by Tiya Rayne
“Oh…My….God! How…..how do you know about this place?” I look up at him. Now that I think about it, he knew about Joe’s Joe also without me telling him.
Assassin gives me a sheepish look—that looks totally hot on him—and shrugs. “I just thought you would like something from your realm.”
A part of me—a part I think that comes with being a woman—says I should question this. But, why should I care when there is a perfectly good cheese steak waiting to be eaten.
I take my first bite out of the sandwich and immediately the taste of the melted cheese and stir-fried onions and peppers explode in my mouth. I moan at the deliciousness of the greasy food. It’s so unhealthy, but so good. When I open my eyes again, Assassin is staring at me. His look lodges the food in my throat and I have to swallow a few times to get it to move further down. Suddenly I’m warm again. I place my sandwich back down and fan my hands over my face. Can one look really turn your blood into lava? In Assassin’s eyes is a promise of pleasure and pain so good I may be seeing stars by the time he’s done. I really need to do something about these pregnancy hormones.
“Sorry, I can get a little carried away with food.” I hope my words can distract me from that searing look in his eyes.
“Never apologize for enjoying yourself, Lilly.” There is so much sultry heat and subtext to the sentence that I find myself fanning.
We are silent again as I try to enjoy the food. I avoid contact with Assassin’s eyes as much as possible. I can’t function with that heated look in his eyes. I’m not sure what to make of Assassin’s actions the last few hours I’ve been with him. One moment he is looking at me as if he may be interested, but I’m more than sure he isn’t. For one, look at him. He is gorgeous and I don’t mean like that guy in my high school all the girls went crazy over only because he was the hottest guy in my small town, but this is created in a science Lab hot. He wasn’t that Hollywood hot, the one that’s a little too perfect, but Assassin has a rugged beauty. I’m pretty sure he can have anyone he wants in this crazy realm, and with beautiful elves like Avalia and Miriam, what would he want with me? I know I shouldn’t take those looks for anything more than mild attraction at best, and it’s best not to get my hopes up just to be let down later.
“So,” I say looking up at him again. I like Assassin, and even though I know nothing will come of my attraction to him, I can still enjoy his friendship. “Where did I stop off with the names?” I ask tapping my finger on my chin.
Assassin smiles over at me as he pops some kind of fruit into his mouth. “I think you were still on the A’s.”
“You’re right. Hmmm! ……..Author.” I say, and he shakes his head.
We play the name game for a while. Me making up the craziest names and him laughing as he vetoes each one. We spend a little time talking about all the places he wants me to see in the Locke. Again, I wish I had my camera as he describes these places to me.
“We should be heading back. It’s well past noon day.” Assassin says standing to his feet.
I hated to leave our little spot in the woods, this has been one of the best days of my life.
“Go gather Thor, while I clean up.” I nod as I head for my horse. That’s right, he’s my horse.
I find Thor grazing on grass a little ways down the creek.
“Hey handsome, how was your lunch?” I ask, as I stroke his mane. He nods his head up and down then pushes his nose into my open hand. I giggle as his nose bumps my face. Out of the corner of my eye something white catches my attention. When I turn to get a better view of it, I’m astounded by what I find.
“You’ve got to be shitting me?” I whisper to no one.
Standing in all its regal glory just a few yards away from me is a unicorn. That’s right folks, a real live unicorn. I’ve never seen anything so beautiful in my life. It is pure white. I thought Thor was white, but up against this beauty he is clearly not—he’s still handsome though. The unicorn is larger than a regular horse also, with hair the color of fresh snow and the sparkling horn in the center of his head. But that’s where the fairytale similarities ends, because also on his head are huge antlers bigger than any buck my Uncle has caught. These horns would surely find their way on uncle Bucks wall if he saw them.
I turn to shout for Assassin when his hand clamps down over my mouth as he appears behind me. The unicorn looks up from his spot and his eyes land on me. He stares for a moment, not moving, and then he puts his head back down and continues to eat.
