Chapter 5 #2
He stepped closer, not enough to threaten, but enough that she felt the presence of him more keenly than before.
“Or what you do not understand… what you feel for me?”
The words struck deeper than they should have.
Bria stared at him, caught between denial and something far less certain. “You presume too much.”
“Do I?” he asked, his dark eyes focused on her soft blue ones.
Her heart betrayed her then, beating faster, her thoughts no longer as steady as they had been moments before.
“I know what I am,” she said, grasping for what had always made sense to her. “And I know where I belong.”
“Do you?” he challenged. “Or have you simply never been given reason to question it?”
She shook her head, though the certainty she reached for did not come as easily now. “This is not a matter of questioning. It is a matter of sense.”
“And sense would have you walk away from what you do not yet understand?” he asked.
“Aye,” she answered firmly. “It would.”
Silence settled between them again, though it felt different now—less certain, more unsettled.
Bria drew in a breath, steadying herself. “I am returning to Willowmere. If you choose otherwise, that is your decision.”
She moved again, determined this time.
Kaelan’s hand tightened around hers. Not enough to hurt, but enough to stop her.
“You go where I go,” he said, leaving no room to argue.
“There is no need for this,” she protested, pulling lightly against his hold. “We must return home. It is the wise thing to do. Whatever this creature is, it moves away from us.”
His gaze turned briefly toward the forest ahead. “And the farther it goes, the more difficult it will be to find again.”
“That is not our concern,” she insisted. “Others will deal with it. The king’s men—”
“This cannot wait,” he insisted.
Bria was adamant. “It can and it should.”
He almost smiled, seeing her stubborn side for the first time, though it would never match his own tenaciousness.
“The trail is fresh,” he said. “If we lose it now, we may not find it again.”
Her frustration grew. “You speak as though this creature is yours to hunt.”
“It is mine to track.”
“And what will you do if you find it?” she asked.
“That is yet to be determined,” he said.
“That is no answer.”
“It is answer enough for now,” he snapped. “We waste time. We need to go.”
Bria shook her head, drawing in a breath to steady herself. “I will not remain in these woods past nightfall.”
Something in his expression softened, though not his resolve.
“I cannot promise that,” he said.
The words struck her harder than she expected.
“But I give you my word,” he continued, a strength in his voice and a glare in his eyes that left no room to doubt him. “No harm will come to you while you are with me.”
Bria almost believed him, but she had seen too much as a comfort healer to believe it possible. “You cannot promise such a thing.”
“I can,” he insisted, without an ounce of doubt, only certainty.
She went to argue the impossible, but the beast cried out again.
The sound tore through the forest, distant yet powerful, echoing through the trees in a way that set her heart racing.
Kaelan turned at once. “There is no more time.”
His hand clamped tighter around hers, making sure she would remain alongside him as he rushed off.
Bria stumbled a step before finding her footing, forced to follow as he led her deeper into the forest, his pace swift and unrelenting.
Branches brushed at her cloak, the ground uneven beneath her feet, the trees growing denser the farther they went. The light dimmed steadily, shadows gathering where the forest thickened, the air shifting with a quiet that felt heavier than before.
She did not speak. There was no breath for it. Only the sound of their movement and the lingering echo of the beast’s cry guiding them onward.
Bria thought she would have no breath left in her; they traveled so fast and for quite a distance. Then Kaelan suddenly slowed, and she slowed along with him.
She took a moment to catch her breath, then she glanced at him. He stared straight ahead and she paused a moment not sure if she wanted to look, but she did.
Through the tangle of trees, she saw it… the beast.
Its pale form stood out even in the dimming light, massive and unmistakable as it moved with powerful, deliberate steps toward a darker stretch of forest where the trees grew close and the shadows deepened unnaturally.
It did not hesitate. It crossed into the darkness as though it belonged there.
Fear gripped Bria. “This is far enough. We turn back now.”
Kaelan did not move. He remained silent, watching the beast disappear into shadow.
Then he stepped forward.
Bria tugged at his hand, stopping him. “Nay!”
He stilled, his brow narrowing as he glanced at her.
“We cannot go there,” she said, a tremble in her voice despite her effort to keep it steady. “We cannot cross that boundary.”
His gaze looked back to the darkness ahead, then back at her, his brow narrowing.
“We cannot go there,” she repeated and lowered her voice to a whisper. “That is Driochmor.”
The name settled heavier than the shadows themselves.
“No one crosses into it and returns unchanged,” she continued just above a whisper. “Many do not return at all.”
The beast cried out again and Bria wondered if he taunted or challenged.
Kaelan’s focus sharpened.
Bria felt it in him, the decision already made before he spoke.
“We do not lose it now.”
“Kaelan—”
He did not wait.
With a suddenness that stole her breath, he tightened his grip on her hand and pulled her forward.
Bria stumbled, her protest lost as the forest seemed to change around them, the air growing colder, heavier, the light dimming further as they crossed into shadows.
Into Driochmor.