Chapter 23
Chapter Twenty-Three
Wedderlie
&
A Vision
Elara was spun around to land in her husband’s arms.
“What did I tell you about going near the forest here? The border of the forbidden land lies just beyond those trees.”
She turned her head toward the woods. “I thought I saw someone there.”
“Where?” he asked anxiously, keeping a hold on her, and turned her around.
“Among the trees,” she said, straining her eyes to see if she could spot the dark figure again.
Dar looked, narrowing his eyes to see if he could make out anyone standing there, but the heavy clouds overhead and dusk not far off made it difficult.
“He could be the man we seek.”
“I doubt it,” Elara said. “This isn’t the first time I saw him.”
“What do you mean?” he asked, turning her to face him.
“I saw him the last time I was here at Dea’s cottage, at least I thought I did but it was a fleeting glance.”
“So, you are not sure you saw anyone, neither now nor then?”
“I would say nay, but it felt real. He—somehow—felt real.”
Annoyance sparked the blue specks in his gray eyes.
“I won’t dare send my men in there. They are fierce Hunters who catch their prey, but they are no match against sorcery.
” He closed his hand around hers. “Come, the dark clouds will soon open and deliver rain. My men fill their bellies at the inn while they wait for me to join them and tell me what they have learned so far. You will tell me later what you and Dea discussed.”
The sharp dictate in his tone had Elara saying, “I understand you command the Hunters, Dar, but you do not command me. I have lived free as an herb-scribe and I will not see that change because I am now a wife, though I will find a way to accommodate that change so it will benefit us both.”
He looked about to argue, his brow narrowing, then he let out a huff and said, “Then I will do the same.”
Elara smiled. “You can be strange at times, demanding one moment and easily surrendering the next.”
He glared at her. “Hunters never surrender.”
“Not true,” she said with a chuckle.
“It is. There is not one Hun—” Dar shook his head. “You refer to Gorman losing his heart to his wife Regina.”
“Proving that what is said about Hunters is not always true.”
“And what is that?”
“That Hunters have no hearts. You have hearts, you just need to open them and feel.”
“Feelings do not serve Hunters well,” he said and stopped at the inn’s door. “There will be no talk of feelings once inside.”
“Later then,” Elara said and opened the door and entered.
The room was filled with talk and laughter, the awkward moments from earlier gone. Bella even wore a smile as she helped the lone servant maid refill pitchers and tankards and deliver platters of endless food that the Hunters devoured in no time.
Elara sat quietly at a small table in a corner where Dar had tucked her while he sat at a table not far from her to speak with his men. She took no offense to it, and besides, they were close enough for her to hear most of what they discussed.
“A wanderer and a seeker came through here as well as two travelers on route to Caerith to see family.”
“No one looked suspicious.”
“The wanderer entertained with tales in exchange for a meal.”
“The seeker annoyed everyone with questions.”
“Who cares why the sun rises as long as it rises.”
“Glad to see him leave.”
Dar listened, hearing much the same from Adelar, the village greeter.
“Maybe this fellow didn’t pass this way.”
Dar was beginning to think the same but there was the one fellow Bella mentioned who inquired about the old paths no longer traveled. Was he one of the travelers or pretending to be?
Then it struck him. Something he had told Elara.
Wanderers avoided Wedderlie. So, what was a wanderer doing here?
“Bella,” Dar called out and the woman hurried over to him. “Did the wander mention where he was going next?”
“Said he was headed south, though where he stopped would be anyone’s guess, since wanderers don’t keep any destination in mind.”
“Had this wander ever stopped here before?”
Bella shook her head. “Nay. He was a rare one. Wanderers don’t usually pass through here, let alone stop and share a tale in exchange for food.”
One of the Hunters raised one of the three pitchers on the table. “Empty.”
Bella grabbed it and hurried off.
The Hunter looked at Dar and lowered his voice. “We hunt the wanderer?”
“It would be wise to speak with him,” Dar said. “Eat and drink. We leave in the morning.” He went to Elara and, seeing she had finished eating, held out his hand to her. “Time to retire for the night.”
