by Rhavensfyre
Belinda strolled a few steps closer to Alex. “Tell me, what drives you to handle the one thing that is anathema to your race?”
“What do you want, Belinda?” Alex asked coldly, purposely addressing her by her first name. Let her wonder how much Alex knew about her. “What does it matter to you that I work with iron?”
Belinda hadn’t missed the subtle repositioning of her body, nor the tightening of Alex’s fingers as if her muscle memory was seeking the comfort of a weapon in hand. For a Mere, she was an impressive specimen, one with a warrior’s heart and instincts. She took another step just to watch Alex’s reaction. The farrier shifted on the balls of her feet, angling her body to face Belinda while maintaining a defensive posture.
“Ahh, you mistake my question. I was not asking about your odd choice of vocations. I was asking about my stepdaughter.”
“I don’t understand.” This time it was Alex who went on the offensive. Jaw clenched, hands balled into fists until the leather laces holding her bracer on creaked against the force behind them, she took one heated step towards the woman.
Belinda strode a few steps sideways, keeping Alex at a distance. Like fighters circling each other in a ring, taking each other’s measure.
“Haven’t you wondered about her? I know you aren’t immune to her abilities. Do you think it was by accident that she was drawn to you? Or you to her? It is actually quite ironic, you know. I never considered she might be attracted to another woman. I wouldn’t have wasted all that time and energy discouraging her from dating all these years.”
“Explain yourself.” Alex spoke gruffly. “I don’t care for games.” Her right hand convulsed, her fingers grasping at the air, not quite making a fist. That she wished for her heavy hammer right now was a warning she couldn’t ignore. This woman was dangerous.
“Rohanna is a Gatekeeper. Do you know what that is?”
“No,” Alex growled.
“She has the power to open the stone circles. To let the Magic of Faerie back into the world, along with every Greater Fae who ever laid claim to you.”
“You’re lying,” Alex grated out. How could this be? Every fiber in her being was screaming at her, telling her that Belinda was not to be trusted.
“Am I? Are you willing to bet the safety of your tribe on it? I know why your people came here, Alexandria. I do not think that your tribe would appreciate you helping the one woman who could bring magic back into this world. I think you can guess what the consequences of that might be.”
Is this what GranMere is afraid of? She would never allow her people to go back to the way it was. No Mere would be forced to participate in the Great Hunt against her will, nor would they allow themselves to be used as mounts, a mark of status by the Greater Fae to have such a steed under their control. The amount of tears her people had shed during those years was enough to fuel a raging river. If Rohanna had the power to bring Magic back, she would indeed be considered an enemy of her tribe.
“What do you want?”
“I want you to leave Rohanna alone. I am sure this dalliance of yours has been exciting, but it is dangerous.”
“Dangerous? To you or to me, Belinda?”
“That’s depends on you, my dear Mere, and on what you do after you leave here today.”
“That sounds suspiciously like a threat, and I do not respond well to threats.”
“Why are you making this so difficult?” Belinda sighed, shaking her head. “Fine, I will make it simple for you then. I know about you, and I know about your tribe. If you don’t walk away from this, I can make sure that your tribe suffers for it. I will make sure that Rohanna suffers for it, and in turn, I will make sure that you suffer. Is that sufficient motivation?”
“You don’t have the power to do that.”
“Oh, don’t I?” Belinda asked, her lips turning up just enough to show the sharp edges of her teeth. The feral grin made Alex step back a bit, not out of fear but to give her room to maneuver.
“From what Rohanna has told me, she inherits the farm in a few months. What can you do to her?”
“I can do plenty. She may get this farm, but she can do nothing if I sell all the stock before she inherits it. She will get this place, but it will be an empty shell. Think. Everything she has worked so hard for all these years, gone.”
“Somehow, Belinda, I don’t think that is the way you play,” Alex gritted out between clenched teeth.
