Facing the Fae [BOOK TWO]

Chapter 11

She was avoiding him. Partly because she was uncomfortable about the whole incident. Above that though... she just didn't know what to do. For all she knew she'd been dreaming it, heavily medicated as she'd been at the time.

Regardless, she'd asked Ferro for a book to explain block Adam. She'd done it before but that had been unintentional—and she still didn't know how it had happened. So, after finding out how (funnily enough by mentally chanting close the gates in Latin) it had become her first priority.

So now, as she walked along the cliff face—keeping an overtly far distance away—she was shaky. It wasn't because of the height. No, on top of everything else it was the last thing she needed to be dealing with.

"Reginae?"

Rebecca jumped. Aleric had been so silent walking near her, she'd forgotten he was there in the first place. "Yes?" she asked, stopping to turn and look at him.

He shrugged his shoulder, heavily wrapped up by soft fabric, wincing. Despite the fact that he'd faced near death only weeks ago, he looked deadly and powerful, sword secured at his waist.

Rebecca waited for him to say something—and when he didn't she filled the silence. "I thought you were still in training?" she said, "And injured?"

He waved a hand at the sword, significantly smaller than any other she'd seen. "This is training. You put in a request to Ser Lancester—and he granted your wish."

She frowned. "Request?"

"For me to become one of your personal guards."

Abruptly she felt like an idiot. How had she forgotten? "Oh. Yeah, I guess, I, uh, did. I thought it wouldn't happen for another few months though. You're still healing."

"This is informal training. None of it is official yet." He looked behind him, where her other guards were quickly catching them. Rebecca took the hint and turned, starting to walk again—because she needed the privacy. "Outside these gates is off limits. That's for the others. Experience—they have it; I don't. Since I didn't win my fight I still have to prove myself."

"Prove yourself?" She was blown away. Angry all of a sudden. "You almost died. I think that's proving yourself."

He shrugged, quickly changing the subject. "This is a part of my training. They're watching—" He pointed behind him, "—to make sure I don't do anything; seeing how I handle it. If I do something that looks threatening, they're going to intercept."

"No pressure," she muttered.

He grinned. Then he sobered quickly. "It's worth it."

It's an honour, went unspoken. "I bet," she said. "Because following me around is liberating."

He didn't say a thing, but she took his silence as an affirmative. She knew he wouldn't say it aloud though.

"So," she said, when the silence dragged on. "Did you hear about what happened the other day?"

As the large, domineering brass gates came closer, she started to slow down. The fact that the castle still looked as large spoke volumes though.

Behind her, she heard Aleric kick something in the grass. "I'm sure a lot happened, Your Grace."

She pivoted, raising an eyebrow at him. Aleric stood there, hand resting on his waist. Unlike her other guards, he wasn't wearing anything special: just dark pants and a shirt the same colour. In the early morning light she noticed there was something on his cheek, right under his eye. It resembled a tattoo, but she knew it wasn't one. A small star, the colour of silver.