Claire covered a long, almost exaggerated yawn as she walked down the dim hallway, dressed in a pair of dark brown slacks and an olive green wrap around shirt donated by one of the staff. It seemed only her boots had been salvageable.
Not being able to sleep for most of the night had its consequences. The elf would have to pay. She couldn’t get him out of her mind. Why did he have to go and do all that anyway? Her mind was already a mess with everything else going on. A shiver ran through her body as she remembered their little swim the day before. She was just as confused by her own reaction, and after mulling over it for the entirety of the night she still couldn’t come to terms with it. It wasn’t until late last night that she finally decided to shelve the problem. She’d just have to deal with it when she saw him. Tell him that she was delusional. That she swallowed too much water. Or her favorite: exploring the benefits of self-torture.
A smile crept its way across her lips as she stretched her arms out around her. Most of the bruises and aches had amazingly faded, and although she was still a little stiff, she finally felt more like herself than she had in days. Or was that weeks? She really wasn’t sure how much time had passed since she ran away from Rodem. In any case, she was finally better, except for the bandage still wrapped around her right forearm. She still wasn’t quite ready to see the damage that had been done by the General’s blade.
Tired of seeing her tiny room, she’d decided to explore. This time she turned right down the hallway. A small circular room stood before her, similar to the one at the other end of the hall. A bouquet of fresh red flowers in a white vase sat atop a little round table in the middle. Open doors led to the outside, letting in the fresh air and sunshine and the occasional bird cry, followed by a pair of voices approaching rapidly.
Her pulse jumped. She knew that voice and it was coming closer. Not ready to deal with her problem just yet, she took a deep breath and ducked behind a long green curtain framing the entrance to the hallway, pressing her back against the wall to keep in the shadows.
“You seem to be in a pleasant mood today.” Maria’s voice came strolling in through the doors followed by silence, but she knew that cocky look was plastered on his face. “Has Sarah finally confessed her love for you?”
“Maria, I’m not the type of person your daughter should get involved with.” There was a hint of amusement to the elf’s voice.
Maria sighed. “Probably, but it would keep you out of trouble.”
“I’m afraid trouble finds me.”
Claire clenched her jaw to suppress her urge to protest. Was he talking about her? She peeked through an opening at the duo. A light gray shirt with the sleeves rolled up to the elbow was a refreshing change to his usual black get-up. Although gray may not have been too much of an improvement, it was still a step in the right direction. Maria’s deep burgundy dress contrasted beautifully against her light skin, making her freckles stand out even more.
“I thought you quit that way of life,” Maria said.
“I did.” The elf bent over the bouquet of flowers to smell them before he plucked one out of the vase. “But it’s catching up to me faster than I can think.”
“You know you’ll always have a place here.” She took his hand in hers with a troubled look on her face. “I could help you, you know.”
“You’ve been more than enough help already.” He handed her the flower.
“It’s that girl, isn’t it?”
He simply smiled and turned back to the table to pick another flower. Claire could feel the heat rise to her cheeks. It seemed Maria wasn’t a big fan of hers either.
“I saw that strange mark on her hand.” She touched his arm, the look on her face a little more urgent. “You know I don’t usually ask, but is it worth it?”
Farron paused, seemed to consider her question and then grinned. “We’ll see.” He straightened up and turned to the hallway across from Claire.
Maria sighed and brought the single red flower up to her nose for a moment before she chased the elf down.
Claire let out a long breath and collapsed back against the wall. It was a relief they’d decided to go down the other hallway. If they hadn’t her presence would have easily been discovered, and eavesdropping was never a well-looked upon practice, no matter where you were from. She had gotten a little bit of a teaser about the elf’s past, though, however puzzling it still was. And foreboding. She wasn’t sure she liked the part that involved her.
With another peek around the curtain to make sure they were gone, she sprinted toward the door to the outside. The sun shone brightly in the middle of the sky, its rays filtered through the broad canopy of green leaves overhead. She stopped on the balcony, tilted her head up, and closed her eyes to breathe in the warm fragrant air.
