10. The ley line
The ley line
I solde kept to herself the next morning.
She had barely slept, Felix’s harsh words replaying over and over in her head.
She thought they were getting along, that he was warming up to her.
He’d called her brilliant . Her cheeks heated at the memory.
But when she had displayed a little reluctance and doubt, he had been so dismissive.
Did he expect her to be as strong and decisive as he was, now that she was using her magic? She didn’t think that was very fair.
The weather shifted, mirroring her mood. The stark blue sky was covered by a blanket of gloomy grey clouds. They rode in near silence that day, and Felix let Ranger fall well behind the group, isolating himself. Isolde never turned around, but his eyes were on her back all day.
That evening, once they’d set up camp, Felix left without a word and wandered off into the twilight.
“What’s with him?” Luella asked nobody in particular.
Garren shrugged and threw a branch into the fire. “Probably bored.”
Isolde doubted it was that. More likely, he was avoiding her. She sighed, then got up as well.
“I… I am going for a short walk. I won’t go far; I need some air. ”
Garren glanced to where Felix had gone, and his face darkened slightly. Luella merely nodded.
Isolde made it a point to head in the opposite direction.
Her legs carried her aimlessly until she stood at the edge of a low rise.
Fading sunlight was still visible through the clouds in the west. She needed to breathe, to think.
Her magic tingled on her skin, at her fingertips, like a living thing wanting to escape.
She soon had a handful of small stones swirling around her in circular patterns. It was soothing, almost.
“Hey.”
She jumped, and the rocks scattered, sparks flying wildly through the air. Felix stood a few paces back, arms raised, warding off the ricocheting pebbles.
“Ouch,” he said with a disarming grin. “Should have known better than to startle you.”
“Felix,” she breathed.
“I just wanted to make sure you were alright.”
“I’m fine.” She tilted her head at him. The sparks faded out. She hadn’t meant to sound so cold, but the voice of her governess echoed in her mind: “Keep your feelings to yourself, Isolde. Nobody likes overly emotional ladies.”
“About yesterday,” Felix said, interrupting her thoughts.
Isolde blinked and crossed her arms.
He looked away. “I, uh… I was a bit of an ass.”
She blinked again. That was not what she was expecting him to say. At all.
“I meant what I said,” he continued, “but I could have said it... better.”
It was as much of an apology as he could muster, she expected. She fought to keep a smile from creeping onto her face. “Hmm. You could have,” she replied, trying her best to seem haughty.
He shifted his weight, studying her, his expression unreadable.
Isolde sighed. She did not want to play games or pretend.
They were alone in the middle of nowhere.
If she couldn’t be herself here, where could she?
“You were right, though,” she said, deflating slightly.
“I have just… I have done nothing like this before, and I am struggling. I wished for magic all my life, and now I have so much it is quite overwhelming. ”
Felix’s face broke into a grin. “Do you really think it’s a failure on your part that all this is overwhelming? Most other people would have blown themselves up by now. Along with half a city, probably. You’ve already beaten the odds.”
Isolde looked down, twisting her fingers together. “Still. I feel it should have been someone tougher, more experienced. Someone like you.”
“Someone like me?” Felix asked, eyebrows shooting up.
“Yes! You are tough, and you don’t care; you just do what you want.”
Felix shook his head and huffed a small laugh as he sat down, looking towards the last remnants of the sunset.
After a moment’s hesitation, she joined him, sitting close enough to feel the heat of his body but not quite touching, her hand resting on the ground between them.
Her eyes drifted to his profile, studying the sharpness of his cheekbones, the stubble along his jaw, and the quiet alertness always simmering behind his eyes.
“When I agreed to join this strange expedition,” he said, turning towards her slightly, “I expected to escort some pampered princess through the wilderness. That you would complain and cry over mud on your shoes. But you haven’t.
You have shown some pretty incredible resilience.
So,” he traced a fingertip along the ley marking on her hand, sending a shudder down her spine.
“Be kinder to yourself. You are much stronger and more capable than you think.”
She looked down at where his touch had left the blue on her skin glowing brightly, and swallowed the lump that rose in her throat. “Thank you, Felix.”
“Anytime. And next time you want to throw some rocks around,” he said with a smirk, “let me know, and I’ll get the horses out of the way.”
