Chapter 31 Alexandria
ALEXANDRIA
Ihad the gold thread so my jump back to North Carolina was much easier than Torin’s. I felt guilty about that, but Torin wouldn’t hear of taking it though I tried to convince him that he needed it more. He had just been in a battle, after all. But there was no convincing him.
I’m sure it hurt for Dude too, but when we arrived on my lawn he was sitting on my chest and just looked at me like I was an ass for lying there. I sat blinking at the sky. “It looks like dusk, the following day?”
Torin said, “Aye.”
I yawned. “How many days since we slept? We could just sleep here, in the grass, just for a bit?”
“I daena think so.”
I smacked a mosquito that was chowing on my arm. “Yeah, you’re right, the bugs have found us.”
We climbed to our feet and slowly walked to the house.
“Tis odd, nae one is here. Where are yer guards?”
“I don’t know exactly — it’s the next day and I’m not here, maybe they went home?”
He looked around. “I daena think that is how guards are supposed tae guard. I am glad we are armed.”
Finally he said, “But tis fine, the house is locked up, and yer security guards would just slow us down.”
“Besides, with all these unexplainable events, I would have to pay them extra for weirdness.” He looked over at the stable yard. “We will grab the horses and go.”
“Does it look like the stable guy fed them?”
He said, “Aye, they look good, it looks like it.”
“Good.”
I used the railing to pull myself up to the porch, every joint aching, then pressed the buttons on my security pad to let us in the front door.
While I locked up behind us, Torin went up and down the halls looking in all the doors, peeking into the basement, and then upstairs looking in all the rooms.
I called up, “Clear?”
He nodded, “Nae one but us.”
I began climbing the stairs to meet him. “Do we have time for a shower?”
“Aye, I need one.”
I stopped. “And you know what else I really miss?”
“Och, ye are randy for yer husband?”
“We are newlyweds and it’s been hours, Torin, if we counted it might be days. We’ve already had like forty-five time jumps, eight centuries, a battle, and I’ve worried over you while you were in the hospital — now we are going to do it all over again? Maybe you ought to visit my gardens first.”
He looked down on himself. “I am covered in war.”
I met him at the top of the stairs. “You do look it, your shirt is clean but you, not so much. Maybe, first, someone needs to give you a good scrub.”
He chuckled. “Ye are offerin’ tae bathe me, wife? I like this verra much, but we need tae get our horses, we planned tae be fast.”
I batted my eyelashes. “I don’t know, husband, I kind of think as a Laird of Time you get to take a moment to make love to me. And your plan is to do everything the opposite. I think this time we should make love before you go off to fight. That is different. You kinda have to.”
He chuckled and looked like he was considering it. Then he rushed me, his voice was like a growl. “I suppose if the princess wants tae take care of m’cock afore the battle for her throne, I must agree with her. Tis practically a command.”
I squealed, laughing, “Good!” He carried me into the bathroom.
While he dropped his clothes to the ground, I turned on the water, then turned to see him standing completely naked. “Oh my.”
“Aye, ‘oh my’ is right, I hae been wantin’ ye for years, ye better get ready.”
I joked, “Och aye,” as I pulled the oversized khaki t-shirt off over my head and dropped it to the ground.
He said, “Och, I like the sound of it, say it with m’name.”
I said, “Och aye, Torin. Ye like that? Ye like it when I say it like that?”
I do.
Och aye, Torin
He reached out for me but I stepped back while shoving my pants down, wiggling my hips to get them to the ground.
His eyes opened wide, admiring me. “This is a verra good thing, I haena had enough of the sight of ye.”
“God, I hope not, Torin, you’ve only seen me naked a couple of times.”
His breath was coming really fast. He reached out for me again, but I stepped into the shower.
“Ye canna… tis nae… ye hae tae allow it.”
I submerged my head under the water, letting the warm shower water soak my hair and rivulets rolled down my body. My eyes closed, I asked, “You want me, Torin?”
His eyes were on me hard, he didn’t answer, he looked like his mind had gone animal. I grasped his hand and drew him into the shower, “Be careful of your bandages, don’t let them get wet.”
“I will be careful.” His big rough hand grabbing my hips and roughly pulling them toward his.
I teased, “This is a small shower, there might not be room for the three of us.”
A laugh came from his throat. “Ye are speakin’ on m’cock?”
“Oh yes, I am, Torin, I can’t think of much else.”
