Horse Stone (Book 1 of Ilyrian Series)

Chapter 77

"Hey, Hadley," Liam said and caught up to me at school the next day. He furrowed his brows and cocked his head while he studied me, and concern filled his eyes. "Are you ok?" he asked. "You didn't show up at the barn when I thought you would."

I blushed and cleared my throat, finally remembering that I had told him that I was going to meet him after therapy so that we could go riding together. However, I didn't show up because I had been downright exhausted after telling Dr. Weiner more about what had happened to me, even though I didn't go into too much detail. "Oh, ya," I said and rubbed the back of my neck sheepishly. "Sorry."

Liam frowned and studied me while he cocked his head further. The concern made his eyes become darker, and it took my breath away because I had no idea why he was this concerned for me. "Well, are you ok?" he asked again while he studied me to pick up anything that I didn't say. "You don't seem to be the type that goes back on their promises..." He trailed off and raised an eyebrow, waiting for me to either confirm or deny his statement.

I shook my head, no, because I normally wasn't the type of person that broke their promises. My cheeks turned a darker shade of red, and Liam bit back a small smirk because it wasn't often to get me blushing. "I am not," I said and cleared my throat while I started to walk to my next class with Liam by my side. "It left my mind until late last night, so I didn't even get to ride him." I shrugged and grimaced while I cleared my throat again. "As soon as I got home from therapy, I went straight to my room and pretty much crashed."

That wasn't a total lie; I didn't "pretty much crash" when I got home like I told him. I had taken a shower and cried my heart out, barely loud enough for anyone to hear except for my cat, who tried to break down the door to get to me.

After my shower and "convincing" Tigra that I was fine and the crying didn't mean anything, I went straight to bed and crashed into a world of nothingness where I could escape my problems for a little while.

Hell, I didn't even get to see Vanar until really late that evening because I had been asleep, and when I did show up, I had to try and convince him that I was fine with my father being there, so we couldn't have a normal conversation until that morning.

He still wasn't convinced that I was fine, and I had no idea if I would be able to convince him until I told him everything, which scared me to no end because I had no idea how he would react.

It could be worse than my father when I tell him what had happened to me...

Liam slowly nodded and frowned, and I could tell that he didn't like my answer. He knew that I was holding something back, but he didn't push, and I was grateful for that because I had no idea what he would think of me if he knew the truth. "Do you want to ride today?" he asked and nudged my shoulder while he changed the subject, and I shrugged before I hesitated but nodded.

"Sure," I said and nodded again. "I will try not to break my promise this time." I flashed him a small smile when he snorted, amused, and looked forward again before I grew serious. "Unfortunately, I don't know what the future holds, so..." I shrugged and grimaced.

Liam nodded. "True," he said and cleared his throat. "So, how is your project going along?" he asked, changing the subject again, and I shrugged, and my grimace grew deeper.

"I hadn't even started on it yet," I admitted, and he snorted and nodded in agreement. "I mean, I have a small idea on what I want to do with it, but I haven't had the chance to even look at everything yet."

Lima nodded and bit back a chuckle by clearing his throat. "Don't worry. I haven't even started on it either," he said, and I bit back a sigh of relief because I was happy that I wasn't the only one. Again, he nudged my shoulder, and I looked at him and smiled a little. "I mean, she only gave it two days ago. Does she have any set dates for us?"

I shook my head, no, and thought about it. "I don't think so," I said. "However, she might have, but I don't know what they are.: I grew a little tense when I felt something... off and started to look around to see if I couldn't spot it. I ignored Liam's questioning gaze while I looked around for the source of my tension, my heart starting to pound hard in my chest because I had no idea if it meant that I was in danger or not.

Someone tried to burn a hole in my head with their powerful gaze, so I looked that way and paused midstep when I saw the person that was staring at me, and my mouth went dry.

His dark soulless brown eyes pierced through my skin and into the depths of my soul. He hadn't noticed that I was staring at him, ignoring the male beside me, trying to get my attention. Anger and hatred filled his gaze, something that I was used to seeing when it came to him.

My heart leaped into my throat and stopped beating for a second before it pounded faster and faster in my chest. My whole body was tense, and I didn't know if I wanted to run in a different direction than I was going or if I wanted to continue towards my class with Liam by my side and act like nothing was wrong when everything was wrong because I had no idea why he was here.

Finally, he noticed me staring at him, and he dipped his head in greeting while he smirked. The smirk turned his face darker and more evil than normal, and it was at that moment that I felt the world stop before it began again.

And after that single look, I turned on my heels and ran in the opposite direction with his name screaming in my mind, and the urge to run and run as fast as I could fill my body, and that was what I did, wanting to get away from that piercing stare of his and ignoring a shocked Liam in the process.

Ethan was here. Gods protect me.