She laughed at that, a real laugh that bubbled up from underneath all the knots and tension in her stomach, loosening some of them. Sparks of magic escaped her yet again, spinning in a whirlwind, twinkling like starlight before fading into the air.
“It’s not all bad,” Isolde said, half to herself, as she looked up. The sky was ablaze with vibrant streaks of orange and violet, the clouds edged in gold as the sun dipped below the distant hills.
“This journey. I’ve always wanted to travel. This isn’t quite how I envisioned it, but… ”
He tilted his head at her, waiting.
“The world is beautiful,” she said finally, “and I’m glad I get to see it.”
Felix smiled. “I’d drink to that.”
They sat there long after dusk gave way to darkness.
She told him about her favourite books, and how she’d hide in the library to read when she had lessons.
She told him how she used to steal cookies from the kitchen and share them with the gardeners.
She told him things she hadn’t thought about in years.
Felix listened. She asked him questions, most of which he evaded with that irritating charm, but some he answered.
More than she expected him to. He told her a story about chasing a cat down the streets of the East Quarter that had her crying with laughter, and she learned he liked spicy food but hated fish.
It was only when Luella came to tell them it was late and they needed to get some rest in order to not fall off their horses, that they reluctantly bid each other good night.
***
The terrain grew rougher over the next few days. Clusters of trees dotted the hills here and there, creating a kind of patchy woodland.
Felix, as usual, rode at the back of the group, keeping an eye on their surroundings. Isolde slowed down to join him more often than not.
“You know,” Felix remarked casually one morning, “Garren told me to stay away from you.”
Isolde looked up, startled. “He did? Why?”
“Obviously, because I am a terrible influence on you.”
“Hm. I suppose he is not wrong,” she replied, smiling.
Felix dramatically clutched his hand to his heart. “You wound me, my lady.”
Isolde giggled. “Well, for what it’s worth, I hope you won’t listen to Garren.” She bit her lip and looked away, acutely aware of the heat rising to her cheeks.
Felix was silent next to her. She had expected a joke or sarcastic remark, so she snuck a quick peek at him. He was smiling and was that a blush ?
Triad help her, but she was starting to really like Felix. Really, really like him.
She glanced ahead, where Garren and Luella were riding. Garren had turned in his saddle to cast a disapproving glance back at them. Felix exaggerated his smile, raising his eyebrows innocently.
“You’re a bit insolent, you know,” Isolde said when she noticed the exchange.
“Oh, absolutely,” Felix replied, still smirking. “But look at him. He’s too much fun to annoy.”
“Poor Garren…” Isolde sighed.
“What is he to you, anyway?”
“He was my father’s personal guard for a very long time,” she replied, her eyes on the other man’s back.
“Always around; like an uncle to me, of sorts. He retired less than a year ago, even though he’s not that old.
I thought there must have been some kind of disagreement between them.
Of course, no one told me anything. My father said Garren was happy to be away from the estate, enjoying his retirement.
Now he’s out here instead, dealing with all of this… dealing with me.”
She didn’t add what she sensed in Garren’s look sometimes, that she was a responsibility he never asked for. That he was disappointed in her, the only child of the man he was endlessly loyal to, looked up to. That she didn’t live up to his expectations, like she didn’t live up to her father’s.
“And Luella?” Felix asked.
“I don’t know her very well, but she and Garren supposedly go a long way back.
But she’s been with my family for years, the best scout we have.
I believe she is from the Gotvig Islands originally, but left when she was very young.
She doesn’t talk about herself much. It seems to be a bit of a recurring theme in this group.
” She grinned widely at Felix as she said the last part.
“Ouch, Isa, right in the gut,” Felix chuckled.
“Isa?!” She glared at him.
“You don’t like it? It suits you.”
“Isolde is not so long that it needs a diminutive! And there isn’t even an ‘A’ in my name!” She lifted her chin, pretending to be scandalised, which only made Felix laugh .
“You told me your governess used to call you Izzy. Isa is much better.”
“When I was seven!” She retorted. “I’m twenty-five; I don’t need a nickname.”
He shrugged, still grinning at her. “Tough – you’re stuck with it now.”
She huffed, sticking her nose in the air, but she had no chance of preventing a smile from creeping onto her face.
***