“Unbelievable.” Assassin whispers behind me. He removes his hands from my mouth and whispers very closely to my ear. “I want you to try to approach it.”
“What? Are you kidding me?” I whisper yell. “My track record with horses isn’t that great.”
He smiles down at me. “Thor seems to disagree.” As if he knew we were talking about him. Thor nuzzles my neck and I have to hold myself back from laughing out.
“What if I scare him off or he charges at me?”
“If he runs he runs, and if he charges you have nothing to fear, I’m right here.” I sigh. I’m not sure why he wants me to do this. I understood why I had to friend Thor, I needed to learn to ride him, but I doubt I will be climbing on the back of a wild Unicorn. However, I don’t argue.
Slowly I step away from Assassin. The moment I move, the unicorn’s head pops up towards me. I freeze and we both stare at each other for a moment.
“Keep going, Lilly.” Assassin whispers.
Without looking back at him I continue on towards the beautiful creature. I make sure to make slow easy steps and to keep my hands where he can see them. I realize I’m acting as if I’m approaching a cop and not a horse, but it seems to be working. The unicorn just continues to stare at me. When he realizes I’m not going to hurt him. He puts his head back down and continues to eat. I’m only about a few feet away from him when his head lifts up and he pins me with a black eyed stare. I stand frozen as he seems to study me.
“I’m not going to hurt you, I promise.” I say softly. “I’ve never seen a unicorn before. You are quite handsome. Just don’t tell Thor I said that, he seems like the jealous type, and I really don’t want him to toss me off his back.” The unicorn tilts his head to the side and it’s almost like a puppy studying me. I laugh at the sight and the unicorn takes a sudden step back. He lifts his front hooves in the air like I’ve seen horses do in the western movies my step-daddy use to love.
“Sorry, sorry!” I say with my hands out in front of me. I take a hurried step back and trip over a root. I tumble to the ground then cover myself in a ball, afraid the unicorn will crush me under his massive hooves. When I feel something warm touch my shoulder I look up from my protected ball and to my surprise, the Unicorn is nudging me with his nose. Cautiously I reach out and stroke him. He seems to enjoy it. He steps closer to me lowering his head even more for me to brush my hands across more of his nose. When he pushes his face into my neck I laugh again and he neighs as if he too laughs. Slowly I stand to my feet and the unicorn steps back allowing me space.
“Well Hello.” I say. “I’m Lilly.” I know it’s silly talking to an animal like it could actually talk back, but this creature is so majestic and breathtaking it only feels right to show it so much respect. He steps towards me again and my hand strokes over his neck. The hair, so soft and smooth, feels like silk under my touch. I’m nudged in the back and when I turn I see another unicorn. This must be a female. She’s smaller than the huge male I first saw, maybe the size of a regular horse and she doesn’t have any antlers, just the horn that sparkles like a five year old girl’s art project. I turn and pet her and more unicorns show up, mostly female. I’m suddenly surrounded by them. I want Assassin to come and join in all the fun. I turn to find him back where I left him, the look of pure shock and astonishment greets me. He looks as if he can’t believe his eyes. Was this some rare phenomenon seeing all these beautiful creatures in one place?
When I feel a small push near my hip I look d
own to find a very small male unicorn. His budding antlers the size of little nubs on his head. He is too precious. I rub behind his ears like I use to do Bo and he lets out the cutest little sound I’d ever heard. I couldn’t believe I was surrounded by unicorns with no camera. It must be at least six or seven of them, including the little guy. They all seem to be dying for my attention, so I take turns rubbing and petting each one. Out of nowhere a black crow swoops down over my head nearly snatching my hair out. I duck and the male unicorn lets out a cry, the others rush off disappearing into the forest just as fast as they appeared. Right before the large male disappears, he turns to me and with his eyes locked on mine—he dips his head then runs into the forest. Did he just bow to me? Immediately, Assassin is by my side.
