Chapter Nineteen
––––––––
GRACE MIGHT HAVE SHRUGGED off Zoe’s feeling that she was magically being drawn to Amaros, but Zoe couldn’t put it out of her mind.
It felt like there was an invisible bond tying them together.
Their attraction was mutual, that much Zoe knew.
The teen was right, though. It would break her heart if she fell for the knight only for him to leave when his job was done.
“I was going to keep my mouth shut and my opinion to myself,” Grace said quietly while Zoe was handing her an energy bar. “But I think you should go for it,” she told her.
For a second, Zoe thought she was telling her to fall for Amaros. Then she came back down to reality. “Go for what?” she asked, opening the energy bar. They would keep for months and they had a large supply of them now.
“Take Amaros into the woods and have your wicked way with him,” the kid suggested, wiggling her eyebrows. “I promise I’ll stay here, so I can’t hear your screams of passion.”
Zoe gaped at her, then clapped her hand over her mouth to stifle her snorts and giggles. “You really have a way with words, Grace,” she said when she had herself under control again.
Grace had laughed just as noiselessly. “I’ve never pretended to be a lady,” she said with a shrug. Taking a bite from her energy bar, she spoke with her mouth full. “So? Are you going to do it?”
“Of course not,” Zoe said, sneaking a look towards the doorway. She couldn’t see the warrior from here, but she could sense him outside. “Like you said, it would be stupid to fall for him, since he won’t be staying here forever.”
Grace waved her hand in the air dismissively.
“You don’t have to marry the guy. Just use his body for your pleasure until he gets you pregnant.
He already told us he knows when you’ll be fertile.
” They both screwed up their faces at that notion.
“I bet it wouldn’t take him long to knock you up,” she predicted.
“I barely know him,” Zoe protested. She hadn’t known the boy she’d lost her virginity to either, but that had been an act of defiance. This would be a premeditated act to use a man for her own gain. “It would be wrong,” she said, struggling to articulate her feelings.
Grace heaved a sigh, then nodded. “You have a good soul, mostly,” she said. “Apart from your horrendous temper,” she added. “You’d need to be in love before you’ll commit to having a baby with someone.”
“Exactly,” Zoe agreed, pleased the teen thought she was more good than bad.
“That doesn’t mean you can’t sneak off to bang each other,” the kid said slyly. “I won’t tell the other warriors when they turn up if you don’t.”
“There isn’t going to be any banging,” Zoe said even as she felt a thrill at the idea.
A picture of taking Amaros by the hand and leading him into the woods popped into her mind.
The picture of him gloriously naked and aroused was crystal clear.
“You’ve seen men who’re...” she trailed off, gesturing at her groin.
Grace looked confused. “You’re going to have to give me more than that,” she whispered back.
“Hard,” Zoe mouthed.
Grace’s face lost all expression and she closed herself off. “You know I have,” she said.
Zoe instantly felt horrible for reminding her about her past. “Sorry, forget it,” she said in apology. “I shouldn’t have said anything. It was stupid of me.”
“Nothing actually happened to me,” Grace said, taking pity on her awkward shame. “I was lucky, really.”
“That isn’t the word I’d use,” Zoe said, still beating herself up.
“Why did you mention it?” Grace asked, curiosity getting the better of her.
“It’s just, I’m curious about size,” Zoe told her, leaning forward in her chair to speak as quietly as she could.
“You’re a virgin?” Grace asked in surprise, leaning forward as well.
“Technically, no,” she whispered. “There was this one guy one time a couple of years ago.”
Grace’s stiffness was slowly fading now that the topic had shifted away from her past. “Did he have a tiny peen?” she asked in sympathy, holding her finger and thumb a couple of inches apart.
“He wasn’t that small,” Zoe said. “But Amaros is a lot bigger.” Her eyes widened meaningfully. “I mean a lot bigger,” she added, holding her hands apart to show her.
Grace’s mouth dropped open, taking in the size she was indicating. “Holy crap,” she whispered in awe. “The man is a monster! When did you see him naked?”
