The shock had me relaxing and looking down at his hands. They were big, hard and somehow elegant as they curled around me.
The hunting party passed out of sight and hearing range. My stomach unclenched, and my heart slid back down to rest uneasily in my chest. The boy remained as he was and peered into my face. My heart raced at how tall and how strong he was. Hair cut close to his head the general impression was hardness. A heavy top brow, and sharp cheekbones rested high on a sculpted face. His nose was the opposite of the distinctive aquiline bridge most boy Disciples had, and I liked it. His bold eyebrows and masculine lips added depth to a face that needed no flattering. The scent of soil and sunlight reached me as I watched his silver eyes flick from my face, to the leather cord at my neck.
'We've been looking for you,' he said.
The first words I'd spoken all day were, 'Nobody looks for me, and how do you know my name?' Taken aback by the feeble quality of my own voice, I lifted my chin and added some gusto. 'I mean, put me down. Now.'
He did no such thing and he did not answer my question. But he did smile again, and what a spectacular show it was. His body was heavy and hot. Through the fabric of my clothes I felt the hard lines of him, and the slow thump of his heart over mine. Without thinking, I reached to touch his jaw and it felt like strength. My fingertips glided over a raised slash of skin, and a quick tug tilted his head so I could see more of his profile. I traced a scar following the line of his jaw, curving up to his cheekbone. The skin was puckered, rough. His eyes met mine and I shrugged, the scar made him real to me. I snaked my hands up his bare, solid shoulders and jumped off him so I stood on my own two feet.
I knew without a shadow of doubt this boy would rather die than hurt me.
'Rae,' he said softly. I shivered from silky soft calling of my name, but then he finished with, 'My name is Breandan, and you are mine.'
My whole body jolted. Then my startled laugh broke the short silence. Needing space to think and breathe, I pushed away from him.
'In your dreams,' I said and spun around.
I tried to pin down a direction to run toward. I realized at that moment my solution was downright silly and ineffective. See bad, scary or confusing thing, turn and run from bad, scary or confusing thing until you bump into another bad, scary or confusing thing. I was getting nowhere fast.
'You wouldn't say such a thing if you knew the truth. And since I saw you first you have to be mine. The white witch was right, and now I'll never hear the end of it. I didn't think you would come out here so soon and so freely. I tried to ignore you, even when you got lost, but when I heard you running away from them I had to help. They would have caught you.'
I'd stopped moving in the middle of this rationalization. His voice was awfully attractive. I could never describe how it sounded because it would only ever sound perfect to me, and no one else. Once I'd gotten past hearing the words I thought over the meaning. In delayed reaction my chest puffed out and I bristled.
'The hell I do. People don't belong to one another, and I certainly do not belong to you, even if you did see me firstwhatever that means. What stupid-'
He moved closer then I could see nothing but his eyes again. Mouth suddenly dry, I was unable to finish my scathing rebuttal, and it took a moment to un-stick my tongue from the roof of my mouth. A warm rolling sensation formed in the pit of my stomach and lodged there. It was an odd sensation, it even hurt a little, but it was a nice pain. I breathed in deeply through my nose and expelled the breath through my mouth. The whole deep breathing thing was helping.
'Okay then, Breandan,' I said serenely but my heart thumped too hard and he coked his head as if he could hear it. I went on nonetheless, 'What do you want? Why are you in the forest, alone?' The best defense is a good offence, and I could give as good as I got. 'This is demon territory y'know. I can admit I was freaked and a bit off course.' He snorted a laugh and my temper bloated into righteous indignation. 'It's dark out here. I was running away from the Clerics because they had dogs.' My eyes darted to and from his now, uncomfortable with the lie. 'And Idon't like dogs. They bark. Loudly. And how do you know my name?'
There was a beat of silence as his eyes held mine. 'You will have to get out of the habit of lying. You won't be able to do that for much longer. And anyway, you don't have to explain anything to me. I understand. I know you, and that is why we have come for you.'
'Are you from the slums?'
For a bad moment there I had assumed he was from the Sect. I would be in a world trouble if anyone saw me out here. I was beyond the Wall, which was forbidden, and I had seen I didn't want to think about the horror I'd seen, and how I'd been foolish enough to get caught seeing the thing I saw. I had disobeyed a direct order from a Cleric, something I, a Disciple training to be a Cleric, should never do. No, I was not so sure anymore. If Breandan was from the Sect he'd have called to the Clerics, not hidden me from them. If he was a civilian, I didn't see how he could come to be lost Outside. After all, you would have to get past the Wall to make it out here. There was not a human alive that didn't understand the dangers of going over the Wall and into demon territory.
I felt stupid then. If there was not a human alive who didn't know how dangerous it was Outside, what the hell was I doing Outside? I was going to have very serious words with myself.
'Coming for you is not something I chose, and believe me, if I could change it I would.' He paused and shook his head. 'We are stuck. You belong to me,' he repeated. 'And I to you. Now we have touched it is sealed. Alright?'
Sealed my ass. I decided then and there, I did not like this boy.
'You cannot appear next to me in the middle of demon territory and say such silly things,' I said, strained. 'You're beginning to scare me.'
That was another lie. I was beyond sacred now. My body couldn't keep up a constant pitch of terror, so it had simply gone beyond terror and pressed a big reset button. I was too afraid outside to be anything but calm inside. Voice unattractively shrill, I lowered my clenched fist and took a deep breath. I moderated my voice.
'Let's start with where you're from?'
He sighed and scrubbed a hand over his head. 'A place not too far from here. You are very lost.'
I shifted on the spot. 'Are you transferring to this region to be a Disciple?' It happened. Rarely, for it was too hazardous to travel large distances through demon territory, and it was only attempted once a settlement had reached a population density that put all the humans there in danger. But it did happen. He shook his head. 'Are you visiting Cleric at the Temple?'
I was reaching, but that could explain how he could be so comfortable in the forest. Clerics were not like regular people and often came from hardy families. The Clerics were the fastest, strongest most intelligent and intuitive of humankind. That is why they managed to keep us so safe.
His face darkened. 'No.' The word was fired at me like a bullet.
Without preparing myself for the answer I asked with catty aplomb, 'Are you a demon then?'
'Oh yes,' he said softly.
Chapter Two
I waited for the fear and for the panic. I waited for the scream of terror to rip from my throat, but it never came. I waited for him to grab me, and murder me, and cut me into pieces and hide me under the small patch of wild flowers over there. But he said and did nothing. The clever thing would have been to get the hell out of there and start running again. But I didn't want to, and I was curious as to who and what he was. I wanted to know why he was stood in front of me, and what he was after.
His gaze raked over me again and again, looking for something.
'If you didn't think you were safe you would ask me to leave,' he said. 'And, if you wanted me to leave, I would have done so already.'
I hated that his words made sense to me. 'Stop trying to be clever, demon-boy.'
'I'm trying to help you, demon-girl.'
