Sorcerer's hill

15

She told Thane everything. How the white force left her body and, somehow, saved them all.
Thane listened tentatively, his face cold. Hsi features went hard when she talked about her argument with Kayden, softer when she described the force.
"But," she stopped suddenly, "Sorcerers emit white light when performing magic, right?"
She remembered Thane using his magic - those silverish white clouds emitting from his palms.
He lazily showed her his hand, a cold whiteness shining from inside, as if he had a light bulb hidden under his skin. "I doubt it looked like that."
"Wow," she gasped. She never saw him use his magic so lesiourly. "Do it again."
He shook his head. "My magic is dark. I won't use it unless I have to."
She nodded and shrugged. "But the light was pretty."
He smiled and kissed her forehead.
"Domeon called me Protector. If that theory is true - which I'm not really a fan of - then it would mean-"
"That Seth never killed Raven." Thane finished her sentence.
They looked at each other. This was huge. That would change everything.
"Is there some witch thing that would tell us if I truly am a Protector or not?" she asked.
Thane shrugged. "I don't know about any. Did that force have a shape?"
"Maybe," she tried to remember. "It could look like a horse, maybe. I don't know, I was in a shock."
"Well," he thought out loud, "if you could call out Rhiannon's horse, that would be enough of a proof."
"Yeah, no problem," she waved her hands into the air. "Horse, come here!"
Thane rolled his eyes. "Not like that."
"Then how, Thane?" she exclaimed. "I don't know how did I do it before, how could I do it now?"
"You were in danger," he whispered, his face guilty.
"I wasn't," she tried to smile. "You were."
He looked so mournful. Did he feel guilty for putting her in danger? There was nothing that would happen to her. He was the one she was worried about!
She couldn't help herself but kiss him. He looked guilty, worried and sad. It made her heart melt. She placed her hands on his cheek and tried to say without words she was okay, both of them were. His soft lips responded to her kiss with the reassurance she didn't know she needed.
When they parted, he pressed his forehead onto hers.
"How did I ever become so lucky," he whispered.
"You were," she joked. "If I didn't see you dance with your horse, you would become just another member of this community. That way," she winked at him, "I was interested in you from the beginning."
He broke into laughter. "I forgot you saw us."
"What was that, anyway?" she laughed as well.
"Seth always appears only during the Violet Moon. Well, now The Fires."
She gaped at him. "Only for a week?"
"And only during the night," he nodded. "I was just happy to see him."
"It certainly looked that way," she smiled, making a mental note to keep that memory as long as she could. "Anyway. Did you ever find Raven's body?"
"There was no need," he said. "My brother was already labelled. It's not that hard to get rid of a corpse."
"But," she objected, "how could you be so quick to judge him?"
"He admitted it," Than shrugged. "I found him that night. He looked awful..."
He told her that when he found him, he was already covered in blood and his face was broken. He admitted everything - killing Raven, feeling as if the world shut down on him.
"We never found the body - but then again, we never looked for it. I tried to question my brother - but it was before he was punished. That's what I don't get."
"Hm?"
"He is a horse spirit. That's his punishment. He had to be punished for something. Why would he lie about killing someone?"
"Well, nothing is certain," Keira said, "but let's just consider he didn't kill her and technically, I'm the proof. What could he have done to deserve something like that?"
Thane didn't answer. Instead, he looked terrified.
"What's wrong?" she asked, taking his hand.
"Can you imagine," he slowly mumbled, "that I'd admit to everyone my brother did something he didn't?"
Keira watched him, perplexed. "You didn't know," she said after a moment. "And we still don't know that either."
"Which I found very unreliable," he added. "He and Raven... I don't know. It never seemed to me as if he hated her - quite the opposite."
"What do you mean?"
He just shook his head. "If I didn't know him, I'd say he was in love."
That's a strong word, she thought. But instead, she said: "Is there any way to prove that?"
He wondered. "Maybe the dryads could help with that. They showed you my past, apparently."
She nodded, shifting by his side. "Sorry."
"Why?"
She watched his face in which she saw no sign of sarcasm or irony. He didn't accuse her of anything and yet, she felt as if she trespassed some kind of territory.
"They were your memories. Not mine. I had no right."
It was hard admitting that. They basically shoved her inside someone else's past and she could do nothing but be a participant. Not that she minded that much at the time - it was the only way to finally realize who she was dealing with and what was going on. But the more she came back to those moments, the more she found them disturbing. The whole concept of getting into someone else's mind, seeing someone else's past was very intimate. It was alarming they seemed to do that in Rosehold, perhaps on daily basis - to whenever they felt the need to.
