“I’ll be back,” I whispered.
Lit with a newfound purpose, I straightened and turned towards the school. I knew I’d find this place again; not that I’d be able to explain it. With a determined step, the first I’d had in a while, I marched for the castle. I was going to find out what happened here. And more than that I was going to find out why I was the one this was happening to.
9
Caledonia
“Mae?” A low whisper pulled me from my twisted dreams. The violet gem around my neck pulsed gently against my skin, although it’s soothing presence didn’t stop me from springing upright and preparing to howl a scream. Strong fingers fell across my mouth and trapped my cry.
“It’s me, open your eyes and look.”
It was dark, the faintest sliver of dawn light peeking through the edges of the shutters. The tall and broad shape of Tristram moved in the darkness as he sat on the edge of my rushed mattress. I gasped at his proximity, breathless.
“Tristram, you shouldn’t be in here.” I pulled at the simple shift across my shoulders, gathering it into a bunch around my neck. Beneath the cotton, the skin along my chest flushed at his closeness. “This isn’t appropriate.” I glanced at the still slumbering form of Alana.
I could sense his cheeky leer in the dark even though I couldn’t see it. “I’ve seen you wear less.” The smile hidden in the shadows teased.
A stern frown creased my brow and I pulled myself together, tugging at the deer hide which had slipped off in the night, placing it back over my legs as extra coverage. “When we were children, yes.” With a deep sigh, I rubbed at my eyes. “What are you doing here anyway? I haven’t slept a wink.”
His fingers groped for mine and squeezed them tight. “Could you not sleep because you were excited for your birthday?”
He was sitting so close, the warm scent of his herb-washed skin and the evocative perfume of fresh air and forest filled my nostrils until I could have drowned in the heavenly smell. “Tristram, you know we can’t celebrate our birthdays. These are dangerous times. You are needed here in the camp and should not be being distracted by such frivolous things as how old we are.”
A strong silence met my reproof.
“I can be acting chief after I’ve celebrated with you, Mae,” his tone dipped and with it my stomach twisted and turned. The low burn I’d been experiencing lately flared in the pit of my tummy. “Just give me this, and then after that I will be the man everyone needs me to be.”
I hesitated for a short moment. “What do you want to do to celebrate?” Why were my veins rushing with heated blood like that? What did I want him to say? My mouth dried with anticipation.
It would have been easy to lean across and kiss him. But I didn’t.
“Just an hour, you and me, just like it used to be.” He tugged at my hand, pulling me out from under my coverings. Unable to resist and desperate to feel a lightness in my heart which had long since vanished, I slipped out into the chilled air, shivering a little.
“Can you leave, so I can get dressed?” I tried to make my tone tart, but it trembled and his dark eyes swept over my cotton shift.
“Yes, My Baduri.” I bristled at his formal title for my role, but his lips quirked into a smile outlined in the dawning day and I relaxed. “Come, Mae, we don’t have long.” He stole through the door on silent feet.
With the soft closure of the hut’s door, I slipped out of my shift, pulling on my undergarments before swiftly tugging my pale grey linen dress over my head, and tying a leather belt low on my hips. My better dress, I knew it highlighted the speckled dashes of colour in my eyes. My hair, I allowed to fall free and wild over my shoulders. I didn’t have time to brush a bone comb through it now. It took hours at the best of times, and I preferred the wild natural look to the infinite pain and boredom of the daily brushing.
With a cast away glance at Alana, who even managed to look beautiful in sleep, I stole after Tristram into the silver dawn.
He was standing in the shadows, his attention focused on some distant thoughts. His face chiselled into a serious expression. An expression I’d come to know well over the last couple of weeks.
“Greetings.” I smoothed at my hair as I reached him. His eyes floated over my appearance, a ghosting smile lifting his sombre mood. “Again.”
“Greetings.”
“Where are we going?” The most beautiful silence hung over the settlement. Even the chickens and what few animals we had were still slumbering. The dawn held a deep chill and I shivered.
“Here?” He stooped to the floor, where he had a basket laden with items obscured under a thick woollen blanket. With sure movements, he picked up the blanket and tossed it around my shoulders. Tugging the edges tight together his face watched mine and we stared at one another for so long my tongue began to tingle with dryness. I coughed, breaking the moment.
“What’s in the basket?”
He was quiet. Maybe the tranquil dawn had stolen his boisterous mirth, or maybe it was a culmination of the last couple of weeks taking its toll. Either way his watchful silence made me fidget and pull at loose strands of wool in the blanket.
“Breakfast. Come, Mae, let's share a birthday breakfast before our days give way to
