Warrior

by Lori Brighton

  He dropped his pack near mine. “Too far north for humans, too far south for most Woodfolk.”

  I sat up and began to unlace my boots. “Woodfolk?”

  “Nymphs, elves, dwarves, trolls, maybe even a fairy or two.”

  I slid my gaze toward the dark shadows as I tugged off my boots. My feet practically throbbed with relief. The trees barely moved. I could sense no one. Nothing but forest and plants. Was he being honest, or joking? “I don’t see anything.”

  “That’s because we aren’t quite far enough north yet, and they are notoriously shy around humans.” He settled on the large boulder I’d recently vacated, not far from me, and slapped his hand on the hard surface. “The rock I’m sitting on was once a troll.”

  I laughed.

  He quirked a brow. Oh god, he wasn’t joking.

  “They turn into rocks?”

  “Of course. Most think it’s from sunlight,” he shrugged, “but it’s actually from altitude. They can turn into boulders if they wish, for protection. However, if they travel too far south it’s an automatic transformation. It works well for us because if they could enter human territory, we’d all be destroyed.”

  I wasn’t sure if I believed him. He could very well be making me look the fool.

  “Which is why the human kingdoms all lay south: as protection from the natural beings. So, relax. Bathe even.”

  I looked longingly toward the pool. A swim would definitely ease my aching muscles, wash away the dust, and make me feel human again. I stood and shrugged off my jacket, then dropped my pants. I could feel Mak’s gaze on me but I was determined not to blush. Besides, my linen shirt went to mid-thigh. I had more coverage than at the beach.

  Before he said something embarrassing, I raced forward and jumped into the water. The cold, clean liquid enveloped me like a bodysuit, covering my head and cooling my flushed skin. I sank.

  My toes touched the bottom, the smooth, round pebbles rubbing against my aching feet. Pure bliss. I dared to open my eyes. It was dark. The weak light of dusk barely sliced the surface. Quiet. Peaceful. I didn’t want to leave this watery world and face reality. Only when my lungs began to burn did I push off the bottom and break through the surface, gasping for air.

  “Feel better?” Mak asked, watching me from his boulder. The shadows of night called to him, belonged to him, made him look even more mysterious, dangerous. “Thought I might have to jump in and save you.”

  I shoved my damp locks from my eyes. “No one needs to save me.”

  His lips lifted in a way that made me annoyed. What did he see when he looked at me? Someone vulnerable, pathetic? Or a princess ready to command? Not one person in Acadia looked at me with reverence and awe. To them, I was a child. I could see it every time they avoided my gaze. But I’d noticed the way Mak’s soldiers looked at him. They might follow his uncle, but they respected the true leader. I wanted that. I wanted to be useful. Respected. I wanted…to be wanted.

  “How is it?”

  I cupped the water in my hands and watched it drip between my fingers. “Cold, but feels amazing.”

  Without warning, he pulled the shirt over his head. His chest was lean, muscled, and tanned. A subtle whisper of warmth curled through me, twisting low in my gut. Flushing, I tore my attention from him.

  Yep, definitely attraction.

  He was cute. More than cute. A damn Prince Charming. However, he was also arrogant. Rude. Probably had so many girlfriends he couldn’t keep their names straight. I might be a princess here, but deep down I’d always be that poor girl from a broken home. The question was, why did I care?

  With a sigh of frustration, I raked my fingers through my wet hair. My emotions were a knotted mess and I couldn’t seem to untie one from the other. I had to regain control and fast. Closing my eyes, I rested on my back and floated.

  “You know,” he started, his voice muffled through the water. “I swam here before, as a child.”

  I opened my eyes. What was he getting at? I knew he wasn’t sharing this little memory just because he wanted to chat. I had a feeling everything he did had a greater purpose, was a calculated movement. It felt like we were playing a constant game of chess.

  “My dad and I were hunting uni…”

  I rolled my eyes, disgusted. Unicorns. That comment in and of itself should have made me hate him. I should have found him repulsive. Yet, I didn’t. And not for the hundredth time I wondered why. Why didn’t I hate the guy who was going to hand me over to his horrible uncle? The guy who hunted unicorns? The guy who had abducted me from Earth and forced me here? Here, where everyone wanted me dead?

