Whisper of War and Storms (Heirs of Elydor #1)

Chapter 15

15

MEV

Of all the times I should have run, Kael unbraiding my hair made the top of the list. One second, he’d been talking to me as if we weren’t opposite sides of a coin that, once tossed into the air, could not have two winners. The next, he’d been right behind me.

The second I realized what he intended, I knew .

Knew in the same way I knew I had no choice in The Crooked Key’s basement but to touch that portal.

Knew in the same way, from the second I met Lord Draven, that he was dangerous.

It was as if some invisible force inside me pulled me toward the answer. As to the question of, “What is Kael doing?” that force told me, “Discovering the truth.”

It happened much more quickly than I expected. Too quick to properly formulate a plan, as if one could be formulated when the guy who’d kidnapped you could hear vibrations in the ground. Could kill a person as easily as I could tell the difference between a whisper and a shout.

Sitting here, huddled inside myself, knees pulled to my chest, getting Isolde’s too-snug outfit wet with my tears, was not the kind of plan I had in mind. When he touched me, I flinched. Lifting my head, finding Kael seated next to me, I waited for the hand on my back to move toward restraining my wrists again.

Incredibly, that never happened.

Instead, Kael pulled me toward him. His other hand laid my head half on his shoulder and half buried it into his chest. The unexpected gesture, after what he just discovered, made me cry even more. I held on as if this wasn’t my enemy but a friend. Someone who might feel badly that I’d gotten plucked from the world I knew into one I hadn’t known existed. Someone who was tired and hungry and scared.

So fucking scared.

Even now, wrapped in his arms, as Kael whispered, “Shhh,” and “All will be well,” I wondered if it was some kind of ploy to break me down before he delivered the killing blow. But at this very second, I didn’t care.

“We are enemies,” I sobbed, thinking maybe he’d figured out the rest of it, but not that part.

“I know.”

Now Kael stroked my head. That he was capable of such a gesture surprised me most.

“He told me,” I added. “Just before I stepped through, Jon told me about… about your father. When I realized who you were…”

Kael never answered. Eventually, the pain in my chest became a dull ache, the realization that he wasn’t going to kill me—at least not yet—sunk into my brain. Of course Kael wouldn’t kill me before he took me to his father so they could interrogate me first.

“That was smart.”

Sniffling, I lifted my head. Wiping my cheeks with the back of my hands, I brought my gaze to his.

“It was smart, not to tell me your name.”

I thought that was what he’d said. “Do bitter enemies usually compliment each other in your world?”

“Not usually.”

He didn’t deny the fact that we were bitter enemies, though.

“Do they usually let them cry into their shoulders?”

Now that I’d stopped, the fact that we sat so close our legs still touched, that his hand was still on my back, was difficult to ignore.

“We are bitter enemies, right?”

“We are, indeed.”

Loquacious, as usual.

“Then why haven’t you bound my wrists, thrown me onto Stormbreaker’s back, and rode toward your father with me yet?”

Kael looked at my face as if he were memorizing my features.

“Because if I bind your wrists and throw you anywhere, it will be onto my bed.”

As if he didn’t just say that , Kael jumped up as quickly as he’d joined me in the first place.

“We will camp here tonight.”

He seemed almost to say it for himself and not for me. I only heard him because I’d been staring at his lips. Kael had very kissable lips.

As if in a trance, I watched him prepare a camp, as he had the first time. Maybe it wasn’t my place to mention it, since he’d kept me alive and all, but curiosity got the better of me.

“You don’t seem to be blending the shelter as well as last time.”

Not surprisingly, that earned me a look, but not much else.

Because if I bind your wrists and throw you anywhere, it will be onto my bed.

Not once had Kael hinted that he thought of me as anything more than a captive, a puzzle that had to be solved. Not seriously, at least. Between his gentle treatment of me and that comment, I honestly didn’t know what to think.

I watched him care for Stormbreaker, as gently as he had cared for me.

“Kael?”

No answer. That was really annoying.

“Kael?”

He’d started making a fire.

I jumped up, walked to him, and stood close enough that he could not ignore me.

“Prince Kael.”

He turned. “Yes, princess?”

I forgot my question. He looked down at me, jaw set, eyes narrowed, and frankly? The guy was terrifying. But also mesmerizing in a “he could kill me with one swipe of his hand” sort of way.

