To Kill a Wizard: Rose's Story (The Protectors of Tarak Book 1) (10 page)

His arms wrapped around me. “Who taught you to be so…”

“Stubborn?” I finished, closing my eyes.

He held me tighter. “No.” His chest heaved with rapid breaths. “Who treated you so cruelly?”

His response shocked me. No one had been cruel to me. It’s just been my father and I for so long. He never struck me, never yelled, but nor did he speak words of love. Never was there a warm pair of arms to hold me against my sadness or loneliness.

None but Sirena’s, and now she was a prisoner.

“You’re trembling,” he said, holding me tighter.

And I was.

My body betrayed me, shook with the pain I refused to acknowledge. But I couldn’t let him think it was in fear, or that I was some victim too afraid to tell the truth.

“No one ever hurt me.” I started, not knowing quite how to begin. “My mother left when I was three, and it destroyed my father. We spent our days in silence. When he wasn’t working our farm, he was drinking and whittling before the fire.”

Asher made a soft sound as he rested his chin on the top of my head, but said nothing.

So I continued, wanting to make sure he completely understood. “We worked alongside each other on the farm. And if I hurt myself, I just worked through it. I needed… I wanted my father to see he could count on me.”

His chin brushed my hair. “Your father should’ve been the one to show
you
he could be counted on. He shouldn’t have allowed his grief to overwhelm his responsibility to care for you.”

I met his steely gaze without thinking. Anger, frustration, and understanding all painted his face. And unlike my father, Asher held nothing back. Everything he felt was right there for me to see.

“So you don’t think,” I paused. Never before had I asked this question of anyone, not even Sirena. Why would I ask it to a man I barely knew? “I was lucky that he didn’t abandon me as some fathers might’ve?”

His mouth curled in disgust. “No. If I’d have been there, I would’ve told him to deal with his grief like a man, and put his child first.”

My heart bled.

I closed my eyes against the tears. Asher didn’t know me or my father. He had no reason to lie to me. And the words he spoke eased a little of the sadness I’d been carrying around for so long. Asher thought I deserved better than my father, so perhaps I did.

“Thank you.”

His eyes were pools glinting beneath the sunlight. ‘You’re welcome.”

He touched my cheek with the pad of his thumb.

The imprint seared into my flesh, heating my entire body.

His eyes darkened, no longer a pool but a well of unspoken feelings. He lowered his head, pausing when his lips almost touched mine.

He waited.

I waited.

And then, he kissed me.

Our breathing stopped. His heart beat in pace with my own. A connection infinitely stronger than the waves of the ocean or the charging of a bull snapped into place.

Our breathing started again. His warm lips pressed against mine, sealing us together forever with a kiss.

He pulled back. His eyes wide. “How did you—?”

I shook my head, curling my hand against my chest to keep from touching him.

He looked away, staring up at the sky. The muscles in his jaw clenched and unclenched. “Can you walk now?”

Energy pulsed through me. My pain had receded, still there, but no longer unbearable. “Yes.”

He stood and set me down. His hands staying around my waist until he seemed confident I wouldn’t fall.

With jerky movements, he ran a hand through his hair. “We should keep going then.”

The gentleness was gone from his voice. Instead, he sounded like a soldier giving an order.

I pushed aside the fluttering in my heart. Had I just imagined it all? That sense of homecoming? Of two halves making a whole?

Of course I had. It’d just been a kiss. My
first
kiss. Nothing more.

We walked on in silence. His back stiff.

As time passed, the walls of rock began to widen and the valley grew. It was no longer a place torn out of the ground, but instead, a place the walls had risen around. Ahead of us, smoke rose above the treetops, disappearing into the fog.

I froze. “Where are you taking me?”

He paused. “To my home.”

“You live
here
?”

“Yes.” He turned around but didn’t look at me; instead, he brushed snow from his white cloak.

I slumped against a tree, glancing around at the inhospitable landscape. “Is it always so cold?”

He ran a hand through his blond hair, giving it the endearing look of someone just out of bed. “The Protectors enchanted this valley, making it forever winter.”

“Then how do you live?”

Using the toe of his booted foot, he kicked at the snow. And I realized, he seemed to be trying to look at anything but me. “There are creatures of unbelievable rarity here, which we capture or kill for trade.”

I frowned. “But who do you trade with?”

Anger sparked in his gaze. “There are no other villages here. Our traders must walk for weeks in order to reach the portal, which the witches
graciously
allow us to use to get to trading towns.”

“You can’t use the portals yourself?”

He stared, hard. “Only people with magic can. I thought everyone knew that.”

Did most people? It seemed like something I’d have heard of. “Well, I didn’t. It was just today that I saw a portal being used for the first time.”

