Chapter 11 #2
My limbs were stiff as I made my way to the door. Kole followed again, and even though he didn’t touch me a second time, I still felt the warrior. His aura pulsed around him. It was thick and weighted, like a storm cloud surging through the skies.
Stars Above.
We finally reached the door, but when I opened it, a gust of cold wind from outside nearly knocked me off my feet.
I stumbled back, right into Kole’s chest, and his hands closed over my hips to steady me.
“You may want to put your cloak on.” Kole’s soft comment caressed the tip of my ear, and I realized he’d leaned down to speak to me, his lips nearly brushing against me in the howling wind.
“Oh, right, good idea.” I closed the door since a few fae near us were grumbling that I was letting all the cold air in.
Movements clumsy and unsure, as if I’d never put a bloody cloak on before, made me look like an absolute idiot as I struggled with the garment.
“Allow me.” Kole took the cloak from me and snapped it open, as if such a practice were easy, which I realized it was, but once again, my mind and hands did not seem to be communicating in the warrior’s presence.
He draped my cloak over my shoulders, and my breaths stopped, actually stopped, when his large hands reached around to clasp the cloak at my throat.
“Thank you,” I managed.
His face was still entirely devoid of any emotion, but beneath his Shield, his energy roiled. With a nod, he reached around me to open the door, reminding me of how he’d acted when we’d met several hours ago at the inn’s entrance. It seemed the warrior had chivalrous manners.
Brain finally kicking into action, I said in a slightly teasing tone, “You know, Kole, if you keep opening doors for me, I’m going to start believing that you’re a gentlefae.”
Cold wind greeted us once more, but I readily walked outside and didn’t stumble this time.
“Is that right?” he replied and followed. Outside, the dark night stretched around us. Snow had accumulated on the street and was still flying through the air. “Has a male never opened a door for you before?”
I shrugged. “A few have, but that’s twice tonight from you, and you helped me with my cloak too.”
His lips twitched, and it was obvious he was actively fighting a smile. “Well, you looked like you were struggling.”
My cheeks warmed, and I was thankful for the low light, because the warrior was right. I was struggling, but I hoped to the galaxy that he hadn’t realized it was because of him.
“Yes, well, cloaks can be quite complicated,” I replied as we began to walk across the snowy street to the inn. “It’s a lot of fabric. And only one clasp. And the hoods can be large and awkward. Truly, there should be a tutorial on how best to arrange them.”
He made a sound low in his chest, but it was gone as quickly as it started. I stopped halfway across the lane and peered up at him.
“Kole Swordwielder, did you just . . . laugh?”
His face was hidden in shadows, the swirling clouds above blocking most of the moonlight. “No.” His response came readily but sounded a tad defensive.
I burst into a fit of giggles and elbowed him playfully. “You did. You laughed. It’s all right. You can admit it. There’s no shame in laughing.”
I grinned up at him, and he chuffed, but then slowly, his lips began to curve, and finally he awarded me with a smile. A true and genuine smile.
“Fine, you caught me. You actually made me laugh,” he admitted.
For a moment, all I could do was stare at how the smile transformed his face. He was striking. No, that didn’t do it justice. Stars, galaxy, and all the moons, he was breathtaking.
“Oh, but this is wonderful,” I said theatrically to cover up how much his smile affected me. “I was beginning to believe you had no emotions at all.”
He arched an eyebrow. “I have plenty of emotions, Miss Hollaran. I just don’t wear them on my sleeve as you do.”
Warmth radiated through me, and I poked him playfully in his chest. There was something about Kole, something that just begged me to play with him.
His gaze dropped to where I was touching him, and his aura kicked up another notch, so subtly that if it wasn’t for my unique magic, I never would have noticed it.
“You should smile more, Kole. It suits you, and I’m relieved to learn that your heart under here”—finger still in place from poking him, I tapped his chest—“isn’t made of stone.”
His gaze met mine, and I could have sworn something flashed in his irises. “No, Miss Hollaran, my heart isn’t made of stone. Not even close.”
He took a step toward me, closing the distance between us even more, and his aura pulsed. That strange glow filled his eyes again, so briefly, and I was certain I wasn’t imagining it.
The warrior placed his hand over mine, flattening my palm to his chest, and my breath stopped. Completely stopped.
For a moment, we stared at one another. The air grew heavy around us, and Kole’s focus subtly drifted to my lips, a look of hunger growing on his face again, just as it had in the hallway outside our rooms at the inn.
Abruptly, a flash of magic coiled around his wrist, electrifying the space between us, and in my next breath, the warrior was several feet away from me.
My breath rushed out of me, and I stilled because the warm air that had been swirling around me from Kole’s body heat was gone.
Not entirely sure what’d just happened, I opened my mouth to ask him if he was okay, but a noise came from down the street. A snarl or a growl. Something that didn’t sound fae but also didn’t sound animal, and it sounded strangely . . . familiar.
Kole’s head whipped in that direction, and before I could blink, he was standing in front of me, his broad back shielding me from the wind as he gazed toward where that growl had come from.
“Prim, go inside the inn. Now.” His words were said with such authority, such intensity, that my body began to move before my brain caught up with me.
Before I knew what I was doing, I’d crossed the remaining distance to the inn and was opening the door. Kole was watching me, as though wanting to ensure I did as he said, and when I stepped over the threshold, that same sound came again.
Part snarl. Part growl. Part something.
A chill raced down my spine as cold as the Cliffs of Sarum. Every instinct inside me told me to run. To hide. To escape.
Eyes wide, I peered out at Kole. Snow flew around him, the night dark and the wind cold.
“What are you going to do?” The thought of him tearing off down the street, in search of the creature that had made that noise, made my heart pound and my limbs shake.
“What I’m here to do,” was all he replied, and with that, he disappeared in a blur of speed.