“Anything else?” I cross my arms over my chest and glare at him.
He takes a deep breath. “Ye ha’ every right to be mad, and if you’re still not ready to ha’ this conversation or hear my reasonings,I willna push ye on it. But it is absolutely my duty to protect ye and I will be doing that, gladly, for the rest of my life.” His eyes narrow onto the blood on my leathers, and his jaw clenches tightly as he grinds out, “From here on out, no one is allowed to lay a hand on ye, and if I find out they ha’ I will personally remove it from their body. I don’t give a fuck who they are.”
His words echo through the temple, and my blood heats in response. His eyes soften a shade as they meet mine again. “Be angry with me all ye like, but I will always be here for you.”
I swallow audibly at the emotion rising in my throat. Every moment before this, he has always been there when I needed him.
But before I can respond, a howl rents the air, and a stiff wind rips through the temple. Lachlan’s eyes grow wide at the sound, and I take an unguarded step in his direction. The sound of the wind’s howl sends goosebumps down my arms, and the hair on the back of my neck stands on end. Dread pools in my belly. We rush from the temple and halt as we take in the capital down below us.
My eyes widen with horror, and my jaw slackens as I take in the horrifying spectacle occurring.
A massive, dark thunderhead is ripping through the blue sky and building quickly right over the city. Lightning flashes and thunder rumbles loudly. That sound wasn’t rocks tumbling earlier. It was thunder.
We all share similar looks of horror.
“It’s just a storm, right?” I question. It looks similar to a storm but feels like something much, much worse. The black mass of heavy, rain-leaden clouds roils over itself as it builds at an unnatural rate.
Mathilda swallows. “There hasneverbeen a storm in Idirhalla.” She flinches with a crack of thunder. “Rain, yes, but never a storm.”
Evander pales. “It’s one of the signs, isn’t it?” he whispers.
Mathilda and Lachlan nod as a gust of wind surges through the trees and pushes us all off balance.
“Another sign?” I yell over the howling wind, but no one replies.
The pressure around us changes, and my ears pop painfully. The bottom is falling out of the storm.
Mathilda races to Evander with her arm outstretched as he swings her up and over his mount. She settles into the saddle behind him. Lachlan grabs me around my waist and throws me up over my horse.
As he settles in behind me, my mouth drops open, and he nods to Evander. Lachlan wraps his arms around me, grabs the reins, and takes off like a shot down the mountain. I brace myself against his broad chest and grip the saddle horn with all my might as we hurtle down the mountain. We’re both bent forward at the waist, adjusting to the speed of the horse. My body bounces against his.
Above the sound of the howling wind, Lachlan murmurs, “Hold on and do not fall. I would hate for us to ha’ a lackluster death.”
The sound of his voice, so close to my ear, unintentionally sends shivers down my spine. If I weren’t so terrified of our breakneck speed down the mountain, or the fact that I am still furious with him, I would relish having him so close.
But anger wins out over fear, and I lean farther forward, trying to put some distance between us. Lachlan takes one hand off the reins and wraps it around my chest, pulling me back towards him. My stomach tightens from his possessive touch.
“Stop touching me,” I grate out between clenched teeth, fighting against his hold.
“I focus better when I can feel ye,” he chuckles, his usual charismatic self familiar and comforting, but I continue to pull against his hold.
“Unless ye want us to fall off this mountain, then be my guest.” He loosens his grip on me immediately.
Our horse launches over a fallen limb, and the motion causes me to wobble in the saddle. A gust of wind kicks up dirt that whips past me. The shape of it is eerily similar to a wolf. Another specter races by us that looks similar to a man.
My stomach clenches with fear before I right myself, and I heave a sigh, irritated that I’m stuck in this position, before leaning back against him.
“Can’t you just fly home?” I spit out.
It’s grating on my willpower, the want of needing him battling the bitterness of his betrayal. His scent is enrapturing, and his arms embracing me give me the security I’ve desperately been craving. Thunder crashes, causing me to flinch, and the wind whips heavy tree branches into our faces. We duck to keep from being clotheslined off the horse.
“The wind says otherwise,” he loudly yells over the storm.
We continue our breakneck speed down the side of the mountain, weaving in between the trees, and our bodies jostle against each other in a steady rhythm.
My cheeks heat at our thumping bodies, and I clear my throat. Lachlan merely sighs in my ear. He’s not the least bit frightened or uncomfortable, and I clench my thighs tightly against the horse’s sides.
We’re clearing the forest and onto the narrow footpath behind the guard’s quarters when the torrential downpour starts. It’s as if the entire ocean had been held aloft over the city and then dropped.
