Pathways (The Kingdom Chronicles Book 1)

by Camille Peters

  He’d taken my hand with his rough one and we strolled the circumference of the room while Father recounted stories of adventure in far-off lands, ending with his usual, “Wouldn’t it be marvelous to explore those lands for ourselves, sweetheart?”

  At the time, the thought of going on a grand adventure with Father had seemed the most marvelous thing, but now my heart constricted at the thought. Father had loved us, but he’d clearly been unhappy with his simple lot. His thirst for adventure, his restless spirit…all had eclipsed his love. We weren’t enough to satisfy him.

  So he’d left us. If I’d only been a more exciting daughter, would he still have been so dissatisfied with his life and sought more?

  I was tugged from my reminiscing as Mother stirred beside me. I peered over to see her frowning, eyes concerned. “What’s wrong, Eileen?”

  I hastily tore my gaze away before she could see my pain and know I’d been remembering Father, despite my fierce promises to myself over the years not to think of him. But her mother’s instinct was stronger than my determination. She caressed my cheek to turn my head so our gazes met.

  “I was thinking of him, too.” She tipped her head back to stare up at the leafy branches. “Your father and I used to spend a lot of time here. It was our special place. I haven’t been back since he left; it feels strange to be here without him.” She smiled softly, wistfully. “He’d be pleased you love it so much. It makes me feel bad that my worries are keeping you from it.”

  I swallowed the lump quickly forming in my throat. “Why did Father leave us?”

  She was silent a moment, her eyes glassy, before releasing a long, shuddering breath. “I don’t know. But despite whatever might have happened to him, I know he loved us, still loves us.”

  “He couldn’t have truly loved us if he left.”

  “I don’t think he left of his own volition,” she said slowly. “I just can’t believe that.”

  “Why not?” I demanded.

  She sighed again and returned to her mending. “He would never do anything to hurt me. Our hearts belonged to one another, so I trust that he would never intentionally break mine. That knowledge has allowed me to endure life without him. I’ve only maintained my strength by remembering his love and the joyful moments we shared together. Because I care for him so deeply, I need to believe the best of him. I wish you could, too.”

  While I wanted to, I just couldn’t forgive him for leaving a hole in my heart, one that would likely never be healed. Father had broken both of us, and while Mother had managed to somehow rebuild her life, I still felt too weak to even pick up the shattered pieces. If Father’s abandonment had left me in such a state, surely losing someone more dear in the future would destroy me completely. I couldn’t survive being broken twice. Thus I had to protect what was left of my heart at all costs.

  All the more reason never to meet Aiden again. The strange draw I felt towards him frightened me. But despite my urgency to avoid the man who was still very much a stranger, the Forest’s lure continued chipping away at my defenses, urging me to step into the trees and allow them to guide me to him.

  But I could no longer trust it. The thought I’d lost another relationship so dear to me sent a sharp pang through me. I pressed my hand against my heart in an effort to contain it. I eventually would. I was used to my heart hurting, for it had been broken when Father left, and nothing had ever been strong enough to repair it.

  “Alright, I can’t handle it anymore.”

  I paused in sweeping my bedroom and looked up at Rosie, hands propped on her hips and glaring.

  “Can’t handle what?”

  “You.” She gestured towards me with her dust rag. “You’re keeping a secret from me, and I can’t stand not knowing what it is a moment longer.”

  I bit my lip guiltily as Aiden’s face unwillingly bombarded my mind before I could suppress it. I ached to deny I had a secret—especially one about a man—but Rosie had an uncanny ability to uncover such things no matter how much I tried to prevent her from doing so. She’d spent most of the afternoon casting me suspicious searching glances, her “Eileen is hiding something from me” senses obviously at work. Frankly, I was surprised her interrogation hadn’t begun sooner.

  For I did possess a secret. I’d managed to return home from my second encounter with the stranger in the woods (no, not a stranger—Aiden) with my sketchbook and had successfully kept it hidden in my room ever since. I couldn’t risk Mother opening it and discovering it was my old sketchbook. Then I’d be bombarded with questions as she asked for further details about the mysterious Aiden, whom I was struggling—and utterly failing—to forget.