“One of my BJJ professors told me that if someone disrespected me, the question wasn’t, ‘How should I respond?’ but instead, ‘What environment did I create that made that person think disrespect was okay?’”

If he understood my meaning, Kael wasn’t letting on.

“In other words, I must have given you the impression it’s acceptable not to respond to me.” Thinking harder on this, I was pretty sure the advice didn’t apply to situations where you’d been kidnapped by someone with magic. But still… I was going with it. “In case you were wondering, it’s not. I seem to remember we had this discussion already, too.”

“Yes,” he acknowledged, “we did.”

“And?”

“And you need a bath.” Stalking past me, he added, “We both do.”

We’d ridden like bats out of hell and now he wanted to make camp, in the light of day… and take a bath?

“Wait a second.” I began to follow him to the lake’s edge. Surely he didn’t mean to do what I thought…? Kael leaned down and began to remove one of his boots. “Aren’t there people chasing us? I tell you who I am and your response is to make camp and?—”

My words were cut short as Kael moved from his boots to his leather gambeson. At least, that was what it looked like to me, though I’d admit battle armor was not really my forte. I didn’t need to guess if he intended to disrobe in broad daylight, in front of me.

Though his back was to me, the second he removed his shirt, I no longer had to wonder if he was as muscled as I’d imagined. Swallowing at the sight of him, I gathered my wits with just enough time to turn away. A few minutes later, after hearing a splash, I turned back around. Sure enough, his trousers were sitting in a heap on top of the rest of his clothing.

“Are you naked in there?”

Dumb question.

“Do you bathe with your clothes on?” he asked.

So many responses to that…

“Well, I don’t usually bathe in a lake, first of all.”

Without acknowledging my comment, he disappeared under the water. When Kael came back up, he slicked his wet hair back. I was about to move closer when I remembered how clear the water was. I’d be able to see everything.

“Second of all?”

“Oh, so you did hear me?”

“I always do. You haven’t given me permission to disrespect you, Mevlida. As I said before, I’m not a man of many words.”

I nearly blurted “Why?” but that felt too intrusive. Too personal. Instead, I said, “Second of all, I don’t like cold water.”

“It’s not cold.”

Even at this time of year? I supposed it made sense, since the air was more like an early summer’s day than one at the start of spring, at least where I lived.

“Third of all, you are naked.”

He actually smiled. “As we’ve established. I forgot how prudish humans could be.”

Did he just call me a prude? “I am not a prude.”

“But you find offense with the naked form?”

I found the opposite with Kael’s naked form, from what I saw, but that wasn’t the point.

“So Elydorians just run around naked with strangers?”

“We’re not running, nor are we strangers.”

“Now you’re pretending not to understand my figures of speech?”

Kael looked as if he wanted to throttle me.

If I bind your wrists and throw you anywhere, it will be onto my bed.

I turned away before he could read my expression. Looking at him, at Kael’s naked chest, and thinking of what he’d said… nope. No can do.

“First of all,” I heard him say, repeating my words. “I didn’t camouflage or shield our shelter because I don’t want to hide our whereabouts. Second, I know you humans wash yourselves often, as we do, and this might be the last lake we come across for days. Third of all, I am getting out now so you can come in, but you might not want to turn around.”

“Why don’t we want to hide our whereabouts?” I asked as water splashed behind me. Willing myself not to move even an inch, I stood as still as a statue.

No peeking. He would be even more incorrigible if I did.

“I’ll explain after your swim. We have much to discuss before we’re discovered, Mevlida.”

It was weird to hear him call me that. No one used my full name but my mom. Oddly, from him, I didn’t mind it. Usually I hated my real name. It was so… different.

“Mev,” I said. “My friends call me Mev.”

“So not Mia, but Mev.” His voice was directly behind me.

I spun around before my brain could register that he couldn’t have possibly gotten dressed that quickly. And he hadn’t. Kael wore only his tight trousers that were more like leggings than pants. I was intimately familiar with them, their backside especially. And now the rest of him was bare and glistening with droplets of water.

He was magnificent.

“No, not Mia,” I squeaked out.

“Princess.” His eyes dropped to my lips. “Mev.”