Total pages in book: 92
Estimated words: 87731 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 439(@200wpm)___ 351(@250wpm)___ 292(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 87731 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 439(@200wpm)___ 351(@250wpm)___ 292(@300wpm)
She may have risked chasing after him into Driochmor, but she had yet to risk her feelings.
All her life she had focused on the hurts and needs of others. She comforted pain, soothed grief, and offered strength wherever she could, rarely pausing long enough to examine the quiet emptiness living inside herself.
But Kaelan changed that. He made her feel too much and too deeply.
Sitting beside him now while he carefully bathed her wounded wrists as though her pain mattered above all else, Bria finally allowed herself to admit the truth she had been avoiding had tried not to feel… she loved him.
But if what she thought, felt were true… how could she love a beast?
“Bria,” he said pulling her out of her thoughts. “There is something you need to know about me.”
Chapter Nineteen
A Lone Cottage
Where Hearts Find Shelter
Asudden crack of branches somewhere beyond the trees shattered the quiet moment beside the stream.
Kaelan’s head lifted instantly, every muscle in his body tightening.
The peaceful moment beside the water vanished at once beneath sharp caution. He had lingered too long already, distracted by Bria, by what she might now suspect, and by the dangerous relief that nearly overwhelmed him when she had not recoiled from him after the beast vanished.
But she suspected something. He had seen it in her eyes when he returned to the stream. Questions lingered there now alongside emotions she no longer tried entirely to hide from him. And that frightened him far more than the fight had.
There is something you need to know about me.
The words still hung unfinished between them.
Kaelan had intended to tell her everything. Watching her bound while those men laughed about selling her had stripped away the last of his hesitation. Nothing mattered more than keeping her safe, not even his secrets.
Yet now, standing beside the stream while danger still lingered around them, he realized the truth could not be spoken here. Not if it frightened her enough to run from him and not if it destroyed the fragile trust growing between them.
“It will need to wait,” he said quietly as he rose and offered her his hand. “We should not remain here.”
Bria studied him for a moment before placing her hand in his.
He felt then. Her simple touch eased something savage still lingering inside him after the shift.
They left the stream behind quickly, moving deeper through the forest once more while Kaelan remained constantly alert to every sound surrounding them. The fight, the shift, and the bloodshed had stirred too much through this part of Driochmor. He trusted the forest less now than before. And he trusted what Bria might be beginning to understand even less.
Several times he caught her watching him quietly as they walked, as though she tried fitting impossible pieces together inside her mind.
Kaelan forced himself not to ask what conclusions she reached. If she truly suspected the beast and Kaelan were one and the same, then the truth would either drive her from him or bind her to him forever. There would be no middle ground after that.
The thought tightened painfully inside his chest and the thought of Bria looking at him with fear threatened him more deeply than any blade ever could.
Movement overhead drew his attention.
Kaelan slowed slightly and glanced upward through the trees.
Ravens followed them from branch to branch above the forest path, their dark eyes fixed steadily upon them.
Bria noticed them moments later. “They have been there a while, haven’t they?”
“Aye.”
“You believe someone watches us?”
“In Driochmor, I believe many things watch that remain unseen.”
The ravens continued trailing them silently while the forest gradually began changing around them. The oppressive darkness slowly eased beneath the trees as more sunlight filtered through thinning branches overhead. Massive ancient trees gave way to gentler woods brushed richly in autumn color, while cool breezes stirred drifting leaves across the forest floor.
Even Kaelan felt some of the tension ease from him.
This part of the forest no longer carried the same suffocating heaviness as before.
Kilham had spoken truth. There were places within Driochmor where darkness gathered more thickly than others. And places where it did not.
Bria walked closer beside him as the forest opened further around them, her shoulder brushing his now and again while they moved through the quieter woods.
The simple contact nearly undid him.
She still came willingly near him, trusted him, and reached for him. If she truly understood what he was, would she still do so?
Kaelan tightened his hold slightly around her hand before finally spotting the lone cottage through the trees ahead.
The cottage proved empty, though signs of recent use remained. Fresh wood sat stacked neatly beside the hearth, a pitcher rested on the table, and folded blankets occupied a bench beneath the window.
Bria stepped inside while Kaelan secured the door behind them.
For the first time since leaving the stream, neither seemed in a hurry to speak.