  He cleared his throat. “Anyway, we were hunting and my father decided it was time for me to swim. So, he threw me in.”

  As I floated, I waited for more. Wanted, for some insane reason, to know about his childhood. Maybe so I could understand him, his goals here. Understand why he fascinated me.

  “I sank,” he continued. “Almost drowned. Probably would have, but one of his soldiers took pity on me and jumped in. My father had the man beat for disobeying, then he threw me back in again, and again, until I finally learned to calm down enough to float.”

  Anger surged through me. What was wrong with these people? “Your father sounds lovely.”

  “He was certainly not an emotional man, but he wasn’t as bad as my uncle.”

  My anger shifted, and my emotions wavered between sympathy and despair. What did it matter if his father had been as cuddly as a cactus? What did it matter if he’d had a bad childhood? A lot of people have bad childhoods. I would not waste sympathy on a man like him, on a kingdom like his.

  I turned over on my stomach, and started to slice my arms through the water, swimming toward the mini falls. I heard him splash into the pond and wondered, before I could stop myself, if he swam nude. Despite the chill water, my face burned at the thought. Not my business. We needed to keep things formal. No childhood stories, no emotional attachments. And certainly no salivating over his muscles, or wondering about nudity.

  When I reached the falls, I turned to face him. “What is your plan, Mak?” My voice came out sharp enough that he raised a dark brow. “Will you still uphold your promise and take me to the fairy magic?”

  He didn’t answer, instead, he ducked under the water. I waited. And waited. Frustrated, I was contemplating leaving the pond when firm fingers gripped my ankle and yanked me down. I had just enough time to close my mouth before my head went under.

  His grip was tight. Too tight. Anger turned to fear. I struggled to break free, but he wouldn’t let go. The water was dark…so dark I couldn’t see my hand in front of my face.

  Hell, this wasn’t a game. Frantic, I fought. My lungs burned. I twisted, kicking with my free foot against his firm hand, but he didn’t relent. I realized in that moment that this was it; Mak was finally going to murder me. He’d been planning it all along.

  My weak body stopped struggling. My head pounded from a lack of oxygen. My eyes closed. Just when I thought I was going to sink to the bottom and die, he released me. The tiny bit of fight I had left flared to life. I didn’t pause, but pushed my feet into the pebbles at the bottom of the pond and burst up toward the surface.

  “Why, Mak?” I screamed, as I broke through the water, gasping for air. “What the hell is wrong with you?”

  I spun around, but Mak was near the shore. Unless he was an Olympic swimmer, he was too far away to have done the deed. I paused, trying to regain control of my breathing, my muddled mind attempting to understand.

  “Shay.” Mak started toward me, his face drained of color. “Shay, hurry.”

  My lungs and chest still aching, my body exhausted, I could do no more than trudge toward him. I’d had enough water for one day. For a lifetime. “I’m not a dog. Don’t demand things of me.”

  “Shay, get out of the water…now!”

  There wasn’t just anger in his voice but something more, something that sounded distinctively like panic. Anxiety sur
ged to the forefront, urging my exhausted body to move.

  I hurried my steps, running as fast as the heavy water would allow. “Why? What is it?”

  He raced toward me. “Out of the pond! Now!”

  Desperate, I dove across the surface, flailing my arms in an attempt to swim faster. My heart hammered, drowning out everything but my own harsh breathing.

  He was almost to me. His arm outstretched, his face set in determination. “Hurry!”

  I tried to lunge for his hand, but the same firm grip that had pulled me under suddenly grabbed my ankle. I had just a moment to realize that something evil lurked in the water below us before I was jerked underneath again. The surface closed around me, heavy, suffocating. I bent at the waist, twisting and turning, trying to break free. The hand released. Something flashed across my line of vision, giving me pause. A dark shadow I couldn’t quite identify. A fish? A…person?

  Mak was suddenly at my side, startling me from my stupor just as my chest began to ache from lack of oxygen. He gripped my upper arms and pushed off the bottom. Momentum sent us surging upward. Right before we broke the surface, he wrapped his arm around my waist, pressing me close to his hard body, and I wasn’t too proud to cling to him.