“We must go.” He says hastily. “It is no longer safe here.” I don’t argue as I let him usher me towards Thor. I mount the horse faster this time, but I was still in need of Assassin’s assistance. Without a second of delay, Assassin is in front of me and he shoots Thor into action.
We race through the forest at break neck speed. It felt as if we were running from something. I couldn’t see anything behind us, but out the corner of my eye I noticed between the blur of trees a black crow looks to be racing along our side. Assassin turns Thor sharply and kicks him up to speed and I now know why Assassin picked this horse for me to learn to ride. Thor is fast. I mean if he were being clocked I knew we would probably be getting up to sixty miles. When we started to break free of the thick forest and neared the Southern Kingdom, Thor slows down on Assassin’s demand.
Assassin turns his head towards me and says, “What happened in the forest, with the unicorns, don’t speak about this to anyone other than Avalia.”
“Wait, Why?” crap, did I do something wrong?
He laughs and brushes his hand through his hair. “It was just a whim.” He says more to his self than to me. “When it saw you from a distance and didn’t immediately run I thought, maybe that’s a sign but never in a million years did I think it would actually work. Now it all makes sense. It’s why you can break the Dark King’s curse and why you are so muddled into our future.”
“Assassin, what are you talking about?” He turns his head briefly to look at me, and once again I am startled by the look of amazement in his eyes.
“You are pure.” He simply replies and I laugh. I think I’m about eight weeks short of being pure.
“I think my mama’s church friends would beg to differ on that. Have you forgot the situation that brought me here?” I point towards my slight belly bump.
Assassin turns to look over his shoulder at me and the disapproving look he gives me tells me he didn’t like my response.
“Only in the human world does virginity mean purity. In the Locke, purity is a pureness of the heart. It is who you are not what you are. Unicorns, even in the Locke, are very rare. They are the purest beings in our world and are thought to be the direct essence of the Goddess daughter’s love. Many people haunt and kill the unicorns for their pure blood. For that reason they have become nearly extinct. It is rare to see one Unicorn.” He cuts his eyes at me as to say, imagine how rare it is to see a herd of them. “The unicorns do not allow anyone to come close, only those that are pure, like themselves. I’ve lived a very long time and I’ve met many people, few has laid eyes on a unicorn, none have ever touched one. It was thought that because of the viciousness of the Locke, the Goddess has never blessed anyone with that purity.”
“I’ve met many kind people since I’ve been here, Assassin. It’s hard to believe that none of them would be able to touch a unicorn.”
“Kindness is not the same as pure. It is different. You are born with purity, you’re taught kindness.” Now, I get it. It’s like being born with dimples or green eyes, I’m guessing just a lot rarer.
“So what does this mean for me? And why the secrecy?”
“For the same reasons the unicorns do not show themselves to everyone, your blood holds power. I should have known this from the start. It was a reason I met you in those woods. We were drawn to your purity.”
“Woods? When did you meet me in the woods?”
Assassin shakes his head. “It’s nothing. Sorry. What I was saying was that you are already in very high demand, this little information would put you on everybody’s list. The only safe place for you would be a bunker underground and not even that would be 100%. The Goddess has a soft spot for those that are pure, someone could use that to their own devices.”
I don’t want to be special. I was never one of those people who dreamed of being a princess or a hero. When I was growing up, I never wanted to be the most popular or the center of attention like my cousin Lizzie, I just wanted to be loved and accepted. I felt like anytime the attention was on me it was for something negative. In school, the only time someone paid attention to me was when I was being taunted or pushed around. At home, if the attention was on me it meant Billy Ray was in a mood and I may end up with a few bruises. Thank God, he grew out of that mess. Even still, he tended to be cold towards me. Now, being in this realm is bringing all those issues back to the forefront. It’s hard enough dealing with being Rykan’s “Side Chick” and the Dark King’s sperm bank, but now you want to put a bigger target on my back. I don’t think I can handle this.
