Gray Skies

Chapter Fifteen: Always

Chapter Fifteen: Always

                Gray Skies stared down at Deniah with shock, dread and a terrible urge to lie. Would not a lie be simpler? With a lie he would not have to worry about seeing disgust or fear in her eyes. With a lie he could pretend to be a normal man and not worry that the truth about him would scare her into running away, back to her own people and normalcy. And if that’s what she chose to do would he allow her to leave him? Could he?

                All his life he had heard that the pale faces would curse his people as monsters and hunt them down like animals if they knew what they truly were. Would Deniah be the way he’d been warned? Or would his Fire Hair prove the elders and his people wrong?

                Was it worth the chance?

                Staring down into Deniah’s gray eyes, framed by those long lashes and bruises, Gray Skies knew he could not lie; not to her. She was far too important and meant far too much. If he lied and she found out the truth later, (and he knew she eventually would), then she would be hurt by his dishonesty. It was best to simply get this over now.

                He took a deep breath, willed his heart to stop pounding so forcefully against his ribs and nodded. “Yes. Yes, I am your crow.”

                Gray Skies had always been able to read Deniah much like an open book. Her thoughts, her feelings and her emotions were always clearly displayed on her face and he appreciated that about her. He did not want a woman who wore a mask and hid herself away from him. But just now he was wishing she wasn’t quite so easy for him to read.

                Her emotions flashed across her face in such a jumbled, confusing mess that his own head swam. He saw fear, disbelief, shock, smugness and love all warring in those gray eyes. What he didn’t see was acceptance and when she took a step back he barely kept himself from calling out, grabbing her arm and yanking her back to him.

                “You…. What did you say?”

                Gray Skies threw his shoulders back proudly. “Yes, Fire Hair, I am your crow.”

                “But—Gray, how is that possible?” Deniah had moved away from him and now had her back pressed against a sycamore tree.

                “My people are shape shifters, Fire Hair. It is why we are so secretive and why no one has been able to drive us out.”

                Deniah closed her eyes and he saw her take several deep breaths. She was so beautiful in the clothing of his people that Gray Skies took a moment to admire her, hoping that would drive some of the worry from his mind. When her gray eyes opened once again and she looked at him, the fear in her eyes was gone. She still appeared very unsure and shocked but no longer afraid; he took that as a positive sign.

                “You’re telling me that all those times I saw my crow watching me and all those times my crow came when I was tired, stressed or sad—that was really you?”