Chapter 44 Ariana
ARIANA
When I arrived to gather Erik later in the day, he opened the door without my having to knock. He was dressed in clean clothing, and his brown hair was pushed back out of his eyes, still wet from bathing.
“How did you know it was me?” I asked curiously.
“Your steps.” His lips twitched up as he followed me into the hallway.
“You remember the sound of my movements?”
“I remember a lot of things.” He held my gaze. Had he decided a path he finally wanted to take or was he still pulled in various directions? I tried to ignore the way my pulse spiked, peeling my eyes from him to focus on where we were going.
He kept pace beside me, cautiously observing the surroundings. Neither of us spoke as we passed beyond the city wall. By the time we arrived where I was bringing him, the sun had nearly set.
I took Erik to someplace meaningful, wanting him to see it.
Wishing him to understand an intimate part of myself.
A strange vulnerability came with inviting him to join me that I nearly stopped and took him back home.
However, my feet continued forward, walking past the insecurities, until we finally made it to our destination, and there was no going back.
“A tree house?” Erik asked, looking up at it before turning to view the field towards the single tree in the distance with a scorched ring around it. His lips curved up ever so slightly.
“Amused by a memory?” I asked, looking from that distant tree to him.
“Very.” He smiled fully, exposing those sharp teeth. I used to find them repellant, though they no longer bothered me. They were simply a part of him. If anything, they intrigued me.
“Let’s go.” I nodded towards the wooden ladder. Taking hold of the withered wood, smoothed by age and use, I lifted myself, climbing to the top.
It was exactly as I remembered. Parts of the floorboard were broken, making the path precarious, so I needed to watch my step to make it through the space.
Erik silently moved through the area, taking in the crystals and stones strung up on strings and draped from the ceiling at the edge, which overlooked the field beyond the forest. There was a hammock weaved together by my mother’s hands still hanging on the side of the room.
I used to come up to the tree house and lie in that hammock, swaying ever so softly for hours.
Now and then, I got to a place where if I closed my eyes, I could imagine my mother was swaying me herself. My throat ached with the memories.
“This used to be my mother’s little escape. It’s pretty much everything I have left of her now,” I informed Erik as I walked to a small table with a couple of her books and a small jewelry box void of any jewels.
“Did she live here?” he asked, looking around the room.
“You know, I don’t actually know. We used to come here sometimes when I was little. It was our special hideout. After she was taken from me, I would come here to feel close to her. It always felt like a safe place. I never brought anyone here before.”
“Not Edda or your two Bavadrin guards?” He turned to me.
“You mean Landin and Willis? No, none of them. I’m sure Edda knows of this place, but if she does, she has never mentioned it to me before. Landin and Willis know of it, but they too have never actually been here.”
“Then why did you bring me?” he asked, surprise coloring his features.
“I wanted to come before my leaving, but I didn’t want to come here alone tonight.” I walked around the small room, touching weathered wood and ripped fabrics, indulging in the memories. I could have brought Landin or Willis with me, though that was not who I wanted with me this night.
Erik tracked my movements with a peculiar look on his face.
“What?” I glanced at him.
He shrugged, lips curving up. “People look different when they are at home.”
“In what way?”
He had seen me in my land before, though always under his control.
“Their guard is down,” he stated simply.
“Should it not be?” I turned my full attention to him. Once upon a time I would have seen his comment as a threat. Now it was nothing more than words that fascinated me.
“You think having your guard up would protect you from me?” His eyes glinted, the air around him growing heavy. He was still very much the predator he had always been.
“I think I have proven that I have no issue protecting myself from you.” I smirked, pretending that the look in his gaze and the way the world around him responded to his presence had no influence on me.
I will be impenetrable to his effect.
“You think so?” His smile grew, exposing deadly teeth.
My heart did something strange in my chest.
I will be almost impenetrable to his effect.
“Is that a challenge?” I stepped to the side, slightly bending at the knees in anticipation.
He saw my physical stance as an invitation to try.
“No conjuring,” he stated, and everything around him dimed even more. As if he could control not only flame, but light itself.
