It isn’t until mid-morning that the sounds of hooves greet Cal, Golem and I from outside the inn’s courtyard. The three of us look ateachother before Cal and I slam our drinks onto the pub’s counter, swiftly running outside to greet the riders.
Prince Keane is at the front of the group, his thick black tunic dusty and brown with the hint of dried blood splattered across his chest. His face is hard and looking directly at me as he rides in, his whole persona commanding and regal atop Ash as he leads everyone else. I frown when I spot a lengthy cut on his right hand that leads down his arm, his sleeve tattered and ruined with the blood already dried up.
Golem heads over to help the Prince dismount, putting aside his distaste for horses as he reaches for Keane’s reins.
Holis and Mana slow to the side of the Prince, both of them looking weary and tired like they could fall off their saddles at any moment. Cal quickly moves to the two of them and reaches up, helping to settle their horses. Barnes and Claymore ride in just after the twins, the two Warriors dirty and exhausted with their black clothes a new shade of brown just like Keane’s. But where my Knowledge companions look like they want nothing more than to fall into a bed, both of the Warrior men seem to have a look of pure joy on their faces, the two grinning at eachother foolishly as they ride into the stables.
Alanna is the last to arrive, her blonde hair windswept and tangled with dark smudges of blood wiped across her face. I immediately bound for her and hold up a hand.
“Please tell me that’s not your blood?”
“Of course not, human,” she gives me a smug smile, handing me her reins appreciatively. I lead her to the stables and watch as she calmly assesses her body and horse, her grey eyes calculating as she looks for any unseen injuries.
“How many?” I ask quietly.
We walk through the stable doors to everyone jutting across the stalls and doing their best to calm their horses. The man, Denrae, Yara’s husband, is walking around with buckets of water on his back, his calm voice issuing orders to Willem and the usual stable boy on how to properly care for the steeds.
“Fifteen,” Alanna scowls and swings off her saddle.
I turn to her in disbelief.
“Fifteen! But where are Desmond and the three soldiers? Are they okay?”
“They stayed behind with Lord Daniel at the border,” Alanna replies.
I heave a sigh of relief.
“And you?” she asks, cool eyes assessing my face as her lips curve up in a smile, “we found the body of a dead Leviathan on the road with a green agate blade punctured through his throat.”
“We’re all okay,” I half grin, “and I did what I had to do.”
Alanna chuckles in genuine approval, “remind me to never get on your bad side, Alexis.”
“You’re on my bad side almost every day,” I laugh with her, feeling as a heavy dose of desire tugs against my abdomen.
Unbridled want and need floods into my stomach, the desire so strong that I have to shift on my feet. Keane is calling me to him, beckoning me to find him, so I look around the stable and spot Golem standing in front of the farthest stall.
“I’m going to go check on everyone else. You good?”
Alanna nods without a second thought, taking the reins of her horse. I let out a deep breath and slowly walk down the building in the direction of the Prince, nodding to Golem before I head into his stall.
Keane is standing proud and tall next to Ash. He’s already unsaddled and removed all of his travel packs from his back, the big black horse dirty and tired but standing beside Keane with complete trust and confidence in his rider. The Prince lifts a hand and gives Ash a good pat on the neck, the smile on his face one of pure and proud affection. I watch him quietly as he assesses his horse, staring in silence as I conduct an assessment of my own…
The gash on top of his hand starts right below his middle knuckle and moves halfway up his arm, his tunic completely split from the cut. There are blood splatters all over the front of his chest, dried and mixed with dirt, though somehow, and I don’t know how, I know it’s not his own. His brown hair is unkempt and has dried blood running through the front of it as a thin layer of dirt covers the whole of his face. His emotions are calm and collected but a small smile is playing behind his lips, almost as if he’s remembering whatever happened out in the Plains and is relishing in the fight.
I can tell just by looking at him that he and the group were involved in something far more harsh and deadlier than we were, and that the calmness radiating off him mixed with that small smile is actually one of pure confidence. It’s a confidence in his ability to lead. To fight. Pure confidence in himself. That sight of him, bloodied and yet still so sure, tugs at something deep within my whole being.
Our eyes meet, and it’s then that I realize that Keane’s been assessing me as well. I stand tall in front of him, still in my riding clothes from the day before, and grin at my own layer of dirt that I know is covering every inch of my body and cloak. The side of my face is still littered with bruises from Red Falls, and I’m sore all over from the hardest ride of my life, but that sense of exhilaration is routing itself back in me again as I look at Keane, the sight of him making my heart beat at unnatural levels.
Keane’s brown eyes hold mine as I smile in appreciation, letting him know that I like what I see. There’s a heady rush of excitement seeing him covered in the blood and dirt of our enemies, one that provides a true testament to everything he went through. He watches me just as intensely as I do him, his head nodding in acknowledgement of my compliment just as all the memories of last night flood out of me.
“I killed him,” I look directly at the Prince’s heated brown eyes with a desire of my own, “I’ve never killed a man before, but it was either him or Lord Daniel and there was no hesitation.”
The ground below my feet begins to rumble.
“Warrior,” he replies thickly.
I take a step towards him with my heart beating hard against my chest, my lips tipping into a sensual smile.
