Chapter 7
Chapter Seven
Deep in Driochmor
Land of Sorcery, Secrets, and Exile
Bria remained near the entrance of the ruined structure while Kaelan moved quietly through it, his broad shoulders nearly brushing the crumbling stone walls as he checked the shadowed corners and broken openings.
The fading light followed him in pale fragments through the gaps in the roof, catching briefly in his dark hair before vanishing again beneath the growing gloom.
He moved as though he belonged there, another sign that Driochmor was not foreign to him.
The realization of what that could mean settled uneasily within her. Not because she sensed wickedness in him. That would have been easier.
She had comforted enough suffering souls to know darkness when she touched it. Rage, cruelty, greed, bitterness—such things left their mark upon people. Sometimes deeply enough that even a brief touch revealed more than words ever could.
Yet every time she touched Kaelan, she felt none of it. Strength and control dominated as did a calm so steady it had flowed through her and eased her fears before she even realized it had done so.
And beneath it all was something she still could not reach fully. Something that stirred whenever he touched her in return.
Kaelan crossed back toward her and set several dry branches in the small stone hearth built against one wall.
Outside, the forest had grown unnaturally still. Even the ravens no longer shifted in the trees. The silence pressed against the ruins so heavily that Bria found herself stepping farther inside without realizing she had done so.
Kaelan noticed immediately. He noticed everything.
The fire caught slowly, orange light flickering across the weathered stone and softening the ruin just enough to make it feel less abandoned. Shadows danced along carved markings nearly hidden beneath moss and soot, revealing fragments of symbols Bria did not recognize.
Her attention lingered on them.
Kaelan followed her gaze. “Best not to touch those.”
Bria looked quickly to him. “Why?”
His expression remained calm, though she sensed caution beneath it now. “Some things in Driochmor are better left sleeping.”
A faint chill slid through her. Not because of his words, but because he spoke as someone who knew.
Kaelan rose then and crossed toward a narrow opening where part of the wall had fallen away. He stood there briefly, looking out into the darkening forest beyond.
Bria studied him quietly while his attention remained elsewhere.
The firelight sharpened the hard lines of his face, though it also revealed traces of weariness he kept carefully hidden. He carried himself like a man accustomed to danger, yet there was restraint in him too, as though great effort held something powerful tightly leashed beneath the surface.
Her gaze lowered briefly to his shoulder… his wound.
He moved as though it no longer troubled him, though she knew well enough how deep it had been.
“Your wound. You should let me tend it,” she said gently.
Kaelan turned back toward her. “It heals.”
“Hopefully, it does, but you have not rested and the bandage hasn’t been changed. If you want it to heal properly, it should not be ignored.”
A faint shadow of amusement touched his dark eyes then, softening them in a way that unexpectedly unsettled her.
“You worry for me still.”
Bria looked away at once, pretending interest in the fire. “I am a healer. Worry comes easily to us.”
But even to her own ears, the excuse sounded weak.
Kaelan watched the faint color rise in her cheeks and felt an unfamiliar warmth stir low within him. Fear surrounded her here, pressed against her from every shadow in Driochmor, and still her concern turned toward him, toward his well-being.
It set a stirring in him. One he welcomed.
“You should sit closer to the fire,” he said, seeing her shiver.
Bria hesitated only briefly before moving nearer. The warmth touched her chilled skin at once, easing some of the cold that had settled deep into her bones since crossing into Driochmor.
Kaelan remained standing for a moment longer, listening.
The forest whispered in ways most would never hear. Branches settling. Creatures moving through undergrowth. The distant rustle of wings.
Nothing was near and nothing threatened… for now.
His gaze shifted briefly to Bria.
She sat with her hands loosely clasped before her, though tension still lingered in the line of her shoulders. Fear remained within her, but she fought hard not to surrender to it.
He admired that more than she knew.
Bria glanced up suddenly, catching him watching her.
Neither looked away at once as the fire crackled softly between them.
“You are thinking again,” she said quietly.
A faint smile touched his mouth before fading. “You notice much.”
“I need to. It helps me understand people.”
“And do you understand me?”
The question caught her unprepared.
Bria lowered her eyes briefly, considering it honestly before answering. “I do not think you mean me harm.”
Something in Kaelan eased at those words, though he gave no outward sign of it.