Her hand found the handle of the new dagger strapped around her waist. She missed the familiarity of her mother’s. Now her only memento of home was the small circlet of metal that dangled around her left wrist. She shook her head to keep unnecessary thoughts from entering her mind and descended the stairs on the left to a dirt path that led into the sea of trees. A walk would do her good.
The sound of a faraway bird singing teased at her ears as she made her way down the narrow trail. She combed her fingers through her hair and began to braid the long brown locks over her left shoulder, the process made a little more difficult with the bandage still on her right arm. The day was calm and peaceful and she reveled in every second of it.
What would happen to her now? Where would she go? It seemed unlikely that they’d stay at this place for Aeron to find them. For that matter, she was stuck at Farron’s mercy once again. Although his intentions seemed good, could she really trust the elf? Or, more realistically, did she even have a choice?
A hand suddenly grabbed her right arm and pulled her off the path to the side. Claire gasped, her heart threatening to escape her chest. Her hand automatically reached for the dagger at her side, but she stopped when she saw her would-be attacker.
“Hey.” Farron beamed as he locked his hands behind her back to trap her in place. He leaned back against a fallen tree, bringing him down to eye level.
Hadn’t he just been inside? How did he do that? Heat surged through her body and she looked away from the elf to hide her embarrassment. “Why do you do that?”
“Do what, my lady?” He sounded amused already.
“Shorten my lifespan.” She put her hands on his shoulders and began to push away.
He chuckled softly; his grip tightened around her waist. “You’ve been rather hard to find lately.”
It was true that she’d been avoiding him, even going so far as to eat dinner in her room. She just wasn’t sure how to act around him. Even now she felt awkward.
“You know, eavesdropping isn’t very nice, Claire.”
Claire looked at him finally, eyes wide in surprise. He knew? “I didn’t mean to…” Her throat tight, she looked down.
“I guess I can forgive you this time.”
The flower from earlier appeared before her and she looked back up at him. She took it tentatively. “Thank you.” She smelled it before examining the petals a little too closely. “And thank you for the dagger as well.” There— she got that out of the way, at least.
“Well, we can’t have you running around without any way to defend yourself. I believe I once heard someone say that a girl can’t always wait for a knight in shining armor to save her.” He grinned as his hand wandered back to her waist again. “And it looks like they’ll run out of knights and armor at the rate you’re going. It’s a good thing I’m here.”
Good old trusty anger started to simmer at the bottom of her stomach. Even now he teased her. “Well, if I’m such a burden to you…” She started to push away from him again.
“Claire.” He slid his arms around her waist and pulled her closer to him. His face grew more serious. “Things might get a little hectic and there’s a lot that you don’t know yet…” He paused for a moment lik
e he was searching for the right words. “And I know I haven’t given you much reason to trust me, but I’ll be here for you if you want me to be. I’m no knight in shining armor.” He took her hand in his, raised it to his mouth and kissed it, his lips light as a feather against her skin. He peered up at her, ice blue eyes as serious as day. “But I’ll protect you the best that I can.”
Claire gulped and the annoyance inside her dissipated. Was this the fabled charm finally rising to the surface? It may not have been pretty or dressed up with fancy words, but it was quite possibly one of the sweetest things anyone had ever said to her; man, elf, or General.
With a heartstring officially pulled, she leaned in and kissed him on the forehead. “Thank you.” The words barely escaped her throat in a whisper and were the only ones she could think of at the moment.
He tilted his face up, his lips hovering close to hers.
Claire hesitated, her breath coming out in short quivering bursts. She knew if she kissed him now there would be no turning back. He’d laid himself out on the line, exposing a chink in his impenetrable armor, and was leaving it up to her whether or not to pry it open. But could she give herself to someone else again? Did she even want to? She was still reeling from her last heartbreak, still trying to sort out her own feelings. Would he understand if she said no, or would he close up completely and leave her there? Too many questions swirled inside her head, tangling together in an almost indecipherable mess. She could feel him tense up the longer she waited, closing up, drawing away.
Abandoning thought, her body leaned in those last precious inches and took the plunge. Her hands gripped the sides of his face tightly, fingers digging into silky hair as her lips pressed against his. His hands tightened on her waist.
