chapter Two
Colm followed the muddled scent through the streets. No way to mistake that strange smell. He hadn’t been able to grab her before she dashed out of the inn. He’d been stunned when Linc had flown backward. Then before they could go find her, one of the patrons at the inn’s bar, filled with courage and too much alcohol, had decided that since a woman could throw one of them, they were obviously weak. The resulting bar fight had lost them their rooms for the night.
He growled. Frustrated and irritated, he searched for any sign of her. In spite of her panic, he didn’t think she’d go too far. She wasn’t trying to leave. The woman was smart. She’d slip out at night if she wanted to go. No, fear of what she’d done and what happened had ruled her thoughts. It had been a long time since he’d lost control, but he remembered how it felt.
She’d told them that the magic scared her and that it was growing. He hadn’t realized that it was that bad. Part of that was their fault for not taking the matter more seriously. Still, he wasn’t taking all the blame. She should have pressed them for more attention instead of keeping them at a distance as she’d done since she’d found them.
She was healing emotionally. She’d been fragile when she’d met them outside a gatehouse not too long ago. Every time they’d approach, she’d step back. The fear in her eyes was obvious. It wasn’t simply because they were Ardin, as the two men who’d hurt her had been. Slowly, she’d stopped retreating from them, but more than fear held her back. There was a caution in her eyes he was sure had nothing to do with physical fear.
He looked over at his bond brother. Linc had noticed that she’d grown accustomed to the other men with them and didn’t seem to be so cautious around them. When he’d pointed it out, Colm hadn’t put much credence to it. If he’d gone through what she had, he wasn’t sure he’d be here, much less chance putting himself under the control of anyone ever again. Her reaction to them hadn’t changed much. With them, there was always a distance and deliberate avoidance of spending any time with them.
On top of that, there was the way Vin, their chatar, looked at her. Speculation simmered in the wise man’s eyes. Colm knew that Vin had known she’d be waiting for them. The seer knew more of her than they did, but he hadn’t told them much about her. Vin had pushed to keep her with them, even when it would keep her in possible danger.
Colm didn’t buy that the only way they were going to catch the false Ardin, Laed and Kynar, was if she was with them. There had to be more to it, but his mind shied away from the most likely possibilities. He didn’t want to think about that. It couldn’t be. He wouldn’t make himself vulnerable in that way.
As they left the city, he looked at the trees. He should have realized she’d head straight for the forest. She’d wanted to be alone and have time to calm down before all this happened. The forest offered a haven away from the people and buildings.
Colm spotted her. She sat on the ground, scrunched up with her chin on her knees and her eyes closed. She must be lost in thought, because she hadn’t heard them approach. Her black hair hung over her arms. The ends fluttered around her calves in the light breeze. It partially covered the minor scar on her cheek, although he knew the mark wasn’t so insignificant to her.
Her position hid her curvy form. A cream-colored shirt covered lushly full breasts that made him want to reach out and cup them. Not that she’d given any indication that she’d stand still for that. He took a deep breath and focused. Time to see what conclusions she’d come to while she was thinking, but she had better realize they weren’t letting her disappear. The woman deserved safety and security and she’d get it even if she didn’t realize she needed it.
“Whenever you feel like talking, we’re waiting.” Linc’s voice silenced the animals in the forest.
Cami gasped and her eyes popped open. Her head snapped up and smacked into the tree behind her. The thud made him wince even as her hands rose to cradle her head. Her eyes clenched shut. She moaned a little before opening her eyes and blinking furiously. He’d guess she was having a little trouble focusing.
She drew back against the tree and her eyes widened. He frowned. Was she afraid of them? It took him only a moment to realize that given her history, she probably expected some kind of retaliation. Not to mention they probably looked larger than normal given her position on the ground.
Her eyes moved to Linc. After studying him a moment, she relaxed a little.
“Are you all right? That sounded as though it hurt.” Colm took a step closer.
She reached up and rubbed a hand over the back of her head. A grimace crossed her face, but when she pulled her hand back, he didn’t see any blood.
“It hurts. I’m not going to try to stand just yet, but it should be fine. What did you want to start with?” She took a deep breath. Her hands loosely looped around her legs.
He didn’t want her afraid of them. How were they going to get past the distrust she now had for anyone in a leader position?
“Let’s start with how this all started. Maybe it will help us understand how this happened.” Linc stood with his feet braced apart.
Colm waited. She licked her lips and her hands clenched.
“I was frustrated. First my power was already a little high, but it’s been staying that way. So until it began feeding on my emotions, I wasn’t too worried. Then I became angry when Avan paid for the cloth on your orders.” She narrowed her eyes at him specifically as if she thought he was behind it.