  “What was that?” I demanded, coughing, as he dragged me toward the shore. “What happened?”

  My feet hit the bank. He released his hold and I collapsed to the ground, my limbs trembling and weak from lack of oxygen or the rush of adrenaline, I wasn’t sure. Water trailed down the hard planes of his face, his neck, to his muscled chest. His entire body was tense. I swore…I swore those eyes glowed green.

  He spun away, making me wonder if I’d imagined his glowing eyes. “I should’ve checked, but they don’t usually travel this far south. Why are they here?”

  Somehow, I managed to drag myself onto the boulder where my clothes waited. “What was it?”

  “Water sprites.”

  I sank onto a boulder, too traumatized to care that my shirt was clinging to my wet body and I still wore no pants. Besides, he wasn’t looking at me, his attention was focused on the pond. “You’ve got to be kidding.”

  He paced the shoreline, searching the water as if hunting the beasts. Disconcerted, I drew my legs close to my chest, tucking my shirt over my knees and trying to get warm. I thought sprites were cute little beings, at least they were in children’s books. I pressed my hand to my chest. It still ached from my near drowning.

  Finally, he looked at me. “You’ve heard of them in your world?”

  I grabbed my pants and struggled to pull them up my damp legs. His eyes no longer glowed. Maybe they never had. “Heard of them, but they aren’t real. At least not in my realm.”

  He was at my side just as I was buttoning my trousers. Taking my hand, he pulled me from the boulder, sending me tripping beside him in his haste. “Come. Look.”

  We paused at the water’s edge. I studied the dark surface of the pond, and at first, I saw only large fish swimming this way and that, leaving behind trails of glittering, silver dust. “They’re just…”

  One came up close to the surface. A face smiled up at me. Gone as quickly as it appeared. Startled, I stumbled back into Mak’s hard, wet body.

  “Did I just imagine that?”

  “No.”

  When his hands settled at my hips, keeping my back pressed to him, I didn’t try to pull away. He was too sturdy, too warm, too real. “They’re dangerous?”

  With his free hand, he raked back his damp hair and shook the water droplets from his fingertips. “Yes. Sort of.”

  He continued to search the pond. Did he realize he still touched me, held me close? “What do you mean?”

  “They’re more mischievous than evil, but they don’t seem to realize that humans can’t breathe underwater.” He released his hold, and I admit I was disappointed. “They’ve drowned more than one unsuspecting swimmer with their antics.”

  I watched their silvery glow as they swam, twisting and turning almost like they did an underwater ballet. Not evil? They’d almost killed me…twice. I inched closer, kneeling. The sound of chimes rippled across the surface. “They’re laughing, aren’t they?”

  “Very mischievous, and very annoying.”

  I stood, shaking my head. “There’s so much I don’t know.”

  He rested his hands on his slim hips, completely comfortable with his near nudity. The cold did not seem to bother him although his chest was bare and his trousers soaked from his swim. “They shouldn’t be this far south. Something is wrong.”

  Disconcerted, I looked around us. The woods were still, quiet. The only sound was the murmured, gurgling laughter of the sprites as they swam and splashed, having a jolly good time. A shiver raced down my spine. Whether from cold, or because of how close I’d come to death, I wasn’t sure.

  “We’ll stay here to camp.” He frowned. This evening was the first time I’d seen him looking anything but smug. Had I wanted that smirk off his face? I’d give anything to have it back. “The sprites will warn us if someone is near.”

  “How?”

  “The laughter will stop. The energy of the atmosphere will change. Plus, most animals will stay away if they smell the sprites.”

  I looked at the surface. They’d raced toward the waterfall, splashing in and out of the water like tiny dolphins. They might have been merely mischievous, but that didn’t mean they couldn’t kill. “Can they leave the water?”

  “No. They’re one with the water. They can shrink, become larger, and follow the stream, but they can’t leave it. They would die.”