It wasn’t that she hated him. Not at all— but everything was happening so fast, she just wasn’t quite sure how she felt about him. However, her body told a different story. It shivered at his touch and all but begged for more. His kisses weren’t half bad either. No, scratch that, they were utterly intoxicating. It was downright lust taking over and she was helpless to stop it. And wasn’t so sure she wanted to either. He was stunning and they both knew it. She’d just been too stubborn to admit it.
Her hands slid down to his shoulders, the flower now long gone and forgotten, while one of his slid down her waist and down to the gentle curve of her behind. Claire pulled away sharply, eyes going wide.
“Sorry, my hand slipped,” he said, amused, and removed said hand. “I must still be thinking about yesterday.”
Claire could feel the heat rise to her cheeks again. His overconfidence drove her wild sometimes, in a bad way and, oh no, in a good way. His mouth found hers again, and his hand stayed faithfully at her waist while the other decided to explore more northerly territory as it slid its way up her side and over her shoulder. It finally came to rest just above the bandage on her right arm. Fingers tugged gently at the tightly wrapped fabric. Claire pulled back again and snatched her arm away to hide it behind her back.
Farron returned her look of surprise with one of his own. “What’s wrong? Did it not heal yet?”
Claire studied the elf, her eyes narrowing a little as her mind rose back to the surface. “What do you want with me?”
He was taken aback. She hadn’t meant to be so blunt, but she had to know. Especially after the last debacle. The list of people she could rely on had shrunken considerably in the past few days, although he was one of the few still on it, much to her surprise. But if he wasn’t loyal to Aeron or the Elvin king, then who exactly was he working for? His intentions weren’t exactly clear, and all of this could just be a ruse to help gain her trust. It was probably time she took his advice about treading the waters more carefully; she was in deeper than she liked and the water was rising fast.
“You don’t have to show me if you don’t want to.” He tried to hide his disappointment with a smile.
Claire took a deep breath. “When are you going to tell me? I need to know what I got myself into.”
A series of emotions played over his face before he settled on her favorite, cocky grin and all. “Claire, I’m still trying to get you to like me.”
“What makes you think you’re any good for me?” She remembered what he said about Maria’s daughter.
“I’m not,” he admitted. “But you’re not any good for me either.”
She repressed the urge to hit him. Who knows, maybe the damn elf was right. With a deep breath, she asked, “Can I trust you?”
“I really want you to, Claire.”
She studied his face for a moment, his eyes holding hers patiently, calmly. Finally, she sighed and held her bandaged arm up between them. She might as well. Who else did she have?
A slight tension eased out of the elf before he took her arm. His fingers worked fast on the tightly wrapped cloth. It was about time she faced the truth and see the damage that had been done.
A pink scar bisected the intricate mark, starting on her hand and trailing past her wrist to end halfway up her forearm. The thin dark lines on either side were uneven and mismatched.
Farron traced a finger along the scar lightly. “Does it hurt?”
“Sometimes,” she said, her eyes resting on her arm. “Do you think it still works?”
A brief flash of surprise crossed over his face. “I don’t know, but it’d probably be wise to avoid large felines for the time being.”
“You’re not funny.”
She watched him as he examined the mark more thoroughly. Worry slowly started to fill his eyes, his careful mask betraying him, and Claire’s stomach sank. She swallowed hard, the realization hitting her like a ton of bricks.
“You knew all along, didn’t you? What I am, what this is…”
He looked up at her, eyes slightly wide.
She waited. If he really wanted to start winning her over, he was going to have to start telling her the truth, even if she didn’t like what she would hear.
“Yes,” he said and looked down. “That’s why I volunteered to go on the mission. I knew I had to get you away from them somehow. I still don’t know exactly what the forest elves want with you. I can guess though.” He looked back up at her, the worry gone, replaced by a fierce spark. “Claire, I wasn’t lying when I said I wasn’t the worst person to get their hands on you. I was able to rescue you from the General and his little friend, but now that they know what you are capable of, they won’t just let you slip away. And they’re not the only ones. There are people far more dangerous than those two that’ll come after you. People that not even I can protect you from. People that would kill me to get to you.”
“What?” Claire’s knees weakened. The water just rose above her head. “Those men, that hired the thieves?” she asked, remembering.