“Really?” his brows rose in surprise. “In most cities, portals are used by whoever can pay the witches to take them through.” He paused, his voice filled with venom. “We even have one in Wintercarve, but we guard it so the witches can’t use it.

The idea that portals ran through the entire kingdom of Tarak, and were regularly used for transportation, shocked me, but I refused to let him see how ignorant I was. “Well, that’s not how it works in our town. No one uses the portal for traveling”

He shrugged. “I’ve heard The Protectors don’t bother to station their people at towns they consider insignificant.”

Duggery was tucked away in the center of a great forest, far from any major road, so he might be right. “That makes sense.”

He stared at me for so long, my brain turned to slush as I tried to think of something more to say. “We better keep going.”

I nodded, strangely disappointed.

“But let me handle things, all right?”

“Handle what?” I asked, confused.

“The only strangers that come here are witches, so we might not get the best reception.” Uncertainty filled his words. “Just stay close to me.”

“Of course.”

We kept walking, and without the strange energy from our kiss coursing through me, my battered body made itself known once more. My steps dragged, slower and slower, until we at last reached the edge of the village. The smell of meat cooking and the sounds of children playing reminded me so keenly of my own village that I paused, surprised by the wave of longing that swept through me.

I kept walking, following him through the snowy paths weaving through the stoutly built wooden buildings. People dressed warmly, in white cloaks of the same soft material as Asher’s, stopped their daily tasks to stare at us as we approached. One man dropped the wood he was holding and rushed into his house, slamming the door behind him. We reached the children playing near the center of town. They took one look at me and ran, cries of fear following them as they did so. My necklace flared to life at my throat, warming the skin and sending me a clear warning.
Be cautious.

“Are you sure it’s all right for me to be here?” I whispered to Asher.

He turned, but didn’t have time to answer.

A giant of a man stepped into our path. His hair was dark and greasy, his eyes as black as coals, and his fists so large they could crush a babe’s head between his palms. He wore little, a tan vest and brown pants, both made from fine leather, but beneath them muscles bulged.

“Asher,” the man greeted, reaching his hands out. A ghost of a smile twisted his face, and then his eyes fell on me. The man’s jaw dropped as my escort clasped his unmoving wrists in a brotherly greeting. “What—What—,” he stuttered, stepping back, “is the
meaning
of this!”

His shout echoed through the town, and was followed by silence.

“Targanus—” Asher began, but the giant didn’t wait for his explanation. He tossed him aside in one fluid motion.

The man was upon me before I could react. His hands wrapped around my throat, tightening until my breathing became labored. The sound of my heart beating filled my ears, and I dug my nails into the back of his hands. He didn’t react, so I gripped his wrists, and pressed my feet against his chest, kicking out.

My struggles made no difference.

“She’s not one of them!” Asher shouted, somewhere behind me.

“Do you think to come here for more
of our women and daughters?” he hissed, relaxing his grip so I could draw in panicked gulps of air. “Were you foolish enough to believe your magic would protect you from our wrath?”

Raspy words fell from my lips. “I’m here for protection, nothing more.”

One of his large brows rose. “Protection from what?”

“The same women you fear,” I said, gasping.

His eyes narrowed, but his grip loosened even more. “We fear no one, no man or woman.”

Asher appeared at the giant’s side. “Chief, she seeks refuge from them. She’s not one of them.”

Targanus pulled me closer. His scrutinizing gaze swept over me, as if the answer to our problem lay in the lines of my face or the flecks of gold swimming in the pale green of my eyes.

“She isn’t marked,” Asher added, as if his words would make all the difference in the world.

Surprise shone in the giant’s eyes. “You truly escaped them?

“Just last night,” I rushed out.

“And you seek refuge from the witches?”

”Only until I’ve healed enough to return to The Glass Castle to save my friend.”

His brows rose. “Only Asher’s been reckless enough to try that… and he failed. So that probably makes you crazy or brave. Not sure which.” His hot breath, smelling of spicy meat, warmed my face as he leaned closer to me. “Where do you hail from?”

I forced the word passed my lips. “Duggery.”

“And does your father or husband wait for you there?”

My heart constricted. “I hope so.”

He let his hands fall from my throat. “He waits for you. Two of my daughters and three of my wives were taken, and I still wait for their return.”

Targanus took a step away from me, but his large hands reached out to grip my upper arms as he inspected me. “How did you escape them?”

I wasn’t sure if I should lie. As far as the world believed, it was rare if not impossible for anyone to have more than minor magic, at such a young age, unless trained by The Protectors. How would I explain that I’d fallen from the bridge but not died? They would have questions. Questions that I couldn’t answer. I could show them my necklace, but even I didn’t entirely understand how it worked.

