Chapter 53
Thankfully, Auri saves me. “Harper, you have to see my room!”
I turn to her. “Okay.” I start to follow her, but a hand on my wrist stops me. My breath catches in my throat when I look up at him.
“Are you supposed to be walking on that?” he asks, nodding at my leg.
“It’s fine.”
His dark eyes meet mine. “Does it hurt?”
I answer him honestly. “It’s a little sore after today but manageable.”
“Harper, come on!” Auri shouts from beyond the door.
I smile. “I think I need to go.” He continues to stare down at me, and I think for a moment he’s not going to let go, but then he does.
“She’ll just keep calling you; she’s impatient like that,” he adds.
I grin. “Must run in the family.” He doesn’t smile like I thought he would, and he doesn’t give me a snippy retort. He runs his thumb over my wrist, surprising me.
“You should have had Redara tell Noxlyn you were flying here today; we could have flown with you.”
His words warm me from the inside out. “Harper!” Auri calls again. Laughing, I pull my wrist from his hold. “She’s going to threaten me with a knife or something if I don’t get moving.”
“Wonder who taught her that trick?” He asks in a low voice.
I shake my head as I leave the kitchen. “Finally,” Auri says dramatically.
“What is it?” I ask as I hurry to catch up with her.
“I can’t tell you; you have to see it for yourself.”
“Do I get any hints?” I try again.
“Nope.”
When we get to her room, she stops. “Close your eyes.”
“Okay.” I do as she tells me and manage to make my way into her room without tripping and killing myself.
“Okay. Open.”
I open my eyes and look at her bed, trying to figure out what it is I’m looking for. “Not over there,” Auri says. “Over there.”
I follow her gaze to the wall opposite her bed, and my breath catches in my chest because the wall no longer holds our horrifying art.
Well, if I look closely, it might still be there.
But covering the entire wall is the most beautiful mural I’ve ever seen.
Spirit dragons in all colors, shapes, and sizes fly in the clouds.
I don’t miss the red dragon and the black dragon in the sky as well.
There are trees covered in sparkling ice and snow, wildflowers, little flying creatures that glow, and tiny houses that I’m assuming they live in.
I walk over to it and touch it reverently with my fingertips.
“Auri, this is—” Words fail me. “Who did this?” I ask, turning back to her.
She’s beaming from ear to ear. “Rauk.”
I couldn’t be more shocked. My eyes shoot to the man standing in the doorway. There’s a look in his eyes that I can’t read. “You did this?” I ask in both shock and amazement.
He smirks. “You don’t have to look quite so shocked.”
And just like that, the tension escapes. “Who knew you had such talent in those big hands?” I ask with a laugh, meeting Auri’s eyes and earning a grin.
“Oh, these hands are incredibly talented—at a lot of things.”
My head snaps in his direction, and he doesn’t look away.
“Harper, did you see this house?” My attention is pulled away from him and back to the wall.
I bend down, so I can see the tiny house she’s pointing to.
It has a remarkable similarity to...I stand up and turn around.
“Is that Eliza’s house?” He nods, and I turn back to study it.
The likeness is incredible. Auri points out several more things, and I’m more and more amazed.
Several times, I look over my shoulder. Every time, Rauk—who's now leaning against the wall with his arms crossed, watching us—meets my eyes. I don’t even know what to say to him; I'm so blown away by his artwork.
But when I try to hide a yawn, he suddenly pushes off the wall.
“Auri, we need to let Harper sleep.”
Auri turns to me in disappointment. “Are you sure?”
I can’t help my smile, even as I yawn again. “We can get back to it first thing in the morning.”
“You promise?” she asks.
I nod. “Promise.”
She finally concedes. “All right.” Then she barrels into me again, nearly knocking me over with her chair.
A hand on my back keeps me from that happening. “Night, Harper.”
I lean forward and hug her. “Night, Auri.” When I stand up, that hand is still there, steadying me for a moment longer than necessary before it finally drops. Auri hugs Rauk next, and I step out of the room to give them privacy.
Elowen is in the hall, ready to go in and help Auri get ready for bed. “Do you need help?” I ask her.
She smiles and pats my arm. “I’ve got it; you get some sleep. You look exhausted.”
Right on cue, another yawn takes over. I start making my way back to the kitchen, so I can grab my bag.
I don’t make it very far before a large body falls into step next to me.
Neither of us say anything as we walk into the large main room.
“I need to grab my bag from the kitchen,” I tell him, and he redirects that way.
He picks it up and slings it over his shoulder, and we once again walk in silence to the room I stayed in before.
When we get to the door, I’m suddenly nervous.
“Is it okay for me to stay in this room?”
Those dark eyes meet mine. “I told you your room would be ready for you when you chose to come back.”
I nod but don’t meet his eyes. “Okay. Thanks. All right. Well, good night.”
Before I can make my escape, a hand touches my chin lightly, surprising me. He tilts my head back until I meet his eyes. “What’s wrong?”