  That was something to make me feel better, at least. We fell into an uneasy silence. He went to his clothing and dressed, while I pulled on my socks and boots. When he finished, he started to gather fire wood. I didn’t know him well, but he seemed preoccupied with his thoughts. Fine. I had my own issues to keep me busy.

  I leaned down and shuffled through my pack, pulling out the small bedroll. He’d saved me from the soldiers. The sprites. He remained by my side, escorting me to the fairy hive when he could have easily escaped. But he wasn’t a kind man. He was arrogant. Self-centered. He had a plan. To believe otherwise would only get me hurt, if not killed. So why? Why was he still here? What was his agenda?

  He knelt in the middle of the clearing, piling the wood for a fire. A chill breeze swept down from the mountains and ruffled is dark locks. He was so handsome it hurt to look at him, made me almost uncomfortable to be in his presence.

  “Why are you doing this?” I asked.

  He pulled out a flint box from his pack. “Making a fire?”

  “Why are you still here?”

  He paused, but didn’t look at me. Was he trying to come up with something plausible, or did he not know why? Was it as much a mystery to him as it was to me?

  “Why are you here, protecting me?” I pushed on. “You don’t have to. I know you could easily escape if you wanted. And you can’t tell me you don’t want to go home.”

  He scraped the flint, a spark bursting to life. The brush caught fire. He leaned close, pursed his lips and blew. The flames flared, licking at the branches.

  “I’m here,” he said, his gaze meeting mine. “Because you said you trusted me, and that changed everything.”

  ****

  I’m here because you said you trusted me, and that changed everything.

  The words whispered through my mind over and over, taunting and tormenting me so I couldn’t sleep. What did he mean? How did it change things? Was I reading too much into it?

  “Your chattering will wake the sprites,” Mak muttered from the other side of the fire, startling me. “And all we need is for them to start splashing again.”

  He was right. They were like toddlers you put to bed, hoping they didn’t wake so you could get just one good night of sleep. Their activity had stopped about an hour ago, although their silvery light still lit the pool, giving us a nightlight of sorts.

  It was too cloudy to see the st
ars. The world was dark, quiet, watchful. The forest and mountains surrounding us had become leering, suffocating. Between the temperature and my unease, sleep was impossible. I huddled within my jacket, cursing Bryn and his soldiers for carrying the tents.

  “It’s damn cold.”

  He held out his hand. “Come here.”

  I rolled over, my back to him. No way was I headed to his side. I’d been wondering how close I could get to our small fire before I sizzled like bacon. But I’d sizzle before I’d go near him. The ground was soft, but damp with dew. Thank god for my sleeping roll. When I faced the flames, my back was cold. When I rolled over, my front froze. I shifted, trying to get into a more comfortable position.

  “Shay,” he called out, annoyance lacing his voice.

  It was obvious he expected his every command to be obeyed. I turned to face him. “Why? What do you want?”

  He sighed, dropping his arm. Through the flames I could barely see his features. “Do you always question everything?”

  “Sorry to disappoint you, my lord, but I’m not a sheep who blindly follows.”

  “It would certainly make things easier.” He surged to his feet and moved around the fire, a dark shadow heading toward me. I stiffened, knowing what he intended even before he settled beside me. “Body heat. Better than fire.”

  He lay down behind me, wrapping his arm around my waist and dragging me close. His body curled perfectly around mine, his hard muscles pressed to my back, bottom, legs. I was so surprised I didn’t fight him. The fire crackled brightly in front of me. The prince was strong at my back. He was warm. So damn warm. I’d rarely dated. My mom certainly never gave me affection. Why didn’t it feel odd to have him hold me?

  “You call me Shay,” I said, mostly to break up the silence.

  “It’s your name.”

  “Yeah, but no one else will say it.”

  “They can’t. You’re royalty.”

  Like Brynjar, he had a ready response to everything. And most of their responses made no sense. “My aunt could.”

  I had him there. A small smile of satisfaction lifted my lips as he remained silent. It was too much fun to get the better of him. A cool breeze whispered through the woods, rattling the branches and making the flames dance. I barely noticed the chill air. Mak’s warm breath was at my neck, stirring my hair, tickling my skin, and making my stomach clench in a way that made me feel restless, annoyed and intrigued.