Chapter 38
Chapter Thirty-Eight
Found at Last
A Love Reclaimed
Spring had finally arrived in Driochmor.
Dravic had expected the melting snow and warmer air. What he had not expected was the change it brought to the land itself.
Strange flowers grew in clusters along the forest floor, some with petals so pale they appeared almost white until the sunlight touched them and revealed streaks of violet and blue.
Others curled around the trunks of trees, their vines thick with tiny blossoms unlike anything he had seen in Caerith.
Plants he could not name crowded the banks of streams swollen with melted snow, and everywhere new growth pushed through the dark earth.
He found himself studying it all as his stallion carried him along the narrow trail.
His mother would have known the names of many of them.
The thought came unexpectedly.
Once he would have dismissed most of what grew around him as little more than forest growth. Now he found himself wondering what purpose each plant served, which ones healed, which ones harmed, and he looked forward to Adira teaching him about them.
His stallion suddenly stopped and Dravic immediately looked down.
The small dog-like creature that had been trotting ahead of him had halted beside a patch of thick undergrowth. Its nose worked furiously against the ground.
Dravic leaned forward in the saddle. “What is it, Tibby? Have you found her?”
Tibby lifted his head and sniffed the air, turned in a circle—and sat down.
Dravic swore.
Tibby looked up at him.
“Do not look at me like that. We have been searching for five days.”
Tibby scratched behind one ear.
Dravic’s eyes narrowed.
Five days. Five damned days of following the little creature through Driochmor while it sniffed trees, rocks, paths, and anything else that caught its interest.
When Kaelan had first told him about the strange dog-like creature he and Bria had encountered during their journey through Driochmor, Dravic had thought the answer to finding Adira had finally been handed to him.
According to Kaelan, Tibby could follow almost any scent.
Dravic had wasted no time seeking out Winnie, the creature’s owner, upon returning to Driochmor in the spring.
The woman had been only too pleased to allow Tibby to help the king. But she had warned him of one thing. Tibby could not be hurried.
Dravic had discovered that for himself.
The creature went where his nose took him, stopped when something interested him, and when he grew tired, he simply plopped himself down wherever he happened to be and refused to move.
No command changed his mind. No amount of coaxing worked. Even food had failed once Tibby decided he had walked far enough for the day.
Dravic had never encountered a creature so completely unimpressed by the authority of a king.
Tibby yawned.
“Do not even think about it.”
The little creature lowered himself onto his belly.
Dravic swung down from his stallion. “Nay. We are not done for the day.”
Tibby rested his head on his front paws.
Dravic glared at him.
His stallion gave a snort behind him.
“I need no opinion from you either.”
He paced several steps away, then back again. His patience had been strained long before this journey began. He had spent the winter ruling Scotara while every instinct in him had demanded that he return to Driochmor and search for Adira.
He had attended council meetings. Settled disputes. Listened to petitions. Prepared Scotara for the changes that would come with Driochmor no longer isolated from the rest of the kingdom. He had done everything required of a king.
And every night he had gone to bed alone. Nearly every morning he had awakened reaching for the woman he loved who was not there.
Winter had seemed endless. And damn if he had not seen hide or tail of Fiora once during all that time. He wondered what might have happened to her, since she could not go long without taking great delight in annoying him. And he feared she may have met some harm.
Now spring had finally arrived, and he was wandering through a damned forest arguing with a creature small enough to carry beneath one arm.
Dravic looked down at Tibby. “I have been separated from her long enough.”
Tibby’s tail moved once.
“I love her.”
Another small thump of his tail.
“And she loves me.”
Tibby closed his eyes.
Dravic scowled. “You could at least pretend to care.”
That earned him nothing.
He turned away and looked through the trees.
Where was she?
Tharne had insisted Adira was safe. Faith had agreed. Neither would tell him more, if they even knew more. And Dravic had finally stopped asking.
He didn’t want someone to tell him where Adira was. He wanted to find her himself. He wanted to see her. Touch her. Take her in his arms and assure himself that she was truly there.
After that—he would decide precisely how angry he intended to be with her.
Very, he suspected.
A rustling sound came from behind him.
Dravic turned.
Tibby was on his feet, his nose lifted into the air, sniffing. Once. Twice. Then his whole body seemed to change. He darted off the path and disappeared between the trees.
Dravic’s heart slammed against his chest. “Tibby!”