I frown. “Nothing.”
“Oh, there’s definitely something wrong. You’ve never hesitated to look me in the eye or give me some snide remark,” he says with a smirk. Seeing that smirk helps me relax some. “What is it, Harper?”
I blurt out. “Is it okay that I’m here?” And then like an idiot, I keep going. “I wasn’t sure if I should come, if you’d want me to come.”
Because his fingers are still grasping my chin, I don’t miss the scowl that forms. “If I’d want you to come?” he asks, low and slow.
“Yeah. I mean we fight all the time, and I didn’t come here with you six weeks ago when you left. I guess I wasn’t sure if this was...if I should come.” I laugh. “I thought maybe you’d send me right back.” I pull away, and he releases me.
“You thought I’d send you back?” he repeats as if in shock.
“Oh, come on; you can’t be that shocked,” I say, finally snapping out of it. “You and I are like oil and water. We fight all the time and argue for days. And we—” a huge yawn escapes me, cutting off my words.
He takes a small step back. “For what it’s worth, I have no plans of sending you back.
Ever. Get some sleep, Harper. We can talk tomorrow.
” And then he turns and strides down the hallway.
I watch him a moment before opening the door to my room.
I freeze. Nothing in this room is the way I left it.
There are bright tapestries on the wall in blues and whites.
There are furs on the bed that I know for a fact weren’t there the last time I was here.
I turn around the room and notice the bookshelves that definitely weren’t here the last time I was here.
Seeing books on the shelves, I walk over to the shelf.
The books are leather bound and gorgeous.
I pull the first book carefully off the shelf and peer at the title.
The Hearth That Never Went Out. I blink, sure I’m not seeing this correctly.
I pull anther book off the shelf. The Seven Trials of Little Bran.
My breath is coming faster now. I pull off another one and another one.
The Map That Changed Every Morning. The Trees That Talked at Night.
They’re all titles I told Rauk about. I slide down the wall, being careful with my knee.
Reverently, I crack the spine of the first book.
The leather creases, and I turn the first gold-trimmed page.
The illustrations are all hand drawn and perfect.
I look through several pages and then page through another one.
I can’t imagine how much these books must have cost. Suddenly, Farrah’s words come to mind.
It’s not in what he says, that’s for sure.
It’s in what he does. I look around the room and down at the books on my lap, and I realize she’s right.
I know it’s too soon to say he loves me; we’re nowhere near that stage.
But I know he cares for me. It’s in these books I’m holding, it’s in the tapestries on the wall, it’s in the mural on Auri’s wall.
It was in the fact that he was upset he didn’t know we were flying here today.
It was in the meal he got for me when I couldn’t walk and how he wouldn’t let me walk on my injured leg.
It was in bringing his entire army to fight a battle that didn’t belong to him.
I suddenly recall one of our last conversations before he left.
“You’ve certainly changed. I thought you didn’t care what happened to the other kingdoms,” I had challenged him.
“I don’t.”
“You’re so full of it, Rauk. You do; otherwise, you would have never come. You would certainly not have brought your soldiers and their spirit dragons. And you most definitely wouldn’t be hanging out here tracking down any remaining guivres.”
“There’s only one reason I’ve done any of that.”
I close my eyes and lean my head against the wall.
Suddenly, I can’t be in this room any longer.
I push myself to my feet and open the door and stride down the hallway and don’t stop until I’m standing outside his room.
I don’t let myself think. I knock on his door.
It opens a moment later, and I nearly fall forward.
He catches me, steadying me. “What is it?” he asks, worry in his voice.
I stare up at him. Everything hits me at once, and I can’t say anything. Because the way he’s looking at me...how did I miss it?
“Harper?” he asks, concern threading through his voice. “Hey, what is it?” He rubs a palm down my arm so incredibly gently.
I swallow hard and force the words out. “I found the books.” My voice is barely a whisper. The hand on my arm stops moving. “Rauk...” I can’t say anything more. The words just won’t come.
His entire face softens. “You’re welcome.” Then he shocks me by pulling me against his chest.
My body stiffens, and I finally find my words. “I think I should tell you that I don’t like to be touched.”
“Oh, I am more than aware.”
“And yet, you’re touching me,” I feel the need to point out.
“I’ve been conditioning you.”
I pull back, so I can see his eyes. “Come again?”
“I’ve been conditioning you to my touch, so you’d get used to it.”
“That’s not,” I pause. Suddenly, memories of little touches here and there start to fill my mind. “Really?”
He nods. “I don’t think you even realize how much I touch you. I figured you’d need time to warm up to me and my touch.” His eyes burn into me. “I have to warn you; I’m a very touchy feely guy.”
I snort and then realize he’s not laughing. “You’re serious.”
He smirks. “Don’t sound so pained; you’ll get used to it.”
“Uhhhh...”
He leans forward, so he’s speaking right against my ear. “You’ll get so used to it, you’ll eventually beg me for it.”