“Okay.” I grinned before lunging. The Lysian King was not going to get more warning than that.
It was a rare chance to get a sense of his physical abilities for myself up close.
I had seen him in action when the outcast Lysians attacked, and Erik was extraordinary.
Yet, there was a difference between witnessing something and experiencing it for yourself.
Erik evaded the attack with an embarrassing amount of ease. His movements were swift, and he made them seem effortless and natural, even with the hazardous and uneven flooring. It was as if he sensed the world around him without even having to look at it.
His hands touched me only to guide me away from him. I found myself pushed to the side, facing a direction not intended, with Erik behind me. Spinning around, I found him in a casual stance.
Straightening, Erik squared his shoulders and waited for me to charge again. It irritated me that he did not take a more offensive position, though I was pretty sure our little match would come to a quick end if that were to happen. Lysians really had an unfair advantage in a fight.
I took two small steps to the side. His full attention remained on me, following my movement. There was no way I stood a chance with all those superior senses of his focused so intently. I needed to distract him.
A thought crossed my mind, and I suppressed a smile.
My gaze settled squarely on him. For several seconds, neither of us moved.
Then my attention shifted abruptly to the space out over the makeshift treehouse balcony behind him.
My eyes winded in startled shock. Erik turned to see what had caught my attention so suddenly, and at that moment, I sprang forward.
Lunging for him, I prepared to shove him.
Perhaps if I could just startle him, get him off-balance, I would be able to…
He stepped aside. Stopping me short, his hand snatching mine in a way that I was the one who lost my balance, literally falling into him.
My back hit his chest. It happened so quick, yet I felt everything in such detail it was as if the single moment endlessly stretched.
Fingers gripping my hips, momentarily tightening before relaxing.
A hand glided across my abdomen, pressing me into him.
Arms circled me, capturing me. I breathed in the scent of earth and fire.
His heartbeat thrummed strong and true at my back.
He leaned into me, sending a shudder through my body. “How devious of you,” he murmured in my ear before releasing me.
Without fully regaining my balance, I charged away from him. My foot jammed in one of the uneven floorboards. Stumbling, I caught myself and turned once more to face him. He stood staring at me again, a confident smile on his lips.
He lunged first this time, his speed forcing me to leap back. The boards creaked beneath my boots as I sidestepped.
"Come on, Ariana," he taunted, his voice a rumble that sent shivers scurrying along my spine. "Is this all you can do?"
Pivoting, I slammed my shoulder into his chest, managing to knock him off balance.
His eyes flashed with surprise as he faltered back a step before dropping.
With a twist and a sweep of his leg, Erik took me down.
I hit the floor with a grunt, the impact rattling the boards beneath us.
Before I could recover, he straddled me, his weight pinning me down.
His smirk deepened as he leaned forward, bracing his hands on either side of my head. “Looks like I win, princess.”
I glared up at him, my breathing uneven but my resolve unwavering. “Not quite.”
From the pocket of my pants, I drew a slender blade and pressed it to his throat. The cool metal glinted in the moonlight, and his smirk faltered for just a heartbeat before returning, this time with an edge of admiration. We agreed to no conjuring, not no weapons.
“Clever,” he murmured, his voice low and velvet.
“Iver and Eislyn taught me the power of being underestimated,” I replied, my lips curving into a smile.
Neither of us moved. His sapphire eyes held mine, their intensity a match for the blade at his throat. For a moment I thought he might lean closer. Instead, he climbed off me, offering a hand. I accepted it, letting him pull me to my feet. His grip lingered, strong and steady.
He glanced to my other hand; at the blade he gifted me at my Ascension. “You keep it on you?” His hold loosened before he finally let go.
“Did you expect me not to?” I sheathed the dagger in the blade pocket at my thigh, brushing off the dust from my clothes.
“I wasn’t sure what you would do with it. But I like that you keep it close.”
I looked at him, but he was no longer focused on me.
His attention moved over the space once more. “So, this is a place you go to feel safe?”