It can’t be.
He’s supposed to be sleeping.
“A good jest, summoner,” I yell to the forest.
“Never a jest when it comes to you,Lady.”
The forest air holding my hand in place finally falls away. I quickly stand up and search for his voice in the clearing around me, my heart beating at an unnatural rhythm.
“Show yourself,” I demand again, done with all the games tonight.
A small chuckle reaches my side at the right. I swiftly turn to the sound and narrow my eyes on the dense forest beyond. The woods themselves are too dark and cloaked in shadows, leaving me with no way to spot a figure, but the cool air that stilled my hand just moments before is now starting to rise around the trees.
I frown at the small mist that forms, watching as it moves into the clearing and begins to cover the tips of the grass.
“Over here, Lady,” the man replies, sarcasm dripping from the last word.
I turn again to the sound, this time angling my body back towards the boulder above me as my eyes go wide.There,just sitting at the top like he’s always been there, is a young man looking down at me.
No.
Not a young man.
Agrownman sits on top of the boulder. A grown man with youthful features.
He’s looking down at me with a sly grin on his lips, one knee propped up against his chest with an arm casually resting over it. His other leg is dangling over the rock below him, his lower half covered in riding pants of deep, rich black that accentuates his thighs. His whole body sits casual, his chest pressed towards his knee with an easy confidence that not many can convey. That chest is resting proud behind an intricate grey tunic that has no sleeves, the full of it accentuating the cut muscles in his arms. The man may have youthful features, but his stance is of someone who is very in command of his being.
I watch as he reaches a hand over his knee and strokes Stormfall’s neck, the Bird of Ash leaning into him with both familiarity and fondness. Both of their eyes stare down at me, and it’s then that I nearly gasp when I notice the color of the man’s gaze. They’re a deep golden in color, the full of them glowing in the night as they look at me with an emotion I can’t quite pinpoint.
I avert my gaze from that striking gold and take in the rest of his features. He has thick black hair that waves beautifully in front of his face and rests just above his shoulders, only adding to the confident casualness that is him. His cheeks are a bit fuller, just like mine, but he also has a sharp jawline that gives him an air of serious curiosity about him. He continues to watch me with that look behind his eyes, an emotion I recognize now but can’t quite grasp why…
He stares at me as if we are long lost friends.
I look back at this man with a new curiosity of my own, noticing that the cool forest air around us is now rising from the grass to greet him. Itmoves across the boulder in a thin mist as if it’s an extension of him, and in this moment I realize that he’s commanding it.
Ancients.
There’s only one person known in the Old World who still retains the ability to summon the elemental air.
“No sleep for you then?” I hold his unnatural gaze steadily, “Hirovale.”
The Ancient grins down at me, “not since you woke my right hand, Alex.”
He continues to caress Storm’s neck, the Bird of Ash still leaning into his touch, “though my prior sleep has been entertaining, Lady. Mostly because it was you who graced my dreams...”
He smiles down as if in memory, “those dreams have been interesting.”
What in the Old World?
“You have me at a disadvantage, Ancient,” I scowl, watching this young man carefully.
Not a young man, my mind corrects again. While his features look to be a year or two younger than Keane, he sits and holds himself with an air of such confidence and easy determination that only a man of many years can exude that.
“Many,many years, Alex,” he grins in amusement, golden eyes crinkling in hidden laughter.
Ancients.Another mind reader.
“I’ve been waiting to tell you,” he leans forward, grin growing even wider, “that every time you speak our collective name, I claim those words.Haveclaimed those words. Your calls come to me.”
