without a break.”

He smirked at my easy catch of his unintended
insinuation. “They
could
be expected to, they just
shouldn’t
be.” His chest lifted, obviously somewhat exerted
himself. He’s stripped down to his white undershirt at this point.
“Big difference.”

My smile tightened. “Such a gentlemen.

He bowed playfully and we both looked up at
the trees in unison, a heavy breeze rushing through them.

“How far do you think we are from the top?” I
asked. It was impossible to tell from here.

“I don’t know,” he answered. Then he checked
up and down either direction. “It might be a good idea to find out
though.”

“And how are we going to do that?”

He looked to a tall pine beside us. “Climb a
tree.” Then back at me, grinning. “You wanna do it?”

They were
really
tall, with hardly any
branches. Even with magic I wasn’t going to be able to get up
there.

Plus, I was beat.

“You go for it,” I said, then stood up. “I’m
gonna run back to that spring we passed really quickly. I forgot I
had Tanis, and he doesn’t like bottled water.”

Ikovos eyed down the path, sighed, then
pursed his lips at me.

“I’ll be fine,” I smiled.

He nodded. “Be careful.” Then he turned to
the tree and I headed down with Tanis.

It was just about fifty feet back and a bit
off the road. We’d seen it, but didn’t stop as we already had our
own drinks.

I hopped down briskly, wishing that I hadn’t
left my coat since my heart-rate was starting to slow again. Tanis
was on my shoulder, unquestioningly feeling much better from his
sickness. I kneeled at the base of the spring surrounded by a grove
of rocks. The side to the left was an especially high wall. It
reminded me of the glowing pool near the lodge.

I'd set Tanis down in front of the deep pool,
rubbing my shoulders and glancing around the forest.

Because of the wind it was pretty loud,
noises every direction. I wanted Tanis to hurry because now that I
was away from Ikovos the irrational fears of my nightmare were
beginning to take root. Unfortunately after a few sips Tanis jumped
head-long into the spring, swimming about playfully. He looked like
a mini sea otter.

I smiled at it, but tried to urge him out.
“Okay, come on Tanis. We gotta get back.”

He just ducked further until I furrowed.

“Alright, two minutes.”

The wind flared up again and I looked out
ahead. Then I rubbed my arms and stood up, turning around to
stretch my legs a bit.

As soon as I did a body hit me.

It took me a second to realize who it was,
but the scent . . . I didn't realize he had such a particular
smell. It was rich, spicy, and it made my skin flush even before I
consciously recognized it.

My head was pulled to his neck and his arms
wrapped securely around my body, fingers barely grazing my lower
back.

“Don't
ever
do that again,” said
Jaden. His hold tightened as he did, breath hitting my ear and
causing a significant shudder.

I could barely retain a gasp of emotion.

“What are you
doing
here?”

I knew I should pull back, but the idea of
letting him go now, when I’d thought I’d never see him again. I
moaned, just slightly, then buried my face a little deeper into his
neck. Neither were intentional.

He didn’t back away. He only gripped me
harder.

“That's a
really
stupid
question
.” His lips were closer, another shiver ran down my
neck and through to the base of my spine.

Please. Don’t do this to me, Jaden.

I stiffened and pushed away from him till
there was a good foot between us. Bad idea, now I could see his
eyes. His eyes were worse,
much
worse.

“It's not a stupid question,” I forced,
defensively.”How did you find out?”

This was good. Back away, no more touching,
no more feeling.

“Does it matter?” he asked, darkening, as if
he
were
hurt.
“I can't believe you didn't tell
me.”

“You wouldn't have let me go,” I pointed
out.

“With you I never seem to have much say in
the matter, anyways,” he scoffed, throwing out a hand. I couldn't
tell whether he was kidding, or honestly irritated by the fact.

My chest lifted. It was getting cold
again.

“So you're not going to make me go back?” I
asked it carefully, moving backwards again and a bit to the right
so I wouldn't end up falling into the pond.

He spread his arms out. “Does it look like I
am?”

He was
definitely
irritated by
this
fact. More so than made sense me to me. I mean, I know
Ikovos said he would be angry, but if he wasn't making us go back .
. . what did he have to be mad about? My brow knit with another
confused thought.

“Why are you here then?”

“What are you
talking
about?” he
asked, narrowing immediately. His face was incredulous, bewildered
even.

My eyes tightened. What was
I
talking
about?
He
was the one not making sense.

