Hopelessly Devoted ~ Garroth x F!Reader

Ch 48: Scientific Encounter

Aaron slowed his horse to a trot besides yours and Garroth's.  He was mounted on a solid black horse with a white star on its fuzzy forehead. "Oh, Garroth . . . You dirty liar," Aaron drawled, his eyes playfully squinted. "Hands where I can see them."

Garroth raised his eyebrows, a smile playing on his lips as he made a point to guide the reins to the side, putting a little more distance between the two horses. "Come on, you can expect better than that from me." He smirked.

Aaron couldn't contain his open-mouthed smile as he played the wild card in his deck. "Don't think I didn't notice you missing from our room all night back in Scaleswind."

Your face sold you out for all of the embarrassment in your body. For as caught as you felt, Garroth remained unfazed. "Aaron . . . you could've just said you missed having me in bed all night." He winked.

Aaron blew air out as he made a 'whew' sound, 😮‍💨, readying a response. "Keep that up and ____'s gonna have to fight me for your love." Aaron held up a 'call me' hand gesture as he mouthed the words.

"Ah, too bad she'll always win." Garroth smiled crookedly, then rested his chin on your shoulder from his place behind you.

***

"Garroth, we can't call our horse 'it.' (He/she) needs a name."

Aaron looked intently at your horse. "Yeah, you're right. I'm thinking (he/she) looks like a Bimmer. Maybe you can call (him/her) Hoof Hearted."

You shook your head at the names, but still took them into consideration. You pet the side of your horse's neck before saying, "(Horse's name)."

You tried to sit back, relax, and enjoy the ride, but it was hard when you kept bouncing up and down. You looked to your side and smiled at the position of your shadows being cast on the ground. Garroth's figure and arms around you looked so right, and the prowess of the horse beneath the two of you gave off a proud air.

(Horse name) trotted forward, and your legs automatically hugged around (him/her) tighter. Your horse passed two others before nipping at a white horse's flank. The other horse whinnied in reply and threw its head up.

You turned to look at Garroth, but felt him shrug against your back. "Jeez, this horse really is something. We couldn't stop it."

"Sorry!" You shouted to the rider of the white horse, before (horse name) galloped further along the line of horses. Garroth pulled on the reins with you, but the horse wouldn't stop.

Once at the head of the line where Travis lead Lord Aphmau along with the other guards, your horse stopped.

You stared at the dark, dense, trees surrounding you, which had dissolved from stone wall. "Where are we right now?"

Garroth answered. "We're on the outskirts of the Sacred Forest. The curse shouldn't be able to reach us here."

"Did you just say 'curse' that casually?" You gripped the reins a little tighter.

"Yeah, uh, it... It's probably just a phenomenon. Whatever it is, there's still this very real trend of people who don't return after venturing too deep. Dense and easy to get lost in there, I guess." Garroth rubs your elbows reassuringly. "But we know where we're going out here. Erik's ranch had a direct passage to this clear path on the outskirts, and we took it to avoid the O'khasis guards. We're outside of the gates now."

You turn over your shoulder, surveying Garroth so that you can get a read on his smooth, even complexion. "So... Because we're out of O'khasis, you're back to suddenly having no need for a helmet?"

"Right." He nods, then takes the reins from you, slowing the horse's pace and putting space between the people in front and behind you. "Eyes on the road, sweetheart," he teasingly adds.

The reactionary noise that comes out of you catches in your throat. You turn back to face the trail, the tips of your ears hot. "(Horse) was watching just fine."

Garroth leans over your shoulder again, his chest—toned, sturdy pectorals—pressing against your back. He tilts his head, then drops his voice. "That wasn't why I . . ." He laughs and shakes his head. "I was gonna tell you more about my helmet,"—his voice lowers to a full whisper—"and I don't want anyone else catching on."

You perk up and stare ahead with erect posture, attentive to his words but trying not to let that on to anybody else.

"For one," he continues at a soft volume, his timbre lower, "I'm glad we took the back route so that I wouldn't have to deal with all that weight on my neck." Garroth inconspicuously presses his lips to the side of your head before leaning back down to your ear. "And two, it's easier to kiss you this way."

Your face flushed, so you lean forward into the horse to hide it.

Garroth's lip quirk up on one side, like he got a kick out of getting a rise out of you. His light hold on your waist shifts forward and he bends his wrists to reach around your front, his index and middle fingers coercively tapping the space between your hips and stomach. "Come back here, I'm not done with you." His volume is level, playful.

A warmth crosses the bridge of your nose to your cheeks. You folded for his gentle command almost instantly, leaning back against him so that he could reach your ear, because damn you wanted him to keep going.

His voice lowers again, his lips barely brushing the tops of your ear on the way down. "I was born in O'khasis to . . ." His breath hitched. "A very wealthy family. I ran away and became a guard in Phoenix Drop. So the whole hiding my identity thing . . . You know what? Now's not a good place. I'll tell you the rest when we're alone, alright?"

You swallowed, turning away. That was definitely a heavy load to unleash all at once, and he didn't even empty the entire truck bed. ".  . . Sure. Yeah," you agreed flatly, unsure of how well you masked the disappointment and anticipation. You leaned back into him and chewed on your bottom lip. It was a lot to take in, anxiety eating you up at the details he danced around or left out. It helped that the enveloping warmth of his presence felt like a sedative to your nerves, like some sort of injected relaxant that made you go limp, though tension-less at least. 

The path twisted around a tree, so Garroth held his delicate grasp more securely as you leaned into him with the gravity of the turn. Your first time turning on a horse was an interesting feeling, but it wasn't too bad because your horse did the brunt of the work by following the rest. You swiveled your neck to get a view behind your flank as each horse in the caravan mimicked the one ahead of them.

Your horse came to a halt, responding to the brown horse in front of yours that stopped. You craned your neck to the side, finding that every horse ahead of you had stopped. The leader of the group was six horses down, since (horse name) lagged behind while Garroth whispered to you.

An older man with a rough face—that been dirtied from who knows what—acted as a road block in front of the line. He jumped all over the place, raising his bushy eyebrows each one at a time. It was a concerning sight. When he stopped jumping, he twirled his gravity-defying mustache around his fingers.

The man spoke rapidly, his words at a convenient-to-listen-to shout. "Hello! It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance! Woah! What a large caravan you have. ItwouldbesplendiferousifIcouldtstudythisfascinatinggroup. Howmanyhorsesarehere?" He exclaimed. "Oh, the possibilities! We could power a whole invention!" The old man brushed his hands on his brown suit to clean them off.

Everyone in the group stared skeptically and whispered all sorts of conclusions. He had to be insane.