Elara took his hand, enjoying the warmth that rushed over her and missing it when he let go so they could climb the narrow staircase to their room.
A decanter of wine and two goblets sat on the small table waiting for them, along with a few honey cakes.
“Bella has been generous with us,” Elara said, not able to resist a sweet honey cake.
Dar filled the two goblets with wine. “I need to find this wanderer and see what truly brought him to Wedderlie, but your task holds just as much importance and cannot be ignored. Is there any place you need to go?”
“I’ve had no visions that points me in a specific direction. I don’t believe this area holds any connection with the healer.”
He listened but barely heard her, his eyes glued to the crumb from the honey cake stuck to her bottom lip. He thought to brush it off, but instead, he leaned down and licked it gently off her lip.
He licked his lips afterward, the honey sweet on his tongue. He couldn’t resist. He leaned down again and kissed her, the sweetness tasting even stronger.
It was an unhurried kiss, one that savored, tempted, sparked desire. One that you could get lost in, linger in, and let loose feelings never felt before.
It ended reluctantly, lips slipping away, returning briefly again and again until Dar finally rested his brow to hers.
He remained silent, not sure what to say or understand what he felt.
Passion was expected. It lingered in him for his wife but there was something different this time, a powerful pull that seemed to come from deep inside.
Her warm, honeyed breath whispered over his face as she said, “I do believe I have fallen in love with you, husband.”
Her words pierced his heart like a sharp blade, digging deep and firm, planting something or releasing something, he wasn’t sure. He only knew it caused no pain, just the opposite, he felt a strange joy spread through him.
He didn’t know what to say, how to respond to her, and yet, words fell from his lips. “I need you.”
A gentle smile touched Elara’s lips as she said, “And I need you, husband.”
Her words continued to dig deep inside him, as if she was planting herself there, taking root, never to leave. He wanted to do the same. Plant himself inside her so he would always be with her. He knew only one way to do that.
He swung her up into his arms and carried her to the bed, placing her on her feet when he reached it. “I want you naked.”
“Aye,” she said, “I was thinking the same as you.”
Their hands fumbled as they hurried to help each other shed their garments. Her hands faintly skimmed his nipples while his fingers tugged at hers. Whispered touches ran over arms and along waists. Her hand roamed over his backside and his hand squeezed hers.
It was when her hand drifted over his shaft and took hold of it that his hands halted in their tracks.
“So hard, yet so smooth to the touch,” she said softly and rested her brow against his chest and looked down to watch as she stroked his shaft.
He shut his eyes and tried to keep control of his passion, let it linger while trying to stay sane. But when her hand tightened around him and tugged, all clarity and control vanished.
He told himself to stop her, but it felt too good and he let out a groan.
Elara never imagined there was such pleasure in touching a man so intimately and yet her passion soared with every stroke and tug as well as his groans.
Her body felt more alive than it ever did, a sensation running through her that caused her to lean against him and rub his shaft against her, hitting the perfect spot that caused an aching moan to rush from her lips.
“Enough,” Dar said, brushing her hand off him and lifting her into his arms to hurry her down on the bed.
He didn’t waste time since there was no time to waste. She needed him inside her and he needed to be there.
“Hurry,” she pleaded.
And he did just that. He hurried inside her, fast and hard and she let out a gasp, then a moan of pleasure.
He rode her fast and furiously, pounding into her again and again, as if needing to go deeper and deeper until he became part of her.
Elara’s hands tightened on his arms, relishing every thrust, wishing it could go on longer but feeling on the edge, feeling ready to explode, and she did. She locked her lips tightly to stifle her roar of pleasure for fear it would echo throughout the inn.
Dar followed right behind her, not caring who heard him as he let out a roar, spilling into her until he didn’t think he had any more seeds left in him. With one last groan, he lowered his head and kissed her gently before slipping off her to lay beside her.
He turned his head, and, a bit breathless, asked, “I was a bit rough. Are you all right?”
She grinned. “I loved every furious thrust.”
He turned on his side, his arm slipping across her waist to rest his hand at the curve just above her hip. His eyes narrowed as his brow creased and he appeared ready to speak, then stopped.
After a few moments, words rushed from his mouth, “You are a good wife.”
