Eighteen
I shouldn't have thought anything of the kindness Julian had been showing me as of late. After what Naida had told me about him and what he confessed himself, he probably couldn't help being a flirt with women.
I shouldn't have let it get to me.
But it did.
To the point where I was avoiding any sort of physical contact with him.
We'd only had the briefest of touches in the morning when he helped me on my horse and that was all.
I didn't let myself dwell on the way his hands lingered on my waist even after he helped up into the saddle.
He didn't let me go on my own until I was absolutely confident enough on my horse and I could gently steer it where necessary.
He still stayed close on his own horse and wouldn't let me out of his sight.
Just like the Mother Hen he was.
I tried not to think of Julian too much as we continued our ride down the lonely, cold roads of Tartus.
It was just as he said, the more time we spent on our journey, the more desolate the road became.
There were no longer any trees, the green countryside gave way to grayish and black rocky terrain, the fog of the morning seemed to linger throughout the day.
Even the sun seemed to disappear fixed behind the clouds.
I practiced my magic as we traveled spectering objects, glamouring myself and, with Julian's permission, him. At one point, I even gave him a long white beard making me laugh so hard I almost fell off my horse.
"You think this is funny, do you?" He asked raising a very long haired white eyebrow.
I nodded, laughing until I snorted, holding my sides. "You look like Gandalf!"
He rolled his eyes. "You're hysterical. With your size, I would say that you're a hobbit then?"
I shook my head and with barely a thought, I released the glamour he had on.
I smiled as I thought of the time Damien and I first watched those movies together. How we'd get the popcorn and soda, and settled on the couch in my parent's living room. We would watch those movies time and time again.
My horse Maiko nickered beneath me silently.
I gently rubbed his back as he continued down the gravel road.
Maiko was tall and strong, with a beautiful silky brown coat.
At first, I found him intimidating with his large stature and large black eyes.
My fears were for nothing. He was more gentle than I thought and only wanted affection.
I looked at Julian who looked to be deep in thought. "What's wrong?"
"Maybe we should use this time to help you build a physical defensive barrier. Should something happen."
I raised an eyebrow and watched him as he steered his horse away from the road and into a small rocky plane directly next to it. "What do you mean? What's going to happen?"
He shrugged. "It wouldn't hurt to be prepared."
He swung his leg over to one side of the saddle and jumped off his own horse. Grabbing the reigns, he led his horse to the side. I watched him all the while. "Prepared for what?"
He shrugged again. "You know, stuff."
Anger rolled through me. "Stuff," I scoffed angrily. "Damien always said 'stuff' like it was no big deal. Then it turned out he was going to lose his throne if he didn't get married." I sighed. "Don't you at least respect me enough to tell me the truth?"
If what he said struck a nerve with me, what I just said did the same to him. I watched his shoulders tense as he tied the reigns of the horse to a nearby solitary branch that sprouted from the ground, the possible remains of a tree that would no longer thrive in the environment it was in.
He approached me and extended a hand to help me off Maiko but I didn't move. I only crossed my arms.
He sighed. "I don't know what we're going to be up against."
I frowned.
He ran a hand over his face. "Honestly, I don't know what we'll find and I'm not sure if I could protect you."
I shook my head looking away from him. The intense feeling I felt the night he was hurt came flooding back. "Why -" I stopped. Why do you need to protect me so fiercely? I wanted to ask. I finally looked at him and realized he was watching me the entire time.
He was quiet for a moment. It was only a moment but it was long enough to cause me to start to take back my words. He gave a small chuckle and he looked back at me. "Because I'm sure that you won't listen to me when I tell you to stay back."
I rolled my eyes, swinging my leg over Maiko and once I was comfortable enough to do it, jumped off to the ground. We tied Maiko to the same tree and I turned towards Julian, arms crossed.
"This should be fast." He pointed to an arbitrary location opposite him. "Stand there."
I did as I was told.
"Now," he rubbed his hands together causing a white spark to jump between his fingers and hands. "Block and evade what I throw."
Before I could process what he said, a small crack echoed around me at the same time something jumped beside me. I jumped and squealed in surprise.
"That's not exactly what I had in mind."
"Are you throwing lightning at me?" I screeched.
He rolled his grey eyes. "Such drama. Now, block it."
He threw two more this time, the first hitting the ground right beside me, the second hit my side as I tried to jump out of the way of the first.
"Ow!" It was as if a rubber band had been pulled a long distance and suddenly let go making contact with my skin. Even under the layers of clothes, I could still feel the hot sting. "That hurt, you motherf-"
"Such language," he tsked, shaking his head in mock disapproval.
"You're one to talk!"
He laughed. "Come on, at least try to block it. Use your magic. Create a wall. Make it real, feel it in front of you."
I rolled my eyes. "You tell me this after you hit me with lightning."
He gave a soft chuckle. "It's hardly lightning, Emylin, it's barely a spark." I could see the mischief in his eyes as he moved his hand ready to throw another at me.
I moved, placing my hands in front of me remembering the dark walls of Blackdown Keep. I imagined them in front of me large and menacing. In my mind's eye, I saw them between us - a barrier between Julian and I.
The next one he released hit something between us but still managed to get through and split right before it reached me. The twin sparks continued beside either side of me until it eventually could no longer continue.
"Good," Julian murmured.
I gave a small smile, happy with his compliment, as I continued to reinforce the wall, making it as strong as I could.