“After he fell from the sky,” Zoe told her and described their first meeting. “I just want to know if that’s, you know, normal,” she finished up.
Grace was shaking her head even before she was done. “That’s definitely not normal,” she murmured. “I’ve seen big men, but nothing like that. It might be painful when he tries to insert that anaconda into you.”
Again, Zoe had to clap her hands over her mouth to contain her hysterical laughter. Grace did the same. Zoe was glad her friend had shaken off her bad memories. She might be seven years older than the kid, but her experience with men was severely lacking.
“Our moms were completely different,” Grace said when they’d regained their poise. “Yours was ultra-religious and kept you locked up so nothing bad would ever happen to you. Mine, on the other hand...”
She trailed off and Zoe nodded in sympathy. “She was selfish and evil. She used you instead of sheltering you. I know you went through a lot when she died, but you were better off without her.”
Grace sniffed back the tears that were trying to form. She wasn’t the type to become weepy easily, but her emotions had been stirred up, thanks to their discussion. “I know,” she agreed. “But it’s been hard being on my own. I’m glad I have you now.”
“You’ll always have me, bestie,” Zoe said. She stood up and pulled Grace to her feet. The teen didn’t stand there stiffly when she was hugged this time. Her arms went around Zoe and she rested her head on her shoulder.
“Am I interrupting something?” Amaros asked a few moments later.
Zoe looked up to see him standing in the doorway, wearing a slightly jealous look. “Just girl talk,” she said and released Grace.
“Have you finished unpacking the tank already?” the kid asked, pretending she wasn’t on the verge of tears.
“A storm is moving in,” Amaros said. “I’ll need help to get it all inside before it starts to pour down.”
They hurried outside to see storm clouds heading in their direction. Heaving everything out of the truck, they stored it in the north wing. They chose a room without windows, which reminded Zoe that her room was exposed to the elements. “We should move our sleeping bags,” she said to Grace.
“Good idea,” she agreed. Thunder sounded, shaking the stones slightly and they picked up their pace.
Amaros was right behind them, since his bedroom was only two doors down from theirs. They moved their gear into another pair of rooms across the hallway, this time only one wall apart.
“Our stuff should be safe here,” Zoe figured. There were no signs that the room had suffered water damage in the past, but it was rapidly getting dark outside.
“I’m going to move the truck beneath the trees,” Amaros told them.
“What if branches fall on it?” Grace asked.
“I’ll cover it with a tarp,” he replied. “I don’t want hail to smash the windows.”
“We’ll help,” Zoe offered. He nodded and they raced back outside.
Amaros had stored a couple of tarps behind the back seat and grabbed two of them.
He drove over to a cluster of trees to the left of the building.
They helped him throw the tarps over the vehicle, tying them down tightly.
It wouldn’t stop large branches from denting it if they fell on the truck, but it would protect it from the rain and hail.
Hail began to pelt down just as they left the shelter of the trees. Grace was struck in the shoulder and swore beneath her breath. “Why am I always the one being injured?” she shouted above the noise of the deluge.
Amaros and Zoe grabbed her hands and sprinted for cover. “Are you okay?” Zoe asked as they skidded to a stop inside the north wing.
“I’ll live,” Grace grumbled, moving her shoulder up and down to test it. “It’s just bruised, nothing is broken,” she reported.
They moved through the stone hallways and took one of the short connecting passages to the main wing, then stood near the entrance to watch the storm.
Lightning forked from the sky, illuminating the rapidly darkening sky.
Hail the size of their fists smashed into the rocks, trees and ground.
A torrent of water poured down, turning the ground to mud.
“I’m glad we moved the tank,” Zoe said as a particularly large piece of hail left a deep dent in the ground.
“Me, too,” Amaros agreed.
Feeling a vision coming on, Zoe reached out blindly. The warrior grabbed her wrist and Grace put her hand on her lower back. “What’s wrong?” she asked.
Zoe could sense their anxiety for her welfare, but she was already caught in a trance. She saw a meteor falling from the sky and knew another Knight of Order was about to arrive.