"I'm glad you saw it," he said after a while.
She turned to face him. "But why? I could've just waited till you told me yourself."
"Do you believe I would?"
"That's another question," she admitted. "I don't think you would. And I understand, really. It takes a while to trust each other."
He squeezed her hand. "Who says I didn't trust you?"
"Then why did you keep all that from me?"
As soon as she said that, she remembered. He didn't want her to be an outsider like him. She saw it in his eyes - he knew she understood. They were connected so well. If they didn't have any secrets, boy. This whole thing would be a garden of roses.
Thane broke the silence. "Do you have any memory of your grandmother?"
"None," she admitted. "My mother never talked about our family. And before you ask - I have no idea who my father is."
"I'm sorry," he met her eyes.
She shook her head. "Used to it, it's fine."
It was true. She wasn't the scared little girl she used to be, always wondering why her parents didn't want her. Even her mother sometimes made her feel like a nuisance. It was later, not long after her twenties, when she realized life wasn't defined just by parents and family. And she decided to make a life for herself. To make definitions where her parents should've made them. To put walls around her where they needed to be, to let her guard down where it was expected. The society was good in teaching her that only her point of view was the one that mattered at the end - how she viewed criticism, rewards or injustice. Only experience could truly shape her mind and personality. Not her parents. Her mother gave her the soil in which life planted the seeds. She was the one to decide which ones to keep alive, to cultivate, and to let dry.
"So in conclusion, we don't know much." he chuckled.
"Doesn't feel good, huh?" she mirrored his smile. "But maybe Lelia and Ethan would help."
He nodded and sighed. She could never tell whether his pupils were so large or it was his irises that made his eyes so dark. He was a handsome man, that was for sure. Even his long black hair - which she would normally consider somehow unusual - went perfectly with his slim body and sharp features.
She couldn't take her eyes of him. He was like a statue made alive - but there was some darkness that made her come to him repeatedly. She didn't fear him, no. There was a respect. She already knew what he could do, or at least how he looked like when he was at the darkest point of his life.
Something of those memories was still written in his face, something she didn't pay attention to before. Now she saw the hard lines life left on him, and yet it only looked like when a sculptor turns his mistake into a masterpiece.
She looked at the cuts on his arms. "I hate he did this to you."
"I'll be fine," he mumbled. Then his eyes found hers. "Because of you."
"I'd burn him alive if you weren't," she uttered, the seriousness in her voice surprising her. "He asked me why I cared so much. I didn't answer him - I just do. When it comes to you, there seems to be no need for a reason."
He looked astonished. Then corners of his lips curled up. In the next second, hee leaned over and kissed her. She smiled against his lips and responded to the kiss with the same softness. It was slow at first, calm and loving.
But with everything she went through the last couple of hours, she felt the urge to deepen the kiss. To feel he's okay. To feel his presence.
He groaned into her mouth and it was the best sound she ever heard. His lips had the amazing talent to just wipe away every question that lingered in her mind.
She didn't have to think about anything anymore. There was only him, his heart pounding against hers. The kiss went from soft caress to a depth of the sea, the heights of mountains, the heat of deserts. She only felt him and her need for him. Her body reacted on her own as if she was slowly drying from the sun and he was the only drop of water she could find.
She needed him as much as she needed to breathe. She wasn't scared anymore. She didn't need to question the feelings she had. There was no point in finding out why her heart wanted what it wanted. As long as she had him close, there was no demand for why.
Thane slowly picked her up and she was sitting in his lap, her hands around his shoulders. His hands were roaming over her back and she felt how it sent shivers down her spine.
She needed this. This utter forgetfulness, the unconventional desire. There were no explanations, no necessity for words.
Keira moved her lips to his neck, slowly grazing the delicate lines. She heard his breathing deepen and smirked against his skin.
Thane shifted and she was locked on his bed under him. He pressed his body on hers and she felt his need for her. His lean muscles were slowly caressing her body but his touch was like cold ice on her burning body.
Their eyes met and she felt herself slowly burst into a flame. Her hand found the back of his neck and pressed his lips onto hers. Her tongue danced around hers and she couldn't help herself but moan into his mouth.
It wasn't enough. She needed to feel his skin.
"Wait," he pulled away and she watched him, desperation written in her eyes. "If we stay like this another second," his eyes were so dark she felt almost hypnotized by them, "I can't hold back."
She leaned to his ear and whispered, her voice already breathless. "I already can't."
After that, no words were spoken for a while.