The creature didn’t stop.
Dravic grabbed his stallion’s reins and swung into the saddle.
For the first time in five days, Tibby wasn’t wandering… he was running.
Dravic urged his stallion after him. “Tibby!”
The little creature vanished through the trees, forcing Dravic to duck beneath a low branch as he followed. The trail narrowed, then disappeared altogether, but Tibby continued without hesitation.
For the first time since their search began, Dravic did not have to urge him on.
His heart beat harder. Adira, she had to be close.
The trees began to thin ahead, sunlight spilling through the branches. Dravic slowed his stallion as he emerged from the woods into a clearing.
“Tibby?”
He spotted the creature several feet away and several grumbling oaths fell from his lips.
Tibby lay sprawled on his belly among a bed of tiny yellow flowers, looking thoroughly pleased with himself.
“Flowers? Flowers brought you here?”
Tibby’s tail thumped against the ground.
Dravic was about to tell him precisely what he thought of his latest find when he noticed the cottage.
It sat a short distance away, small and simple, surrounded by trees and patches of spring flowers. Smoke puffed steadily from the chimney. A garden had been started beside it, neat rows of new growth pushing through the soil.
It was someone’s home.
Then he saw the woman. She stood with her back to him beneath a large tree, hanging freshly washed garments over one of its lower branches to dry in the spring sunshine. Long blond hair fell nearly to her waist.
Disappointment struck him hard… not Adira.
Dravic looked down at Tibby. “You brought me to the wrong woman.”
Tibby’s tail thumped again.
“Do not look so pleased with yourself.”
Days upon end following the creature through Driochmor only to arrive at the home of a woman he had never seen before.
Dravic muttered more oaths.
His mouth was dry, and his water skin had been empty since early that morning. He might as well get something useful from the wasted journey.
He dismounted and left his stallion grazing near Tibby.
The woman continued hanging her washing, apparently unaware of his presence.
Dravic walked toward her. “Excuse me, mistress.”
She stiffened.
Dravic stopped. He hadn’t meant to frighten her, although he could understand how the unexpected sound of a male’s voice might alarm a woman alone. And she appeared to be alone, no one else in sight.
He continued toward her and to put her at ease, said, “Your king requires a drink of water.”
The garment slipped from her hands.
Dravic watched as the woman turned slowly.
The world seemed to stop. He could not move. Could not breathe.
The blond hair had fooled him, though nothing else could. Her soft green eyes. Her lovely face that was etched in his mind and heart… Adira.
For one wild moment, relief overwhelmed everything else. She was alive. She was here. He had found her.
Then his gaze dropped.
Her gown curved over a belly that had not been there the last time he held her. Round and full and with child… his child.
He looked back at her face.
Adira made no move toward him.
Dravic made no move toward her.
Months of anger, worry, sleepless nights, and imagining every possible fate that might have befallen her vanished beneath the shock of her standing before him.
His gaze dropped once again to the unmistakable swell beneath her gown.
When he finally managed to speak, his voice sounded unlike his own. “Adira?”
Her eyes filled with tears and her lips parted. “Dravic.”
He froze. He had heard his name spoken countless times. By warriors. By enemies. By those who served him and those who feared him. But never in a voice that he thought he would ever hear.
Adira smiled through her tears. “Dravic.”
He said the obvious, “You can speak.”
Her smile widened. “Aye.”
Dravic continued to stare in disbelief, and then his eyes narrowed.
Adira was familiar with that look. It had been easy to understand.
“You can speak,” he repeated, “and you are carrying my child.”
Her hand instinctively went to the swell of her stomach.
Dravic’s gaze followed. “How long?”
Adira’s brow rose.
“How long have you been able to speak?”
“It took some time.”
His brow drew together in annoyance. “And how long have you known about the bairn?”
“It wasn’t long after,” Adira admitted, having sensed the child within her before she showed any signs of being with child.
Dravic muttered an oath and turned away, running a hand through his hair before turning back to her.
“You left me. You discovered you carried my child. You regained your voice, and not once did you think your king should be informed of any of it?”
“My king?” Adira’s smile appeared slowly. “Is that who I am to you? My king?”
“Bloody hell,” he mumbled as he crossed the distance between them in several long strides. “Do not think being able to speak is going to make arguing with me any easier.”
“I thought it might,” she said with a soft laugh.