It was obvious Belinda was used to getting her own way and was amused at someone trying to say otherwise. She laughed in that throaty, over the top way someone did when entertaining the idea of doing something incredibly wicked before leveling those strange grey eyes at her, her mood shifting to something deadly and dark in an instant. Alex felt her tattoo flare in response to that look and struggled hard to keep that blue flame from travelling. She would not, could not, reveal herself that way.
“Now that, Alexandria, is the smartest thing you have said so far.” Belinda’s voice dripped with sarcasm. “No, that is not the way I play. The stakes here are so much bigger, and I do not need you interfering with my plans.”
Electricity crackled in the air between them, generating a breeze that whipped through Belinda’s red hair and tangled itself around Alex’s heavy braid. The smell of ozone laced with sulfur tainted the air. Alex’s nose wrinkled in distaste at the foul odor of dark magic.
“Witch woman,” Alex growled, practically baring her teeth at Belinda. Not just any type of witch, but the worst type, one who had embraced the darkest forms of magic.
“What do you want with Rohanna?” Alex demanded, concern for her new lover skyrocketing after Belinda’s display of power. The small hairs on her forearms stood at attention from the residual static. The air still smelled charged with electricity, hot and dry like the rare summer storm that refused to bring the rain with it.
“Oh, I won’t make it that easy on you. All you need to know is that I will not tolerate any interference from you. Rohanna will perform the task I have groomed her for all these years,” Belinda said, waving her hand dismissively. “I think it’s time for you to leave now. Peter here will pay you what you are due. I suggest you think on what I have said. Good bye.”
The groom appeared out of nowhere to stand just behind and to the side of Belinda. There was no hint of the surly man Alex had been dealing with all morning. He stank with fear and old tobacco, the sour odor permeated the air around her. Belinda turned on her heel and strolled away, leaving her alone with the obviously terrified man.
“How much do we owe you?”
Pulling out her receipt book, Alex quickly tallied up the bill. More pressing matters occupied her mind. The witch woman was an obvious threat to her people. What was going on between her and Rohanna was one thing, Belinda was another matter altogether.
Tossing her hoof stand into the back of the truck, she stuffed the money Peter held out to her into her jeans pocket without bothering to count it and jumped in her truck to leave. The stakes had been raised, along with a number of new questions. What was a Gatekeeper and why did Belinda need her? More importantly, what had she been doing to her all these years?
The trip down the blacktop driveway seemed to take longer on the way out, adding to her agitation. Her back tires squealed and tossed gravel behind her when she turned onto the state road and could finally hit the gas pedal as hard as she wanted.
Alex couldn’t get home fast enough. She needed to get in touch with her aunt and tell her about Belinda. Kaleigh had been afraid of the magic Rohanna carried. Even untrained and ignorant of her talents, she had considered Rohanna dangerous. What would she do once she knew someone had been grooming those talents?
CHAPTER THIRTY
Rohanna was in a terrible mood.
A brief, sudden summer storm had come in earlier, catching her and Galileo out in a torrential downpour. The rain had soaked both of them through and through, making for a miserable ride that ended in disappointment. The arena had quickly gone to
mud, becoming too slick and dangerous to ride past a sedate walk, and the judges had called it a day and cancelled the rest of the show. “A long drive and all that preparation and not a single ribbon to bring home, what a waste of a day,” she grumbled, untacking Galileo and hitting the road early.
Rohanna crawled into the truck cab and waited for the windshield wipers to clear the dust borne mud smeared across the windshield before pulling out. Her hands shook and her stomach did a nauseating flip-flop when the trailer slipped in the mud behind her. The tires finally found gravel to dig into and soon after that, she was back on the blacktop.
The road was solid, but it didn’t make her feel any better. She hated driving in bad weather, especially with a horse and trailer, but if it was going to rain while she drove, she’d rather do it during the day. Rain and nighttime driving brought back too many painful memories.
She finally made it home, happy to have made it in one piece, only to discover that she didn’t want to be there.