“I just don't understand,” I started. “It's a
two day trip, and you've, you've got the patrols and the fighting.
I know that there are attacks all the time, things won’t be as safe
if you're not there . . . I just don’t understand why you came all
this way.”

A good argument,
I
was making perfect
sense.

“You think any of that matters in
comparison?” he countered. Brows lifting above smoldering eyes.

My body rushed just at the way he said it, at
the way he was looking at me. I swallowed hard, backing up till my
feet hit the wall, hands flattening against it. “Compar—” I gulped
“—comparison to what?”

He was five feet away. He hadn't moved
forward since I'd begun backing up. He stood rigid and his eyes
were slanted at me, shrouded as usual beneath the dark layers. They
tightened just a fraction, as if they were searching my face for
some missing piece of information.

“Are you really this dense?” he asked.

My head shook slightly, not-conceiving, hands
still braced against the rock.

His gaze set fiercely, and he started moving
towards me. I tried to form a question as to what he was doing.
Soon he was so close I had to close my eyes.

And then kissed me.

My chest hurt and my blood rushed. I know my
brow must have been dipping substantially in confusion.

Just when I thought I might die, he pressed
even harder, wrapping one hand behind my back and pulling me
against him. I couldn’t help but sink into it this time, tingling
all over, my toes doing an uncontrollable pointy thing.

When he finally released I still had my eyes
closed. I could feel his heart pounding heavily past mine, which
was a feat. Somehow my hand gotten up to his chest though.

“Do you understand why I came now?” The voice
made my head swim. Clear and uninhibited. I knew I wouldn’t survive
opening my eyes.

My head bobbed. “Mm-hmm.” Then shook because
this still didn't feel possible to me. “Mnm-mm . . .” My fingers
were absently tracing the grooves beneath his shirt.

I felt the breath of a smile then, maybe at
the fact that I still hadn't opened my eyes.

“Need more convincing?” he asked wryly.

All I got out was a prohibiting moan. I
wouldn't survive more convincing.

He laughed slightly again. “Well, if you just
keep standing there with your eyes closed like that I'm not going
to be able to resist myself.”

The knots in my stomach tightened
further.

Oh, dear, goodness. This isn’t happening.

I tried to take a breath, then ducked my head
back a bit and looked up fuzzily.

He was smirking, one brow raised. But his
eyes. . . . I was sure they were the same ones that I was
constantly trying to steal a glance at . . . but the way they were
resting on me now made it hard to believe.

I stifled another gasp with a bite to my lip.
This was followed by an immeasurable pause.

“Umm . . . did you just?”

“Kiss you.” he finished.

I swallowed, lifting my free hand with a
pointed finger. “Because . . .”

“I love you,” he clarified,
matter-of-factly.

Another shivering breath escaped me. “Oh . .
.” Black spots blurred my vision. I pursed my lips, brow furrowed,
gaze fixed to his chest. I would have thought that this would feel
like a dream, but it didn't, not with him so close.

My eyes turned back up to him. “Aren't you
going to ask me how I feel?”

His lips tightened immediately, as if he were
trying
very
hard to hold back a smile. “I hate to tell you
this honey, but you’re a little obvious.”

Honey, he called me honey.
My eyes
lulled with uncontrollable delight. Then I blinked them clear.

“Obvious?”

“Well, I’m also very perceptive if that makes
you feel better,” he allowed, mouth tipping. Then he brought a
finger up to my face, tracing my bottom lip.

I could hardly breathe.

“You’re perfect at everything,” I
managed.

He laughed at this, then continued with his
finger till my skin, head to toe, was covered in goose bumps.

“You can’t keep doing that,” I breathed,
reaching a hand up to stop him.

He simply readjusted his position unfazed,
lacing his fingers through mine. “Okay.” Then he smiled again,
warmer this time.

I should have been wondering
why
he
was . . . in love with me, but . . . Wait, why
wasn’t
I
wondering that?

I braved meeting his eyes. “I don’t
understand. . . .”

“What’s that?” he asked, moving his gaze to
my hand.

“Well . . .” I swallowed. “What. Why. How.
When?
. . .
Why?
”

He looked back at me with a smirk. “Umm—”

“You’re so much better than me.”

“Not in my opinion.”

“That doesn’t mean it isn’t true.”

“It might as well.”

“No, it doesn—” my brows knit “—wait, maybe
it does. . . .”