“I ran. Escaped.” I swallowed several times, trying to get the words around the sensation of sand lining my throat. “But one of them shattered the bridge, and I fell down into this valley.”

He pulled me closer. “You fell from
the bridge
?”

“I saw her where she’d fallen,” Asher added, watching the exchange between Targanus and myself with a frown.

The giant took this new information in slowly. And while he stood, brows drawn in thought, I could sense the gazes of the various villagers who had somehow come to gather around us without me noticing. They regarded me with a strange mixture of suspicion and wonder, as if I was a creature they’d never seen before.

But they were also strange to me. I’d never seen such an odd mix of different kinds of people in one place before. Some were blonde, as most of the people in Tarak were, but there were also people with red, brown, and even black hair. Some were shockingly tall, while others were short, like most of the people in my village. How had so many people different people come together in one place?

“They must have wanted you alive for some reason,” Targanus said, releasing my arms and rubbing his chin. “But, let’s hope we never find out why.” He wrapped one arm around my shoulders and looked out towards the villagers. “We’ll hide her in The Safe-Haven, and hope they’re not fool enough to come looking for her here.”

His constant touching bothered me, but I tried not to react, just in case it insulted him. Even so, his arm around my shoulders felt strangely possessive. And I knew, had my father been there, he’d have thrown it off. My father barely noticed my existence, but would’ve reacted to this man, who sorely lacked proper boundaries.

“I found her,” Asher said, standing up straighter. “I’ll guard her there.”

I swallowed hard, trying to form words to tell the men what
I
wanted, but even swallowing hurt. Tentatively, I touched my throat. My fingers came up damp, and I stared down at the blood coating them. Goddesses’ breath. The giant had opened the wounds at my throat with his grip.

Targanus laughed, drawing my attention. “You’re but a
boy
. A woman of such value deserves a protector like myself.”

Asher reached for the sword at his belt. “The goddesses delivered her to me.” He took a step towards us. “And besides, you’re the chief. Shouldn’t you prepare the others in case of attack? Shouldn’t you be here to protect your
wives
?”

I barely had time to react to the strangeness of a place that allowed multiple wives for one man, because a more important scene unfolded. Their eyes locked in a silent battle of wills. A warning rung in my head that the two were challenging one another, and I looked to the villagers for help. Most were men, and most were grinning. But one woman, with muddled-brown hair and dark circles beneath her eyes chewed her bottom lip as she gripped the edge of her cloak.

“I’d prefer Asher’s protection,” I rasped, even as Targanus tightened his grip around my shoulders. “I believe the goddesses delivered me into his hands for a purpose.”

The brown-haired woman relaxed noticeably, and took a step towards us. “The girl has spoken, and there isn’t time to waste. If they kept her alive, they’re sure to come searching for her.”

Targanus chuckled and pushed me towards Asher, who caught me before I fell. “Fine, the boy shall protect her.” He smiled at Asher. “But, if he should fail to keep such a pretty thing safe, I will.”

My spine stiffened, and I leaned closer to Asher. Only a few men had looked at me the way Targanus did, and I was even gladder I’d sided with the younger man.

“Let’s go,” Asher said, pulling me along, his movements quick, but stiff.

As we walked, his comforting hand lingered at the small of my back. I felt small, yet safe, beside him. The similarities and differences between the two men was hard to ignore. Asher was nearly as tall as the giant man, taller than I’d first observed, but less than half his bulk. And his touch… made tiny sparks go off inside me.

“Asher!” I turned to see the brown-haired woman scurry towards us. “Take these with you,” she said.

He dropped his hand from my back and took the large bundle of cloths into his arms.

“And be careful, I won’t sleep well until you return home to me,” she murmured, standing on her tiptoes to drop a tender kiss on his cheek before scurrying away.

He blushed and turned his back, continuing to walk to some unseen destination, past the many houses. I followed slower, looking back at the brown-haired woman as she disappeared inside a small, thatched-roofed house. She was a little older than him, but enviously petite, and lovely in a simple way. He hadn’t mentioned another sister. Could the woman be his wife?

Perhaps that’s why he reacted so strangely after our kiss.

Annoyance flashed through me. Any proper man would’ve mentioned a wife when meeting a young woman. And certainly before kissing her.

Asher cleared his throat. “Here we are.”

We’d stopped at the edge of the houses, near a patch of stunted trees.

“Where are we exactly?” I questioned, frowning at the ground.

He moved closer to me, but I avoided his gaze. “Take this and I’ll show you.”