  With that determined gleam filling her eyes, naturally Rosie would be the one to excavate my secret. At least I’d managed to keep it for a few days, a new record when it came to my best friend.

  “What makes you think I’m keeping something from you?”

  She rolled her eyes. “Did you really believe your ploy to dissuade me would actually work?”

  “It was worth a try.”

  “Not when you have an impatient best friend who’s dying to learn what you’re keeping from her. No, don’t return to sweeping; you have a secret to share.”

  She snatched my broom. I attempted to grab it back, but she yanked it out of reach.

  “Rosie, I need to finish my chores before Mother returns.”

  “You can finish after you tell me what you’re keeping from me.”

  Knowing Rosie, there was no way to wriggle out of this without her getting what she wanted. I sighed in defeat.

  “Fine, but we have to work while I share it with you.” I managed to pry my broom from her and returned to sweeping around my bed.

  Rosie muttered something indiscernible beneath her breath as she stomped over to my bed to change the sheets. Wait, she couldn’t change them; that’s where I’d hidden…

  “Stop Rosie, don’t—”

  Too late. Before I could stop her, she yanked off my duvet and shrieked. She gaped down at my sketchbook, which I’d hidden beneath my pillow. I really should have chosen a better hiding place.

  She slowly raised her wide eyes to mine. “Where did you get this?”

  Rosie really had a knack for uncovering secrets. Annoying. “You’re the one who encouraged me to return to the Forest and try to find it.”

  “Yes, but I expected that even if you succeeded in your quest, it’d be ruined.” She examined my sketchbook, which possessed no signs of water damage. “Tell me at once how such a tragedy was averted.”

  I sighed as I settled on the bed. Rosie joined me with her usual expectant “tell me a juicy tale” look.

  “Aiden returned it to me.”

  Up went her eyebrows. “Aiden? What an adorable name. What fine gentleman is the one who possesses it?” Before I could even answer she squealed again and scooted closer, eyes as bright as her smile. “Oh, please tell me it belongs to him.”

  “To whom?”

  “Whom do you think? To your mysterious stranger you met in the woods.”

  I ached to deny it, but there was little point. If I didn’t tell Rosie the story, she’d simply tell it herself, likely with her usual dramatics as she filled in exaggerated details to make it more like a fairy tale than what had actually happened, just to appease her romantic heart.

  “Yes, he’s the one who returned my sketchbook when I went looking for it,” I said. “The Forest led me to him.”

  She seized my hands and beamed. “Oh Eileen, I just knew you two would meet again. I knew he was your true love.”

  “He most certainly is not my—”

  “And what a heroic gesture to return your sketchbook,” she continued as if I hadn’t spoken. “You must tell me everything at once.”

  Seeing no way out of it, I reluctantly did, all while brushing over the confusing details I didn’t want to share, such as how attractive I couldn’t help but notice he was and the strange fluttery way he’d made me feel. Rosie listened
to the recitation with ever-widening eyes, and when I finished she looked precariously close to floating in her delight.

  “Oh Eileen, it’s definitely true love.”

  “No, it’s not,” I snapped impatiently. “You keep saying that, but how could you know such a thing when we’ve only interacted twice?”

  She gave me a knowing smirk. “For now. Don’t you owe him three days? Over your next several meetings, I’m sure even you, who’s stubbornly determined to be blind to love, will eventually see the obvious signs that he’s your heart’s match.”

  I gawked at her. “Are you really suggesting I give him the three days he’s requested?”

  “Of course you should,” Rosie said. “He clearly feels something for you and wants to explore the relationship further. Besides, the Forest brought you two together.”

  “You mean it led me to a villain.” But I regretted calling Aiden that the moment I did so. While he’d seemed foreboding during our initial meeting, he’d at least made an effort to be friendly during our last one.

