Horse Stone (Book 1 of Ilyrian Series)

Chapter 58

Adrianna stayed silent while we had our small moment together. She watched us with a critical gaze that seemed to catch every detail that we shared with each other in that hug and not having any space between us. "What happened?" she asked in a tone that told us to tell her everything.

I pulled away from Vanar and looked at her, wiping my eyes to get rid of the tears that still wanted to fall. "Ummmm." I didn't know what was safe to say or not, not knowing who was around us or where we were at, even though I had a slight feeling we were on Ilyrian.

"We can't say," Vanar said and pulled away from me. He nuzzled me gently before he walked behind me, and I looked at him from over my shoulder and watched him move closer to me until his chest was pressed to my back, and he had his head over my shoulder so that he was staring at Adrianna.

I pressed my lips into a thin line and looked at Adrianna while I leaned against him, ignoring the reins and chest plate he had on. I rubbed his face and pressed my cheek against his cheek while I looked at Adrianna, who had jealousy in her eyes while she stared at us with her lips pressed into a thin line.

"What do you mean?" Adrianna asked, her voice cold. She stared at Vanar and seemed to ignore me and the fact that we were close together. Her whole body was tense, and she didn't like that we weren't going to tell her everything.

"It's dangerous," Vanar said, and there was a warning tone in his voice. He narrowed his eyes and scowled, and I placed a hand on his chest and pushed him in a silent warning. He huffed but didn't comment about my warning.

"How?" she asked.

"Because there are a lot of unsaids," I said, and she looked at me with a raised eyebrow. I shrugged, cleared my throat, and placed my hands into my pockets while my cheeks grew red, feeling nervous underneath her scrutinizing gaze. "I am not supposed to know a lot of stuff that I know."

She raised her eyebrow higher and studied me intently. "Like...?" she asked and waited for me to fill in the blank. She still looked annoyed that Vanar was near me and not her, and I couldn't help but wonder why he was even behind me.

Did he know that I was very nervous about this whole thing and was trying to hide it? Did he care about my feelings and how easy it would be for me to have a panic attack over the slightest thing that was my normal, even though this was not my normal?

"Ilyrian, for one," I replied and pushed those questions out of my mind so that I could focus on the conversation at hand. "I'm not supposed to know about this place or about unicorns or anything." I looked down and shifted on my feet before I cleared my throat and licked my lips, wondering what she would think about me, hiding the fact that I knew about Ilyrian even when I wasn't supposed to know about this place. "I've been hiding a lot of stuff from people, making sure that no one knows that I know."

"Serena knows about her knowing about this place," Vanar said, and the other eyebrow met the other one before she was able to school her features to hide her shock.

She knew who Serena was, and I had a feeling that Serena knew about Adrianna and who Adrianna was to this place.

I looked at my horse and scowled while I narrowed my eyes at him, and he smirked. "Gee, thanks," I said, and he gave me a smug look. I rolled my eyes at my horse before I turned to look at Adrianna, making sure to keep my face calm and collected so that I didn't show her what I was thinking. "Serena knows that I know some stuff about Ilyrian," I confirmed. "However, she can't say that much to me because of the king."

Vanar pushed his head closer on my shoulder in warning, and I knew that he didn't want me to talk about my relationship with the king or who the king was in my timeframe.

I pressed my hand against Vanar's chest to tell him that I knew I couldn't talk about him. I didn't say another word, knowing full well that I could accidentally blurt it out with her there to hear me.

"King?" Adrianna asked, and I nodded. She frowned and studied me, and I had a feeling that she was trying to read me, but she wasn't able to, which annoyed her to no end. "What do you mean?"

I smiled sadly and shook my head in response. "I can't say much," I said apologetically. I cleared my throat and shifted on my feet, feeling very nervous about being out in the open at that moment. "I don't want to get in trouble when I get back to my time because of something I said here."

Adrianna pressed her lips into a thin line and nodded. "Do you think something is watching you here and could know what you have said?" she asked and raised an eyebrow, and I nodded in confirmation while I stayed silent. "Hmmm," she said and nodded again.

She wanted to ask; I could tell, but I had a feeling that she wouldn't because Vanar had warned her against it.

Vanar nudged me, and I took a small step forward to make sure that I didn't fall flat on my face. "Ask her about the book," he said and nudged me again with his nose, and my heart skipped a beat in my chest because I was shocked that he knew about it, "the one that was given to you today."

Adrianna looked between Vanar and me with a raised eyebrow. Contusion was written on her face while she studied us, and I could tell that she had no idea what he was talking about. "What book?" she asked. She looked at me, and she raised her eyebrow higher while she nodded towards him with her chin. "What book is he talking about?"

"Hang on," I said and looked at Vanar, shocked and amazed that he knew about the book. I twisted around until I was facing him, and he scowled, annoyed that I took away his resting post, i.e., me. "How do you know about the book?" I asked. "I di-"

Vanar snorted, interrupting me, and rolled his eyes again while he scowled. "You reek of magic, Hadley," he said. "Whoever tried to make sure that you weren't didn't do a good job of it. So. Ask. Her. About. The. Damn. Book."