Birthright

Chapter 32 - Torment

Chapter 32

Killian extended his right hand towards her. The muscles rippled beneath his soaked tunic clenched to his torso during the movements. The liquid steel within his biceps and triceps stilled with his nervous tension. Those same fingers that touched her hand earlier. The ones that  sent electricity through Ely's body. His fingers  were now curled ever so slightly reaching for hers.

His chest swelled with a deep inhale. He held the oxygen for a moment, waiting in anticipation for Ely to make the bold step of laying her hand in his.  Ely glanced to the floor having a moment of questioning whether to actually go through with what her heart ached for or not.    She had no idea where he planned to go.  Accepting his invitation meant she was blatantly putting her blind trust in him.  Did she trust him? 

Eyes lifting back to Killian, she noticed his eyes were sparkling with the cerulean color she had seen a few times before.  When he was simply a man.  The man with blue eyes, Ely trusted.  That man, whom she had been with this day, she trusted and could easily, too easily, lose her heart to.  The version with charcoal eyes, she feared along with the rest of the kingdom.  Why did Killian's eye change? 

"It may not be much to console you," he began, voice tight and thick, "Know that I would never harm you."

Ely released a breath, emerald eyes trained on Killian's beckoning hand. Her heart began to beat faster, breathing slowed and deepened. Was it excitement?  Was it fear?  She could not name the emotion.  Some unknown chemistry buzzed between them, charging the air and softly tugging at her heart.  Ely's eyes flicked up to Killian's noticing the change in his own breathing.

Something pulsed within her belly for unknown reasons until a warmth seeped through her arm.  Ely had taken the step forward and laid her hand in Killian's.  Her own behavior surprised her but no regret.

Nothing else existed any longer.

Servants faded, the soft clanking of dishes being laid out for the evening meal silenced, rain poured mutely outside. Even the overgrown garden seemed to transform to its once glorious haven but remained hazily in the background embraced by a fog.

Ely was hyper aware of Killian and their joined hands.

A smile played across Killian's lips fueled by their contact. It was one that accepted her comment of having no desire to rest, and his eager willingness to oblige it.  Taking the first step forward, Killian glanced back at her as he led them out of the rain soaked garden, through the limestone trimmed doors, back inside the castle. Those blue eyes that pleaded.

The proverbial fog surrounded them.  Her eyes were fixed on him watching every movement.  Confidence and authority in his stature intensified the twinkle of desire in Killian's midnight blue eyes.  They swirled like the sky before a maelstrom, calling her in.  Further and further drawing Ely under his spell. Killian's skin radiated with a building heat that increased with each determined step. He seemed like a caged tiger, prowling with each fluid step that he took.

Their fingers entwined, never letting go from their perfect fit as Killian led Ely down the familiar corridors that also seemed in a deep haze.  Until, that is, they finally reached his chambers. Killian  gave  Elyena a wry smile.

"I have a gift for you inside," he announced.

Ely's breath hitched, eyes falling on the ornately decorated cerulean door framed by carved limestone.  Only one was like it in the castle.  A room no one had dared go in while she was growing up.  Brass colored hinges feathered out to golden tendrils of ivy, gems arranged into bundle of grapes and five point flowers that inspired how Ely had her own bedchambers painted.  Aunt Elaine and Uncle Aedan chose another bedchamber for themselves.  This one was left in memoriam.