Asher pressed the bundle into my arms, lingering a moment longer than necessary before stepping away once more. I struggled with the urge to drop the woman’s gift onto the ground, but instead, studied him as he knelt. His fingers dug into the snow. A soft “twang” sounded, and he pulled open a hatch of sorts, opening into darkness. He said nothing, but swung his legs down into the opening, and pushed off of the earth, dropping from sight.

I ran to where he’d been standing only a moment before, dropping the bundle in the snow as I stared into the hole. My heart thumped in my chest, as I squinted, searching for any sign of him.

“Drop the bundle down here,” he called to me from the darkness.

I obeyed.

“Now you.”

There were few things I hated more than dark places underground, but Asher was waiting for me. And it wasn’t like I was going to be alone…

“I need to go down there?” I asked, drawing out my time in the sunlight.

“Yes. You still want a hiding place, right?” Laughter tinged his voice.

Swallowing, I took a deep breath, and dropped down.

I imagined a number of things when I fell, but I didn’t expect the warm arms that caught me.

I clung to him. The smell of wood and earth filled my nostrils, seeming to rise up from his hard flesh. I couldn’t see his face in the darkness, but an unexpected feeling of belonging flowed through me. My hands relaxed against his shoulders.

A warning bell rang in my head. I was in the dark with a stranger, and yet, instead of being afraid, I wanted this moment to last forever. In the real world, I was being hunted by women who wanted me captured or dead. And rather than running further from them, I was going to rest just long enough to return to them, to rescue Sirena. There was a good chance this moment might be the best one I had for a very long time.

Asher lowered me inch by inch until my feet touched the earth. “That wasn’t so bad, was it?” he asked, his voice so hoarse that I trembled at the sound of it.

“No,” I stammered, my palms sliding a little further down his chest even as I willed my hands into fists. “Not so bad.”

His breath was warm on my lips.

Tingles spread through my body.

His lips lowered, until they were inches from my own. His chest trembled beneath my touch. Then, I remembered the brown-haired woman from his village, and pulled away.

It must have been his startling good looks, I told myself, that made me act so out of character. Each moment I spent with him, even in the darkness, I found myself wanting to know more about him. To feel his strength beneath my hands again, and perhaps even to learn his weaknesses.

But this was not to be. He was handsome beyond words, and if the woman wasn’t his wife or lover, then he likely had some other woman in the village. Besides, no man wanted a woman who was as tall and strong as a man.

I ran my fingertips along the thick calluses on my hands. No, I was not the kind of woman men feel in love with, especially not men like Asher. So I’d seal away such treacherous feelings and concentrate on what was important.

“What is this place?” I asked, crossing my arms over my chest.

A moment later, a torch flared to life in Asher’s hand. He circled the room, lighting multiple torches as he went. When at last he finished, the room was bathed in light.

Room, perhaps, was a strong word. It was simply a giant hole, with large, wooden boxes filling half the space, and multiple pallets lying on the floor. Two strong, wooden pillars prevented the dirt roof from crushing us.

“We got tired of the witches stealing our women, so we dug out this space.” He strode across the room, brushing past me to where some groves had been carved into the wall. Using these, he climbed up to our entrance and closed it, sealing us in our dirt home. “It took us a long time, but we finally finished it. You’ll be the first one to use it though.”

“Are you sure they won’t find me here?”

He jumped down. “We aren’t sure how their magic works, but we hope this will be enough.”

Asher was too close to me, so I maneuvered around him to touch the groves on the wall. “Why didn’t we just use these to climb down?”

“It wouldn’t have been nearly as much fun.”

I blushed, remembering his arms around me. “Is Targanus in charge here?” I asked, searching for a reprieve from my thoughts.

“Yes,” he answered, kneeling down and unwrapping the bundle from the woman who’d kissed him. “He’s not so bad. Only, I knew he’d be a problem when we came here. He has a weakness for beautiful women.” Asher mumbled the last part, and I was glad he didn’t see my blush darken.

He thought I was beautiful? No one thought I was beautiful. Men wanted petite women, with blonde hair, and skin as pale as cotton. Wives with permanent smiles on their faces, and laughter like music.

The very opposite of me.

“So, why’d we come here?” I asked, struggling for something to say.

The cloth came apart, revealing meats, cheeses, bread, and pouches of liquid. “Because, this was our only shot at keeping you safe.” He spread the cloth out on the dirt, and reached for my hand. “Besides, I wouldn’t have let him have you.”

I ignored his hand, but sat down beside him, flinching as I adjusted myself more carefully on the ground.

“Where does it hurt?” he asked, frowning and handing me a pouch.

I opened it slowly, taking deep breaths. As my adrenaline faded, pain grew. “It doesn’t.”

“I don’t believe you.”