The four men, who had so boisterously interrupted our morning, shuffled toward the door. Meghan and I joined them, trailing behind at a comfortable distance. Fergus, the white wolfhound whom I hadn’t seen since meeting him the other day, bolted forward to keep up with his master.
Outside, the rain had tapered off to a steady drizzle, and in the distance those black clouds loomed even closer than before. Their color was so unnaturally dark, it made that deep, instinctual well of fear inside of me hiss in retaliation. Would two hours be enough time for Cade and Devlin to get to Kellston and back again? It had to be, because I did not want either of them outside when that boiling mass of terrible magic and violence broke loose.
Taking a deep breath to clear my head, I focused on putting one foot in front of the other. We moved through the courtyard and out onto the road, approaching the wide valley that stretched before Luathara Castle. As we crossed the uneven field at a brisk pace, I tried not to grumble about what the soggy ground was doing to my shoes.
“Where are we going?” I hissed at Meghan, as my shoe sank halfway into a patch of mud.
“The stables,” she answered, waving her hand toward the large wood and stone building in the distance. “We’ll see them off from there.”
I squinted a little and tried to get a better view of the building. From what I could tell, it looked like the nicer stables I’d seen in Santa Ynez, a wealthy, equestrian-friendly community located about sixty miles south of San Luis Obispo. On one end of the structure, the roof had not yet been fully completed, but many heavy beams had been set in place, waiting for the workers to finish their job. When we came within a hundred feet of the stables, several enthusiastic neighs greeted our ears as the horses registered our approach. I breathed in deeply through my nose, and beneath the fresh, clean scent of rain, I picked up hints of hay and manure.
One of the horses, a tall, solid black stallion, stuck his head out from one of the stalls, his ears pricked forward in curiosity. His nostrils flared, and his black eyes flashed before he gave a more robust call of welcome. Thick, glossy ropes of horse hair fell like waves of satin against his muscular neck, and he tossed his proud head anxiously.
“Wow,” I breathed, truly impressed with the massive animal.
“That’s Speirling,” Meghan said with a grin, “Cade’s horse.”
As we piled into the open space of the stable, a man and a boy stepped from one of the stalls several spaces down carrying a bucket of oats and a rake. The man’s initial expression was one of surprise, but it soon faded as his eyes took us all in. The boy by his side, however, wasn’t so practiced at hiding his emotions. His big brown eyes held nothing but curiosity and wonder.
“The horses have been a bit restless this morning, Cade,” the man said by way of greeting. “The storm’s got them nervous.”
“Understandable,” Cade answered.
“You’re not thinking of riding today, are you?”
He gave each of us a measured look, then murmured to the boy to go fetch the horses that belonged to our visitors.
“I’m afraid I need to make a trip into Kellston,” Cade said. “These men have captured one of the faelah that’s been giving Luathara’s people trouble for the past several months.”
The man’s blue eyes widened and paled to silver. “I see,” was all he said.
The boy returned shortly, trailing four horses behind him. I didn’t know much about horses, but they looked twitchy, as if the slightest movement would send them bolting.
“Marcus, saddle up Speirling for Lord Cade,” the stable master instructed.
The boy bobbed his copper head and darted off to do his duty.
“Devlin will need a horse too, Cormac,” Cade added.
The dark haired man nodded and threw over his shoulder, “Morga is recovering from an injury and Lasair won’t let anyone but Meghan ride him, so you’ll have to make do with Adhair.”
Judging by the small grin on the stable master’s face, I could only guess that Adhair was either a handful or an old nag. When the boy returned with the horse Cormac had asked for, I was surprised to learn that he was neither. The stallion wasn’t as spirited or athletic as Speirling, but by the way he looked at Cormac, and then the rest of us, I could tell he didn’t have a single mean bone in his body. He angled his head and with one huge brown eye, regarded us with nothing short of pure and absolute adoration. He stretched his neck out and pulled back his lips, revealing slightly crooked teeth, before nudging Cormac with his nose and leaving drool all over his coat. The stable master grumbled and tried to push the horse away, but that only encouraged him. Adhair stuck out his tongue and licked the man right on the face.