“Whatever you are thinking, stop it.”
I’m shocked that he knew my train of thought. “How did you...”
“Because your grip around me has tightened and your heart rate has kicked up. You are frightened about this new information?”
No need to deny it. “Yes. I don’t want this. All I ever wanted was to travel the world and view it through the lens of my camera. Then when I found out I was pregnant, the only thing I wanted was to be a good mother to my kid. Even when I knew that I could never give them the happy home that I always wanted for myself. The home with a loving mother and father, surrounded by family and friends that loved them. I just wanted to be good enough for them. I definitely didn’t want to be anyone’s hero or rare pure being. Don’t get me wrong, I am honored to help rid your people of the Dark King. No one should have to live under his tyranny. But, I will admit, it is scary.”
We stop in front of the horse barn. Assassin leaps off of Thor and reaches up to pull me down. His hands back on my hips.
He looks me in the face, his silver sparkling eyes stare in to mine intensely. “First, you will be a wonderful mother. Your sons will be proud to have you in their life. I’ve known you for quite some time now and I know the capacity of your heart. I know that you will love those boys enough that they will never feel the lack of it from anyone else.” I go to argue but he cuts me off. “Second, just because Rykan cannot be the family that you want does not mean you cannot have one. Not all families are the same. One does not need a mother and father to be happy. However, my father died when I was only a child. I was raised by a man that held no blood tie to me, but I was honored to call him my father. You can still have that happy family without Rykan.”
The look in Assassin’s eyes makes my breath catch. It isn’t that smoldering look that makes my skin clammy and my blood boil. This look is as if he is hopeful or expectant. Like he wants to say so much more than he is saying. Am I missing something? I really need Alice here to help me with Assassin. Left to my own devices, I would think that he was trying to tell me that he could be that stand in father for my sons—but that’s just wishful thinking on my part. Even in this fairytale realm where I get to touch unicorns, even I know that my ending won’t be that happy.
I look away from Assassin’s intense eyes, staring at my feet, when his finger comes up and lifts my chin. “Lastly,” he continues. “When you are with me, you should never be afraid. As long as I live, Lilly, I will protect you. If we were to separate again, know that I will come for you. Only my death will keep me away. Do you believe that?”
I nod and say, “Yes!”
“Good. Then don’t let this new information frighten you. Noth
ing has changed.” He smiles and I throw my arms around his neck for a hug.
God, this man is amazing. He knows just what to say to chase all my doubts and fears away. Assassin wraps his arms around my back and hugs me tightly. I turn my head towards his neck and relax into the comfort of his smell. I could stay in his arms forever.
I never thought I was ready for love. Honestly, I never really believed in it. The closes example I had to what love looked like between a man and woman was Uncle Buddy and Aunt Millie. Although she nags Uncle Buddy about taking his shoes off before coming in the house and not adding too much salt to his food, her eyes light up every time she sees him. And though he teases her about being a meddlesome old bat, he still watches her every move like some love sick boy. To me, they were the exception. The norm was Cousin Lizzie and mama. Mama, who loves a man that only knew how to reciprocate that love when in the bedroom. And trust me, living in a two bedroom trailer with thin walls, I knew a lot about that love. Lizzie’s love lasted all of two weeks. She would find a new boyfriend and brag to me about how he was the one, then climb into the back seat of some other guy’s car to “have a good time”. I thought love was a figment of everyone’s imagination. Like Santa Claus or the Easter Bunny. No one has really seen it, but everyone agrees that it exist. The night I spent with Rykan, though it was wonderful, I can’t say I was in love with him. Being in Assassin’s arms, being near him, makes my heart beat faster. It makes me feel like if I were locked away for life and was only given him to comfort me, I would be the happiest captive alive. I don’t know if that is the early signs of love or if I am just infatuated by him. All I know is that in his arms, I’m starting to think that maybe what Uncle Buddy and Aunt Millie had isn’t so unobtainable.