“Oh, you have got to be kidding.” Rohanna squinted up at the sky. The minute she led Galileo towards the barn the rain stopped and the sun broke through the clouds. She shook her head. The show should have kept her away from the farm all weekend. She really wasn’t ready to deal with Belinda, and while she could always find a place somewhere and sleep in the horse trailer, another option came to mind. A better option. Ro grinned at the bay gelding. “What do you think, Galileo? Should I go see Alex?”
“Alex?” A youngish looking woman interrupted her aggravated muttering. “The farrier?”
“What? Yes, why?” Rohanna asked sharply, taken aback by the question. She hadn’t seen the girl before today. Probably one of the locals picking up a few hours. She had a pitchfork in hand and a wheelbarrow full of manure so she’d gotten stuck with the crap job—literally.
“She was here earlier, trimming the broodmares.”
“Was my stepmother around?” Rohanna asked, biting her lower lip nervously. What was Alex doing here with Belinda?
“Mrs. MacLeod? Yes. They were talking and then it looked like they had a bit of an argument and then she left without finishing all the broodmares. Mrs. MacLeod looked pleased with herself, which don’t make much sense. She did pay her for her work though.”
The young woman was trying to be honest, but Ro could tell she was nervous. One of the senior grooms frowned at her and she went silent.
“Thank you, uh…” Ro held out her hand. She didn’t know the girls name.
“Darla, Miss Rohanna…I live right down the way on Sycamore Lane.”
Rohanna nodded. She knew exactly where that was. A patch of antique single-wide’s set on a hillside off of a dirt road, there was only one way in and it was a dead end place to live in more than one way. The families there were dirt poor, and this job was probably a Godsend.
“Thank you, Darla, I appreciate the help.”
Galileo got the quickest wash down and squeegeeing of his life. The poor thing looked slightly shell-shocked after the rough rub down that removed the majority of wet off his dark hide. Between the rain and the wash rack she was still soaked. She locked her gear up and parked the rig. There was no reason to go through all the hassle of disconnecting the diesel when she had her baby back.
Ro headed for the old wooden barn. Deemed unsafe for live animals, it worked just dandy as a trouble free parking garage. Her dad’s old beat up green and gold truck resided there. It had been given a facelift after college, thanks to all those show winnings she kept squirreling away. It was now a shiny new classic truck, replete with fresh shocks, new seats, and a glossy new paint job.
She couldn’t risk going up to the house and changing, not if Belinda was there. Shivering against the cold and wet, Rohanna grabbed an old flannel shirt from the back seat and did a quick change before digging the keys out of their hidey-hole. The engine roared to life, and she turned up the radio the minute she hit the driveway…loud enough to give her an excuse if anyone tried to call out to her.
At least the top half of me is warm and dry, she thought, turning the heat up full blast. Her jeans felt gross, clinging to her legs like wet leaves and cold as hell—hopefully they would dry out soon.
The green truck ate up the miles between her and Alex. The road was wet and there was a lot of water in the ditches, but not too much on the street itself. That was the good. The bad was the glare from the sun setting ahead of her, coupled with a dense fog rolling in from the surrounding hills.
Rohanna’s pulse jumped erratically when a small group of deer suddenly materialized out of nowhere.
I have to slow down, she thought, gripping the steering wheel tight enough to turn her knuckles white. The deer had practically leapt over the hood of her truck, unseen and unheard until they showed up in her headlights. Even as slow as she was going, she almost missed the turn off to Alex’s house. The fog had thickened with each mile until she could barely make out the telephone poles lining the side of the road. Trees loomed out of the grey mist for brief seconds before disappearing, wet green and browns fading to mere shadows of themselves before being replaced by the next set of silent sentinels.
She was so intent on finding the turn off she didn’t notice Alex’s truck barreling towards her.
The sound of gravel flying accentuated the squelch of pained brakes as she brought her truck to an abrupt stop just shy of the driveway. Alex jumped out of her truck and motioned for Rohanna to pull off the road, then walked up to her window and leaned in.