“But,” she added softly, “I think there are truths about you that would frighten me if I knew them.”
His gaze remained fixed on her. “Perhaps, or perhaps they would simply change how you see the world.”
Bria looked back toward the fire, unsettled not by the words themselves but by the strange feeling that he believed them completely.
Outside, the wind shifted suddenly.
Bria stiffened. A low sound drifted through the trees. Not a growl but unsettling just the same.
Kaelan’s attention sharpened.
The sound came again, distant this time, carrying through the forest like something searching.
Without thinking, Bria reached for Kaelan.
Her fingers wrapped snugly around his hand. The moment skin touched skin, calm flowed through her again, quieting the fear threatening to rise.
She drew in a slow breath. And this time, instead of pulling away from the strange comfort he gave her… she held on. And continued to do so, not realizing just how tightly she held it, until the strange sound faded once more into the depths of the forest and the silence slowly returned.
Even then, she did not release him immediately. The warmth of his hand comforted her too much to let go easily.
Kaelan felt hesitation in her before she finally loosened her hold, though her fingers brushed his once more as she drew back.
A small thing. Barely noticeable and yet he noticed it. Every bit of her. The gentleness in her eyes, the softness of her touch, the tenderness in her voice. Comfort healing came naturally to her, more natural than she knew.
Kaelan moved toward the narrow opening in the wall once more, needing a moment to clear his thoughts. She distracted him far too often and that was not good, but he should have expected it, knowing what he knew.
Night had fully claimed Driochmor now. Darkness pressed thickly beyond the ruins, swallowing the trees until only faint outlines remained against the dark sky above.
Bria settled closer to the fire again, pulling her cloak more tightly around herself and noticed that no stars showed here. That unsettled her more than she wished to admit as did the mist that began to creep slowly toward the opening.
“The mist will reach us soon enough,” she said worried what challenge it might bring.
Kaelan glanced at it briefly. “That’s not mist.”
Bria looked toward the opening again. At first, she thought him wrong. Pale strands drifted between the trees, curling low across the forest floor. But mist moved with softness, with aimlessness. This moved differently, almost deliberately.
It slipped around trunks and roots in slow winding trails, gathering thickly in some places while avoiding others entirely.
Bria stared uneasily. “What is it?”
“Best not to wander near it.” A faint shadow of a smile touched his mouth. “You ask many questions.”
“And you seem to provide answers as if familiar with these surroundings.” The words left her softly, honestly. “And it makes me wonder.”
She left it there, leaving him to explain. Or would he avoid responding?
The faint touch of a smile left his mouth as his gaze lingered on her, and once again Bria felt that strange pull between them strengthen, invisible yet undeniable.
“It is a creature who feeds on fear,” he finally said.
Bria blinked in confusion. “Feeds on it?”
“Aye, it senses fear and is drawn to it like dogs are drawn to bones.” His eyes shifted briefly toward the mist that seemed to linger but not move forward. “The mist wraps around a person, feeding off fear while feeding it in return.”
A chill swept through her. “It leaves a person even more fearful?” She shivered. “That is horrible for it robs the person of all—”
“Hope,” he finished. “They are left feeling hopeless and helpless.”
Bria stared at him, uncertain whether the tale frightened her more because of what he described… or because he spoke of it as truth rather than legend.
Kaelan approached the mist and it rolled back as he neared it. “Begone, you will find no fear here.”
The mist rolled away and Bria assumed Kaelan’s confidence overpowered her lingering fear enough for the creature not to sense it. And the strength of his confidence gave her hope that they might just survive Driochmor.
Bria found herself watching Kaelan when he sat opposite her near the fire. Shadows moved across his face with each flicker of flame, revealing and concealing him by turns. He seemed carved from the same rough strength as the stones surrounding them, solid and unyielding.
“You should try to rest,” he said, looking up from where he stirred the wood with a stick to keep the fire burning strong.
“I do not think sleep will come easily here.”
“It will.”
The certainty in his voice almost made her smile.
“Do you always speak as though the world bends to your will?”
A faint breath of amusement escaped him then, quieter than laughter yet warmer than she had heard from him before.
“Nay. Only when I know something to be true.”
Bria studied him for a moment. “And you know I will sleep?”
“I know you are exhausted.”