  Rosie rolled her eyes. “Villains don’t return sketchbooks to beautiful maidens, Eileen.”

  “Unless the villain wants to ensnare her. What if it’s a trap?”

  “The Forest likes you too much to allow anything to harm you.”

  “It likes Aiden more. He has this uncanny ability to influence it.” But despite that reservation, I still felt inclined to trust him—as much as I could trust anyone—simply because the Forest did. I also couldn’t forget he’d made the effort to return my most prized possession, not to mention he’d never really intended to harm me at our first meeting.

  But all those reasons were merely feeble attempts to justify the secret part of me buried deep within that wanted to see him again in order to get to know him. I didn't know where such a feeling came from, but I couldn't deny it was there, despite my not wanting it to be.

  Rosie sensed my softening and smirked in triumph. “Not only is this relationship set up too perfectly for you to resist exploring it, but you’re too honorable a heroine not to pay the three days of time Aiden requires of you. It won’t hurt to at least create a friendship with him. You already have your love for the Forest in common.”

  By the mischievous way she smiled, I had no doubt she harbored the ridiculous hope that any friendship we developed would deepen into something more.

  “You know you want to,” she continued. “Even someone as unromantic as you must be curious to see where such a serendipitous relationship will lead.”

  I opened my mouth to deny it, but my warm blush gave me away. I sighed in defeat. “You really think I should meet with him?”

  “You need to,” Rosie said. “There’s undeniably a connection between you two. If it were me, I wouldn’t be satisfied until I’d discovered what it was. Besides, you can’t deny the Forest led you to him, not just once but twice. Don’t you trust the Forest?”

  And I did. Its opinion was what provided the excuse I secretly needed to take this unexpected path, one I knew I shouldn’t want but did all the same. It wouldn’t hurt to explore it for a little bit, just to see where it could potentially lead…

  But wherever it did, I’d be sure to guard my heart. I wasn’t certain why I was even worried about losing it to this man who was still a stranger, but I felt the fierce need to rebuild my fortresses around it all the same.

  Chapter 6

  I was insane to willingly meet with Aiden again. I told myself I didn’t really have any choice. Not only had Rosie’s unceasing pestering of the past several days compelled me to meet with him simply to appease her, but the Forest had been sending its own urges. Every day I felt its gentle tugs to enter it, a beckoning that came not only from it but also from inside me, as if my heart were being lured towards the woods.

  I’d fought these strange enticements for nearly a week, knowing that the moment I gave in there’d only be one path to follow, before I couldn’t stay away any longer. The trees were too alluring, especially with their dark, leafy limbs aglow in the rosy golden light of sunrise, the hovering morning mist casting them in an enchanted sheen. The moment I breached the Forest’s border, the pathways quickly quivered and began to unfold in the direction it had determined for me to go.

  The lure pulling my heart intensified as I picked my way through the thickening branches, venturing deeper into the woods. I knew exactly where the Forest was leading me. It was as if it spoke in a silent language only I could understand, one part of the gentle rustle of its overhanging branches.

  Sure enough, the pathway widened then opened into the same clearing where I’d previously met Aiden. He waited, leaning against the same birch tree, and smiled in greeting. My stomach performed a strange flip-flop.

  “You came,” he said with undisguised enthusiasm. “After a week, I was beginning to be afraid you wouldn’t.”

  I raised my eyebrows. “You’ve been waiting a whole week?” Would he require more payment for those days, too?

  He shook his head. “Not to worry. Like before, the Forest only just summoned me, so I haven’t been waiting around unnecessarily.”

  “The trees seem strangely determined we meet again.”

  His smile widened. “You knew they did, yet you chose to enter the Forest anyway.”

  “I can never stay away for long.” I wanted to elaborate and explain the kinship I felt with the Forest, but before I could even find the words, his expression softened as he glanced up at the swaying branches, a canopy above us.

  “I don’t imagine you can. When one finds a haven, one yearns to visit it as often as possible. It’s a similarity we share.”