“Ro, what are you doing here?”
Alex sounded angry. It was not the greeting Rohanna had expected.
“I heard you were at the farm. I wanted to see you, make sure everything was okay,” she mumbled, now wondering if she had made a mistake. “Geez, that made me sound like a stalker, didn’t it?”
“No, not at all.” Alex gazed at her and then turned her face away, watching the road behind Rohanna’s truck. Even softened by the fog, Alex’s face was all angles, her cheekbones casting shadows that made her face look drawn. The muscles along her jawline tensed and jumped, making the shadows dance. Her tongue snaked out and wet her upper lip a second before troubling the tender flesh with her teeth. Alex looked distracted, her eyebrows drawing together for a second before nodding her head. Whatever silent conversation she was having with herself must have concluded. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath before turning back to Rohanna. Her expression remained guarded but at least she wasn’t looking at Rohanna as if she was miles away.
“Ro, I have something I need to do. I can’t explain right now, but I’ll be back later. I…we need to talk. Will you wait for me here? The forge room isn’t locked. You can go through my workshop to get into the house.”
Alex’s request both disturbed and reassured Rohanna. We need to talk rarely meant something good. She felt her heart drop to the floor. What happened today?
“Does this have anything to do with meeting Belinda today? I heard you two argued.”
Alex’s face darkened, but she didn’t answer her question. She reached in and took Rohanna’s hand, lowering her head to press a quick kiss across her palm. Ro’s pulse jumped, quickening at the brush of lips so near her wrist.
“Wait for me, Ro. You have my heart, do not worry about that.” Alex’s words were so unexpected and spoken so earnestly that it sent Rohanna’s mind reeling. She knew she had fallen for Alex weeks ago. Since their first night together she could barely think of anything else, but until this moment, she hadn’t been as sure of Alex’s feelings.
“Okay,” Rohanna rasped. Her lungs burned from holding her breath for too long.
“Good. I won’t be long. I promise.” Rohanna watched Alex climb back into her truck and pull away, leaving her alone with a growing sense of frustration as her sole companion. She had so many unanswered questions, and now she was supposed to wait.
The idea was maddening.
She could still see Alex’s running lights as they receded into the distance. The pale
red glow was the only color in an otherwise grey world. In a few seconds they would be gone, swallowed whole by a world gone eerily silent except for the rumbling growl of her truck’s engine. The normally passive grumble spoke to her, daring her to rev the motor into a deeper roar and enter the chase.
“Screw it,” Rohanna said. Throwing the truck into drive, she took off after Alex.
The feeling of being left in the dark too many times drove her to follow her lover. She wasn’t willing to just sit and wait while things happened around her anymore. Determination found its way into her heart. She could no longer be a passive observer in her own life. Alex had woken something inside her, a hunger for life and passion that had been kept chained and bound for far too long. Straightening up in her seat, Rohanna focused resolute eyes on the road ahead of her. Belinda would not interfere with what she had with Alex—not now or ever. The vow sunk in, unspoken, but still incredibly powerful.
Rohanna trembled, feeling something that had been coiled and silent inside of her begin to unravel and stretch towards some invisible light. Why it felt like she had done something forbidden, like opening a metaphorical Pandora’s Box, she had no idea. All she knew was that she was chasing the future in a pair of bright blue eyes and it felt wonderful.
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
Night had fallen rapidly. By the time Alex pulled her truck off the main road and onto a poorly marked side road, a full moon had replaced the setting sun with its own haloed glow and Rohanna was starting to rethink her plan. Or, more accurately, her lack of one. How was she supposed to explain to Alex what she was doing, following her like this?
Her internal war didn’t stop her feet from moving forward. Like many people doing something foolish and emotional, Ro didn’t let indecision keep her from doing something even she had to admit was stupid. Her stalker joke didn’t seem as funny now, not when she was creeping about in the dark out in the middle of nowhere, following Alex’s trail by the thin light of the moon.