Elara stared at him. He sounded like he praised her for being obedient.
He dropped on his back with a mumbling groan, realizing himself how it sounded and offering the only explanation he could. “I am a Hunter.”
She turned on her side to cuddle against him. “And now, a husband, who has told me he doesn’t know how to be one, just as I don’t know how to be a wife.”
His arm went around her. “Yet you praise me with ease.”
“It is easy to say what I feel. What is truthful.”
“How can you love me when I betrayed you?”
“I was angry and bitter as well. I would have never believed you would do that to me. Then I recalled the words that repeatedly fell from your lips… I will keep you safe. You gave everything to keep me safe. You threatened the king, nearly gave your life for me, then surrendered it to marriage.”
“Hunters don’t surrender.”
It was clear what he meant, he wed her because he wanted to.
Elara smiled at the thought and poked him in the chest gently. “I don’t know about that. Only a short while ago, I’d say you surrendered quite willingly.”
“That was satisfaction, not surrender.”
She chuckled and poked him again. “One day you will surrender.”
“Never.”
“A word that is often regretted,” she said with another chuckle. She bounced up. “I want another honey cake and some wine.”
“Stay,” he ordered, slipping out of bed. “I will get us the honey cakes and wine, and you will tell me about your talk with Dea.”
She watched him, admiring the ease and confidence in how he moved, the way his body was defined with muscles, the way he kept his chin up, alert to everything around him.
But it was when he turned and looked at her that he truly captured her heart, she saw love there, whether he realized it or not… she knew her husband loved her.
They ate, talked, drank, laughed, then slept.
The stillness of the night woke her. She was wrapped in her husband’s arms, warm and comfortable. She lay listening to the beat of his heart, strong and steady. She smiled contentedly.
Then she felt it, a vision coming on her and she encouraged it, letting herself slip easily into it.
She stood in a lush forest, not an ounce of fear touched her only contentment.
She turned and there was the ethereal figure, her dark form floating just above the ground.
Elara stared, not able to take her eyes off her.
Like before, she could not see her face, but this time she heard her, a strong whisper in her ear.
“You will not find me. You are not meant to. You are meant to find another who will change the tides of war.”
“Elara. Elara. Wake up, Elara.”
“Go to him. He will be of help.”
Elara was yanked out of the vision with a shake. She opened her eyes to see fear in her husband’s eyes.
“You grew so stiff in my arms, and I could not hear you breathe, for a moment I thought you were dead,” he said, leaning over her.
“A vision,” she said, feeling a bit breathless.
“Tell me,” he urged, and took her in his arms once again, keeping her snug against him and the blanket pulled over them.
She hesitated, thinking about what her vision predicted. If she failed to find the healer, it could mean not only her life but Dar’s as well. But what about the other person she was meant to find that would change the tides of war?
“It does not bode well that you hesitate. Now tell me and be done with it.”
It was a stern warning that she was not to keep anything from him, and she didn’t. She told him exactly what the figure said.
Dar remained silent for a moment, considering what she told him. “Why didn’t she tell us that from the start?”
“I can only guess she thought a warning to stay away, not find her, would be enough, but it wasn’t.”
“Yet this time she tells you that you are meant to find another who will change the tides of war. Why does she tell you this now and not before?”
“A necessity? Or perhaps time grows short? I don’t truly know.”
“Who is this other you are to find? And how will I help you?”
“She didn’t say.”
“Then what good is her message if we don’t even know who to look for. A man? A woman? And where do we start?” Dar asked frustrated.
“Think on what she said, I am not meant to find her but another. The only way I can do that is to continue my search for her. It must be along the way that we find this other person.”
“Everyone must believe we continue to search for the healer, for if word gets back to the king, he will demand our return. And then—”
Elara rested her finger to his lips so he would say no more. “This search goes the way it is meant to go. We continue to search for the healer so we can find the person who changes the tides of war. In the end, the king will be pleased and see our mission succeeded in a different way.”
Dar moved her finger off his lips. “I want to believe that, Elara, I truly do, but the king expects his orders to be followed. And when they aren’t, he is not a forgiving man.”