"Ready?"
I nodded that I was.
"All right, go ahead and block."
A spark flew at me but was stopped and flew up against an invisible wall. It cracked and fizzled against it, crawling up and away towards the sky. I watched it as it danced across the dark sky.
"Good," Julian smiled. "Let's try it again, a little faster this time. Don't just block - try and evade too."
We continued with the lesson, and somehow, miraculously, I was able to evade most of the magic he directed at me.
I watched his hands before the sparks would fly, tried to anticipate his moves and he did the same.
I moved my feet as nimbly as I could somehow finding some grace in my steps as I moved.
I dropped the wall, brought it back up just as he instructed.
"Want to try to do some offensive work too?"
I nodded. I was drunk on the adrenaline and magic flowing through me. It was freeing. I wanted more, needed more - I wanted to take advantage of the power I was feeling. I was being greedy, I knew it.
But frankly, if it could get me to defeat Robyn faster, I didn't care.
Julian moved to stand behind me and I felt him gently touching my shoulders. He raised my hands in front of me. "Use your hands to channel it." He moved closer. "And whatever you do," he breathed against my ear. "Don't drop your hands."
I nodded keeping my eyes fixed on a strange rock formation on the horizon.
"Magic is a lot of using what you have at your disposal.
Magic is always around you just wanting to be used - it's in the air, in the life around you, in everything.
It's only about being able to have it bend to your will.
" He placed his hand under mine, resting his arm against mine, his chest against my back.
I tried to relax but my heart betrayed me. The last time I was in a similar position, it was with Damien.
Standing this close to another man felt like an absolute betrayal.
If he noticed, he said nothing, he only continued. "Feel it around you, flowing through you, take it, harness it, pull it from around you and hold it in your hands."
I tried to concentrate on the power around me and not the traitor's heart beating beneath my chest.
That's what I was. A traitor.
Because I instantly knew that what I was feeling wasn't normal - not towards someone who was training me, helping me, teaching me. I should not start growing these sort of feelings towards Julian.
Not when I was in love with Damien.
And I realized as we stood close together, his breath caressing my neck and cheek that I was starting to have feelings for Julian. The butterflies in my stomach, the heat flushing my chest, neck and face -
They were romantic feelings.
Shit.
"Emylin, you're not paying attention."
I cleared my throat. "Sorry."
He chuckled, a deep throaty laugh. He took his hand back and I felt his hand move the hair away from my neck. "Hmm, am I distracting you?"
Yes. And the damn bastard knew it.
I rolled my eyes and dropped my hands.
The ground exploded beneath us.
The horses that had been standing quietly nearby began to cry out and jump.
The blast sent us both flying over the black, rocky ground. My arms and feet flailed as I tried to find something to grip in order to lessen the fall. The blast sent us flying over the jagged rocks and I panicked thinking that the rocks were sharp enough to cut through skin and tendon.
I felt Julian's arm grip me and suddenly we were on the ground landing directly on top of him.
Instinctively, I placed my hands out one over us, the other reaching over to the horses, willing a large wall over all of us.
The defense barrier worked. I watched as the rock would hit the barrier then slide over the sides as if the debris was landing over a large invisible dome.
I watched the horses and they too had the same protective dome over them.
As soon as the raining debris stopped I let the barrier go. Julian let me go and I fell back against the stone ground, panting, the adrenaline pumping through my veins.
Julian laughed as he lay next to me on the rocky ground. "You saved the horses."
"Yes," I panted. "Of course, I saved the horses." I placed my hands over my face. "I shouldn't have dropped my hands." My voice sounded muffled as I spoke. "I'm sorry, I don't know what I was thinking."
I watched him through my fingers as Julian turned over, not quite over me, a hand under his head in a casual way. "I was doing a pretty good job of distracting you."
I rolled my eyes again, swallowing whatever feelings I was thinking of before. I buried them deep, deep down. "You faerie men- you just think you're the gods' gift to women, don't you?"
He laughed as he took a silver lock of hair from my face. "Are you all right?"
My cheeks burned. There was no way he couldn't see it.
He was so close, leaning so close that if either of us were to move we would touch. I watched him hesitantly and I saw that he too was gauging me, watching me, measuring.
"Emylin," he breathed. "There's something I have to tell you."
He started to open his mouth to speak but was interrupted.
"It's so like you, that when I come out to investigate a disturbance on my grounds you'd be rolling around in the dirt with another woman."
Julian pulled away lazily, casually standing as I groaned to a sitting position.
When I looked at the woman my breath caught.
She was gorgeous.
She could have easily been a supermodel in the human world. Her stature and overconfidence was more than enough. Her green eyes cut through me as she watched us.
Julian finally moved from the floor in a smooth, graceful motion. "Is that what you think of me, really?" His voice was like honey. He took her hand in his and kissed her knuckles.
Shameless flirt.
She took her hand back and crossed her arms, the bangles on her thick wrists making noise as she did. "Clearly I'm not mistaken. I knew she wasn't a cousin. You don't have one."
He smiled. "Word moves fast in Tartus."
"Quite." She nodded her head toward a ridge we had been coming to before we stopped, her black curls falling across her face. "Come on, now. Don't keep me waiting."
As abruptly as she appeared she was gone again, spectering out of sight.
"Who was that?"
Julian groaned as he stretched his back. "That was Vy. And she is not happy."