“Hopeless as a war horse, this one,” he grumbled, his face cracking with a grin.
The horse was an unusual color. He sported a coat of deep, marbled bronze and gold, too dark to be considered Palomino, complete with a flaxen mane and tail. His feet were covered in a fine dusting of hair in the same pale shade. Where Speirling was strong and lean, Adhair was stout and powerful. As I continued to study him, the horse turned his head to the side, revealing a long, jagged scar that traced down his cheek, leaving him blind in one eye.
Instantly, my heart clenched.
“What happened to him?” Devlin asked in a soft voice.
“Hunting accident,” Cormac offered, patting the horse affectionately on the cheek.
I wanted to ask more, but my thoughts were cut short when another blinding flash of lightning lit up the sky. Everyone present started in alarm, the horses picking up their feet and pressing their ears flat against their skulls. The concussive force of thunder followed several seconds after. I didn’t count that time, but the seconds between the lightning flash and the clap of thunder had been shorter than before. The storm was moving closer.
“Are we ready to ride?” Cade asked, his voice taking on the strained tenor of a warrior making ready for battle.
The four men from Kellston quickly mounted their waiting horses, their faces grim but clearly eager to get moving. I could tell Cade was as well. He turned toward Meghan and drew her close.
“I won’t be long,” he promised, kissing her forehead and giving her a lingering hug.
Meghan leaned into him, molding her body to his, then pulled his face down for a long, delicate kiss, before stepping away.
Devlin walked up to me, his eyes hooded and his mouth quirked up in the corner.
I crossed my arms and lifted an eyebrow as I appraised him. On the outside, I was exuding ‘tough girl’ as hard as I could, but internally, my stomach was tying itself in knots. I really had no idea how dangerous this storm was, but from what I’d already seen, it wouldn’t be pretty when it reached its breaking point. Even though it was still a ways off, and despite Cade’s and Devlin’s promise to return before the storm spilled out its wrath, I was a nervous wreck. I had just recovered from Mikael’s botched sacrifice, and I had so much yet to learn about Eile. This was too much to ask so soon after that. I was tempted to rub my hand over the scar on my chest above my heart, a nervous tick I had developed since moving to my new home. I needed more time to learn who I was before the Otherworld decided to dump its dark magic all over me again. And, I wanted more time with Devlin. Apparently, to my vexation, life wasn’t fair.
Drawing in a breath that wasn’t nearly as steady as I would have liked it to be, I met Devlin’s eyes, and in a joking manner asked, “Well, do I get a farewell, also?”
We hadn’t been a couple long enough to warrant such a dramatic parting as Cade’s and Meghan’s, but Devlin surprised me by reaching out a hand and placing it on my cheek. His thumb rubbed the skin beneath my eye and I shivered. I wondered if I’d ever get tired of such endearments from him.
“I’ll see you soon, mohr caelihn,” he said, then bent down and kissed me.
I reached up and curled my fingers in his thick hair, giving him back the same passion he was feeding to me. This is not a goodbye kiss, I chided myself. But my mind still swirled with uncertainty and a small amount of fear.
Devlin pulled away from me much sooner than I’d liked and swiftly climbed onto Adhair’s back. The huge horse swung his head around, his ears pricked forward, and stretched his nose toward Devlin’s leg. His mouth softened once again, his upper lip pushing forward. If I didn’t know any better, I’d say Adhair was trying to lick him, but he just wasn’t flexible enough to reach. And that thought helped wash away some of my anxiety. I snorted in spite of myself. What a goofball.
Meghan and I moved to stand at the entrance of the half-completed stables to watch the men ride off down the road, toward Kellston. The black clouds of the brewing storm crowded the entire horizon, but I tried to ignore their ominous presence. An impossible task, but I never backed down from a challenge. For a few minutes, I felt like some lovelorn heroine in a historical romance novel, watching her knight in shining armor ride off into the distance to fight for her honor. I gave myself an internal snort. I was no fine, well-bred lady of the court, and Devlin was not a knight, but the image was enough to calm my nerves, for now.