His mouth pressed against mine, water rushing down our faces, my lips parting for his tongue as his hand found its way between my legs and began playing there…
warm water sluiced between us. I poured soap in my palm and my fingers traced every ridge of muscle and scar along his back and his arms as his calloused palms slid over my wet skin, soap forgotten, his grip sure and hungry.
He pressed my back to the cold tile. His teeth grazed the edge of my throat as his palms rubbed around my ass and under my thighs and lifted me from the floor.
I wrapped my legs around his waist and he growled, deep in his throat, as my leg pulled his hips closer — he entered me with a rush.
My breath catching, his forehead pressed to the tile, he held me firmly as he pounded his hips against me, our soap-slick bodies sliding together.
It was intense and awesome, the tight grip on my rear as the friction of our bodies built a heat hotter than the water itself, raining down on us, we were drenched like a summer storm.
Finally, the slow, reverent press of his lips against my throat at the last forceful thrusts of him — a moan escaped my lips, his voice in my ear, his name on my breath, Oh God, Torin, as he relaxed against me, and released his hold.
The last of the soap circled the drain, carrying the day’s battle away with it.
He slowly let me slide down until my feet touched the bottom of the tub.
We kissed long and deeply. Our hands hung down by our sides, I am spent.
“Now I need a nap, not a dramatic time jump tae a battlefield.”
I straightened up and rinsed my hair. Then I rinsed soap off of him, checking to make sure his bandage had stayed dry.
“I suppose, Laird of Time, that you could nap, we could go after…?”
“I best not, every minute spent not going might convince me not tae go.”
“Yeah, I get that.”
I turned off the water and we both toweled off.
I dressed in a pair of joggers and a t-shirt.
He had to put on one of my over-sized sleep shirts, most were pink or had ridiculous slogans on them, not for wearing outside, but I had one with a photo of Arnold as the Terminator on it.
I found a pair of gray sweatpants big enough for him to wear to go with it.
He held up the shirt. “What dost it mean?”
“Well, that is hard to explain, it’s from a movie. He’s the Terminator, a killing machine.”
He tried to make out what it said, but it was faded.
I put my hands on my hips. “It says, ‘I’ll be back’ which fits the occasion since you’re going around again. And in the movie when he said it, he sounded like this,” I lowered my voice and mimicked Arnold, “‘I’ll be back.’ It was a threat and totally badass.”
He pulled the shirt on, it fit him perfectly, a little tight on his arms. “What dost badass mean?”
“Like brave and threatening and frightening in the good way. Like you’re about to go fight this battle, you’re a badass.”
He nodded, slowly, “Yet someone might die in the battle, tis a possibility.” He put the letter from Max in the pocket of his sweatpants.
I frowned. “Yeah, it’s not a movie, true.”
I looked at my phone. “I should try to call my Uncle Dylan, finally... I’m furious, you know, he’s lied to me my whole life, but… I also feel sorry for him. He’s been in exile too...” I sighed. “We’re all such a tragedy. He needs to know we’re trying to fix it.” I dialed his number.
While it rang I asked Torin, “…are you hungry?”
“Aye, I am famished.”
My uncle’s phone rang and rang. “Darn it, he’s not home.”
His answering machine picked up and I left a message. “Uncle Dylan, I hope you’re okay, it’s been forever since we talked, I have a lot to tell you, I just… I know.”
Then I said, “Again, I know and Uncle Ryan said for you to ‘check the spot.’ He said they’re ‘trying to get you one.’ I really hope you know what that means.
Check the spot. I hope you’re okay, I forgive you, I mean, if you get this, thank you for keeping me safe.
I just wanted you to know that we’re okay.
They didn’t fix anything, not yet, not really, but there’s a plan. ”
I glanced at Torin as he was dressing. “I think we might win.”
The answering machine beeped.
I sighed, hanging up the phone. “Well, that’s that.” I sat on the edge of the bed and frowned. “That feels sad, kinda like the very last end of my past.”
Torin looked down on me sadly. “When he gets that message from ye, twill set his heart at ease. I am sure he has been distressed at havin’ tae lie tae ye all these years.”
I nodded, staring down at the phone.
He said, “I am certain ye will see him soon, ye will hae a great many questions. He will hae answers.”
“Yeah, I do, I have so many questions… But, I can’t think about that, my stomach is growling. If I sit here, like you said, we might convince ourselves not to go — can we not go? It sounds like a lot of work.”