She was right. Linc had mentioned her not having much with her, but he hadn’t been going to press it until they reached the Thent. Colm saw no reason to delay. He’d arranged for Avan to take her to get some cloth. He hadn’t guessed how that would end.
“You’ll need more clothes when we reach the Thent. Go on with your explanation.” Colm smiled and hooked his thumb on his belt.
“I was going to take it up with you, but by the time we got to the inn, the magic was too high. I knew it and there was the chance that I couldn’t control it. I told him that I needed some time and that I wanted to wait. He ignored everything I said, just as you did.” She shook her head, but then groaned. Her hand cupped the back of her head.
“We weren’t ignoring what you were saying. We were going to talk to you about it.” Linc’s voice softened.
“No one has been listening to me. And then the room was so crowded and you wanted to take me to a place where I’d be surrounded.” She sighed heavily and brushed her hair away from her face.
She had a point there. They knew she didn’t like crowds. Part of it was being trapped and surrounded. That was understandable after what the two false Ardin had done to her. Colm suspected the other part was simply that she’d been alone and on the run for so long that too many people made her nervous.
“One word about how much you were worried about your magic would have gotten results.” Linc raised an eyebrow. “And I might not have suddenly hit the wall.”
“That’s just the type of thing that I’d say out in public with strangers around.” She rose slowly to her feet.
Colm laughed shortly. Some people feared those with magic. He could understand her not saying it in public. “I’ll grant that you couldn’t have said anything outright and we hadn’t prepared for such a situation. You bear a little of the responsibility in this too. You could have told us before how high the magic had become and that you were afraid you might lose control.”
“I’m just feeling my way around in this situation. I told you about it growing and not knowing how to control it the first time we talked of it. You didn’t seem too concerned about teaching me any techniques. I didn’t know what you planned.” She shrugged.
“We didn’t realize exactly how risky the situation had become. If we had, we wouldn’t have waited to begin teaching you to drain off power. You come to us if you feel as though you’re going to lose control. We can help.” Linc stepped forward. “You’re not alone in this anymore. You’re going to have to start trusting us.”
Colm knew they were asking a lot from her. Still, it had to start somewhere. She grimaced and looked at them as if judging how serious they were.
“You’re going to have to try, at least in regards to the magic.” Colm took another step closer to her, but since he didn’t want her to feel crowded, he also edged to the side a little.
“I’ll try, but I can’t give you any promises. I’m not sure what to expect from you even now.” She licked her lips.
“You expect some kind of retaliation for what happened, don’t you?” Linc’s head tipped to the side and he frowned. “That’s not our way. We don’t wait and come at someone when they’ve had a chance to relax. If we have a problem with something you’ve done, we’ll tell you.”
“I’m really sorry about… Even though I didn’t do it intentionally, you did go flying back into a wall.” She shrugged, but kept her eyes on him. It was easy to see that she didn’t believe what they’d said.
“Accidents happen, especially when someone’s just learning to control their magic.” Linc smiled. “I’ve taken harder falls in practice, so don’t worry about it. We should get moving. It’s going to take us some time to get to a spot to camp and it’s already getting dark.”
Her mouth dropped open and she shook her head. “I caused you to lose your rooms at the inn. I shouldn’t have ever tried to contact you. I knew it could bring trouble to you, but I never thought that I would cause so much of it.”
Colm held up his hands. He wasn’t going to let her take the blame for that. “It wasn’t you. Sure, people were stunned when Linc flew through the air, but most of the men there chalked it up to you pushing him and him tripping. Now, if one of the men at the bar hadn’t started mouthing off and took a swing at me, we’d still have a room.”
“He’s shortening the tale a lot, but in essence, after you left, a fight broke out and the innkeeper threw us out because the other people involved were locals.” Linc smiled.
“Still—” Cami began.
“Still nothing. This was our doing. You caused a scene. We can handle that and the fight was our doing.” Colm frowned. It bothered him that she didn’t believe him. Not in an irritated way, but in a this-isn’t-right-and-I-need-to-change-it way. “The men are probably waiting with the mican. We need to be on our way.”
Saddling and preparing the large, powerfully muscled riding animals as well as the pack animals and wagons wouldn’t take much time at all. Every man with them had done it hundreds of times.
“We’d better get moving, then.” Her eyes moved from one of them to the other and then settled on him. He didn’t need to see how she stayed out of striking distance to know that she considered him a bigger threat than Linc.
“You’ll know when he’s angry. He doesn’t hide it well.” Linc smiled, stepped to the side and gave her room to start back.
She nodded and stepped forward, but he could tell that she still was wary. Her eyes kept moving and her body tensed as if she needed to be ready to move at the slightest notice. That had to change. He didn’t know how they were going to manage it, but somehow they needed to gain her trust.