“Yes,” he said solemnly. “I don’t suspect they’d give up so easily.”
“They know what I am?”
He nodded. “Better than I do, I’m afraid.”
Her head spun with all the new information.
“I know you are worried about your mother, but she did send you away that night for a reason. She wanted you to be safe. It might be best to lay low for a while, at least until things die down a little bit.” He gave her a hopeful smile. “Don’t worry, Fran always keeps her word and she’s good at what she does. I’m sure she’ll find your mother, or at least a lead.”
She was speechless. The weight of his words crushed her, leaving her almost petrified. She was in far deeper than she could have imagined. Her stomach twisted in knots. She wished she could get mad at him, for not telling her this, for still keeping some things from her, for getting her into this mess in the first place, but she couldn’t. He was probably her only ally at the moment— that is unless, he was planning on using her himself.
He gripped her shoulders tight, bringing her back to the present. “I’ll try my best to keep you out of the wrong hands, Claire. That is, if you let me. I understand if you want nothing to do with me, but ple
ase let me at least do this. I’m sorry I lied to you. I just thought that it would be easier to protect you, the less you knew. You’ve already been through so much, I… I know how much you just want to return to your old life, but—”
“That’s not possible now…” she completed his sentence. Grim reality settled in. Although she’d always known in the back of her mind that it wasn’t possible, it was an entirely different matter when it was staring her right in the face. “Why are you doing this? Why are you willing to help me?”
“I should have let you go that night in the forest.” His grip tightened on her shoulders. “But I couldn’t. I knew that if someone else were to find you… what they would do with you. I know what it’s like to be used. I thought that if I could save you from that, I could make up for some of the things I’ve done in my past.” He took a deep breath and looked down again. “I ran away from my problems, my past, my life, but you gave me purpose again. I am sorry for getting you into all of this and for lying to you, but I do not regret it. I don’t regret meeting you.” He brought her hand up to his lips and kissed it, soft and lingering. “I don’t want to see you get hurt again, Claire.”
It took her a moment to remember how to breathe again. She didn’t know what to say after all that. What could she?
“And I believe I still owe you a giant feline.”
And a good old fashioned beating, she wanted to add, but didn’t. Her new powers would surely make his offer to beat him up all the more satisfying. But then again, he might enjoy that too much now…
“This place, we’re safe here. No one would attack a Haven, unless they were desperate enough. But we can’t stay.”
“Why not?” That seemed like a good enough plan to her.
“I can’t endanger Maria like that, not after all the help she’s given me over the years. A Haven is a place for healing and for rest. It’s not a place for fighting.”
“Then where?”
He shrugged and ran a hand down his face.
“Where were you bringing me before? Do you know?”
“Uru Baya, far in the northern Solinian Mountain range. There was an Elvin elder there that had been alive back in the age of magic. They thought he would be able to tell them what you are…” he paused and searched her face, “and how to use you.”
She swallowed, though she was not surprised. “Was?”
“No one’s heard from him in years.”
“Why don’t we go there?” Maybe she could find some answers out for herself.
He raised an eyebrow. “It’s deep in the mountains, Claire. Not only is it very cold, but it’s also very high. And I don’t think you’d be very fond of either. Besides, there’s no guarantee the elder would even still be there, or help us.”
“Oh.” She looked down, trying hard to think, but she didn’t know the region well enough to make any suggestions. “It seems that once again I am at your mercy.”
“You make it sound like it’s a bad thing, Claire.”
“It is. Who knows what you’re going to do with me, where you’ll take me. At least make it somewhere nice. With a bath, and a nice soft bed. If I’m going to be hiding, I might as well be comfortable.”
“I think I know just the place.” A slight smirk slid across his mouth and a pang of dread shot through her stomach.
She eyed him carefully, hoping his idea of a nice place didn’t include another city full of brothels and gambling.
“So tell me, Claire, how’s your green thumb?”
Uh oh, she wasn’t sure she liked where this was going already. Hard manual labor didn’t sound very appealing either.
“Just remember, Farron, I can take you up on your offer at any moment.”
He just laughed, but she could have sworn she saw a hint of fear. A teeny tiny hint, but it was enough.
~*~
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