“Twill be, twill be death defyin’ and we daena ken if twill work, but we ought tae mount up, Princess, the sooner we do it, the sooner we ken whether twill win yer throne.”
I pulled myself up to sit. “Can we have some pizza before we go?”
“I am famished, but we ought tae go faster than waitin’ for the Visigoths tae bring it.”
I chuckled. “How about if I take you through a drive-thru? There’s one five minutes away. It will be your next favorite kind of food after pizza.”
We got in my car and I drove us through the local burger place, ordering two burgers: a single, a double with bacon, two fries, and a large Diet Coke for me, a water for Torin.
We were too hungry to wait, so I pulled into a parking spot and he hungrily and happily ate, loving every bite. Yet again he wondered if he ought tae save some to share with Max.
I said, “This is a nice quality in you, that you want to share all the things you love with Max.”
“Growin’ up we rarely had food in these quantities.
There were times on long journeys when we went verra hungry.
I winna forget what it is like tae hae days on end without enough food, a burning hole of hunger in the pit of m’stomach.
Ever since then, Max and I hae sworn that if we hae a full plate before us we would share it, tis our way, unless we are angry with each other. ”
“Like the pizza, but that didn’t last long, as soon as you saw him you shared.”
He chuckled, wrapping the last few bits of double bacon burger in the paper. “I knew I would share with him, I canna hold a grudge for long.”
I drove us back to the house, with Dave Matthews blaring.
He bounced his head along. Then he sang a line of the song along with it.
“Ah, this is wonderful, you know the words?”
“Aye.”
“That made me fall in love with you even more.”
He joked, running his hand through his hair. “Good, ye will need tae feel verra fondly on me as I tell ye I am goin’ tae eat the last bit of the burger.”
I laughed. “You can’t help yourself?”
“Nae,” he twisted in his seat. “If ye think on it, it winna be much fun tae give him some sad wee bites.”
I said, “I ought to have bought him a second one.”
“Twould be more interestin’, Alexandria, but I tell ye, as hungry as I am I might eat it as well.” He unwrapped the leftover bits of burger.
I teased, “If you think about it you’re saving us a lot of trouble by eating it, now we won’t have to take it with us.”
“We could pick up another one, but I will just keep eating. I will hae tae share food with Max another day.”
“Now what do we do? I’m going to grab a few things upstairs.”
He said, “While ye gather things inside, I will gather the horses. We will meet in the paddock tae jump.”
“We need to go fast so I don’t fall asleep.”
“Aye, me as well.”
I pulled up to the driveway, thinking in my head: Did I bring tampons? When was I going to start my period, next week?
Then I thought, What if I’m pregnant?
Yikes.
That would be terrible timing, but also, what else had I been doing besides trying to make a baby with my new husband?
Terrible timing.
I needed tampons.
I was not going to be pregnant, not in the middle of a battle for a throne.
I pulled up slowly in the driveway.
Dude met the car, trilling his head off.
I climbed out of the driver’s seat. “Hey Dude, ready for another trip?”
I petted him, then straightened, my eyes swept the landscape and met Torin’s.
The hairs on the back of my neck were standing on edge.
He said, “Ye feel it, mo leannan?”
“Yeah.” I looked over my shoulder, the woods ringing my yard looked dark and sinister.
He drew the gun Ryan had given him. “Ye hae five minutes, let me check the house afore ye go in.”
We strode up to the porch and I pushed buttons on my security system to enter. Then Torin ran up and down the halls looking in all the rooms. He jogged up the stairs opening doors and a few moments later he ran back down.
“Clear?”
“Aye, but go fast, mo leannan.”
I grabbed my gun from where I had left it on the entryway table and took the stairs two at a time. I found my backpack on the shelf in the closet and began shoving stuff inside. I brought my slippers and a curling rod, the unease crawled on my skin.
I became a little frantic. A smart person would have a bag already packed in case of emergencies.
What else did I need?
Nothing, I was a princess, ask and it would be granted and all that.
I tossed some of my jewelry into the pack, some hair scrunchies.
I turned to run for the stairs, but then remembered the tampons.
I did not want to ask a bunch of strangers on a military base to scrounge me some royal tampons.
I returned to my room, digging into the box under the sink in the bathroom, shoving handfuls of tampons into the bag, as many as I had — but next thing I knew, something hit me hard on the back of the head, a sharp pain, and then blackness — I didn’t remember anything else.