Luminescent (Inheritance Cycle and Beyond)

Chapter Sixty-Seven: Blinding

A hand covered my eyes as Murtagh led me along a small path. He had basically been doing the same routine for a few weeks now. He would join me for breakfast before he and Thorn disappeared for the day.

That basically left me with Grifen who I started to tutor and teach to read and write her letters. Grifen was slowly opening up more and more, I even had gotten a few spoke words out of her.

By now, my stomach had definitely pooched out a little, giving anyone who looked at me a clear view of my current situation. With the days slowly getting shorter and the nights colder, I was getting jittery with nerves.

Yirlitá had said that my baby would come before the first snow. That was closing in fast as I still didn't have a permanent residence. So here I was being led through the woods with Murtagh obstructing my view.

"What's so important you won't even let me see where I am walking?" I asked him as he told me to step over a root.

"Plenty, princess," Murtagh replied, mischief in his voice. "Thorn and I didn't slave over this project just for it to be ruined."

I huffed at him as we continued walking, my ears started to pick up the sound of rushing water. Now my interest is piqued. Sunlight flickered onto my face, meaning that we had entered a clearing.

"Can I open my eyes now?" I asked him, he laughed and finally removed his hand from my eyes. "thank you."

Blinking my eyes due to the brightness of the sun, my breath was caught in my throat.

"Thorn and I like it here," Murtagh said as he wrapped an arm around my waist. "so we asked around for a spot that was near water, secluded, faced the right direction, had oak and maple trees... all that it needs now is for to pick your tree."

In front of us sat a moderately sized clearing with a decent-sized pond, a small waterfall that trickled into said pond. A hill dotted with several large imposing trees that would make great homes, adjacent to the hill was a flat area that could be used for farming and to grow an orchard.

The clearing was essentially everything I had said I wanted, I just had to pick the tree. There was plenty of open space for our little girl to run around when she was older as well as a rock formation behind the hill

"I thought that the rock formation could be carved into a nest for Thorn and Alethea," Murtagh spoke softly while I stared slack-jawed at the perfection. "There's plenty of space to also set up a sparring ring, a library, and whatever else you can think of. Do you like it?"

I reached up and dragged his head down to mine to meet my lips. Obviously, he had been worried about me even liking the idea of living here, because he was not expecting a kiss.

"I love it," I told him, a smile spread across my lips. "is this what you two have been doing all this time?"

He nodded as both Alethea and Thorn glided down from the sky. With excitement rushing through my veins, I darted forward, running for the hill of trees.

"Wait! Mal!" I heard Murtagh protest from behind me before the sound of him giving chase reached my ears. "should you even be running!?! What if it falls out!?! MAL!?!"

Ignoring him, I dashed across the broad field before reaching the hill. Alethea, who had been watching us, started to laugh as Murtagh tried to stop me from running. Bounding up the hill, I slid to a stop in front of the group of trees and stared at them with excitement.

"You weren't supposed to take off on a sprint!" Murtagh yelled at me as I bounced on the balls of my feet, my eyes flickering from tree to tree. I looked at him, not fazed by his outburst.