  He reverently stroked the trunk of a nearby tree before he me offered his arm. I blinked at it and made no move to take it. He wriggled it encouragingly.

  “You’re supposed to accept a gentleman’s arm when he offers it.”

  “Are you a gentleman, then?”

  “Not always,” he admitted. “I possess many undesirable traits, but you seem worth the extra effort to be on my best behavior.”

  He seemed sincere, so with a deep breath I tentatively took his arm. Having spent a lifetime avoiding the local boys, I’d never been escorted before and wasn’t entirely sure what to expect from the experience. A strange fluttering filled my stomach as my fingers curled at his elbow, a feeling I fought to ignore. It didn’t work.

  Aiden looked to the trees, and as if he’d issued a silent command, another path opened up, which he escorted me down. The moment we stepped onto this new path, the Forest swallowed it up behind us, preventing me from turning back. I bit my lip. Escape would now be nearly impossible.

  “What did you have in mind for my first payment?” I asked, fighting to keep my voice steady. He couldn’t know how nervous I was.

  “You seem to know the Forest quite well, so I’m hoping to take you to places you have yet to discover, ones closer to my home where you likely haven’t ventured before.”

  “And where is your home?”

  “Hmm.” He pursed his lips. “That seems to be too personal of a question for mere acquaintances.”

  “It hardly seems nosy when I’m placing so much trust in you, trust you have yet to prove warranted.”

  He chuckled. “You’re here not because you trust me but because you trust the Forest. You couldn’t stay away, and because the Forest listens to me more than it does to you, you were led here, just as I’d hoped.”

  I cast him a nervous glance and he gave my arm a reassuring squeeze. A jolt of heat rippled over me but I made no move to pull away.

  “Don’t worry, you have no need to fear me. With time I hope to earn your trust.” He returned his attention to the path shifting before us. “The Forest is fascinating, isn’t it? It can bridge any distance—no matter how vast—effortlessly by simply changing its paths. It can make any journey as short or as long as it wants and can lead one anywhere. It adds a bit of mystery to one’s destination, doesn’t it?”

  While I’d never t
raveled beyond my own humble village, I’d seen enough maps of Sortileya to know the Forest touched nearly every village, town, and city. With the Forest’s ability to shift, in theory a several-days journey by road could be accomplished in mere minutes within the trees if the Forest allowed it, making it a place of endless possibilities.

  “So what you're essentially saying is that due to this skill of the Forest, you could live anywhere.”

  He nodded. “Exactly.”

  “Where is this particular path leading us?”

  “Somewhere I hope you’ll like.”

  I searched his expression, and the knots tightening my stomach slowly eased at the earnestness lining his hardened features. “So I’m not to be tortured?” I asked wryly.

  He smiled. “The Forest may listen to me, but I doubt it would if I intended to harm you. I have much to learn about it, but I cannot deny it loves you. Its deep affection for you is one of my motives for getting to know you better so that I may discover why, considering it has few friends.”

  More of my unease melted away. I trusted the Forest, a trust I’d proven by returning to it despite knowing it’d guide me back to this mysterious Aiden. If the Forest trusted him enough to obey him, then perhaps I could continue this particular journey with confidence, despite not knowing the final destination. Hopefully, wherever it was, it would be somewhere wonderful.

  With each step further down the path, the surrounding trees began to gradually change—from the blossoming buds of late spring to the leafy boughs of summer before the colors finally shifted to ruby, blazing orange, and gold, as if autumn had decided to arrive months early. I gaped up at the changing trees in awe.

  Aiden smiled boyishly. “Is my quest a success?”

  I slowly nodded in wonder. “It’s beautiful.”

  “The seasons have their own time frame here. Right now it seems content with autumn, but if we wait a moment…”

  As if attuned to his silent instructions, the air around us cooled as the leaves transformed into ice crystals, a taste of winter even in spring. After they had finished showing off, the trees donned their autumn-dappled leaves once more. Amazing. The Forest was full of surprises.