Page 123 of Anywhere

But nothing slowed him down, and the anger I felt coming off him burned brighter than before. My pleas only made him more aggressive rather than less.

Crack, crack, crack!

The wood smacked together loudly as I forced my tired arm to work and feebly block each hit.

“I said, cut it out,” I growled, my anger reaching the same boiling point his was already at.

Blocking the next swing, I grabbed his arm and shoved him back hard, until he stumbled away from me.

“What the fuck is wrong with you?” I panted, my chest heaving from the hours of physical exertion. “You trying to kill me?”

Little puffs of smoke rose in the air from our mouths like we were both getting ready to breathe fire.

Rhys tossed the wooden sword down, then plowed into me, taking me by surprise. He gripped me around the waist, ripping my feet from the ground, and slammed my back on the hard dirt. The impact forced all the air out of my lungs and left me slightly dazed. I shook it off quickly, unsure what the hell he was going to do next.

I would use my power to subdue him if I had to. Rhys would be pissed, but this was going too far.

“Do ya no’ get it,” Rhys said, his hands fisted into the front of my black sweater. “They be comin’ for me, which means they be comin’ for ya and Eley as well, and I’ll be damned if I’m losin’ either one of ya.” His forearms flexed as he gave me a shake. I could feel the anger in his chest melt away and morph into fear.

“I’ma no’ losin’ ya,” Rhys said again, and then crushed our lips together.

There was desperation in the kiss. It felt like he was terrified to let go, or I might disappear. Breaking the kiss, he lifted his head enough that I could stare into his stormy grey eyes that matched the overcast sky. “I cannie lose ya. Do ya understand?” His eyes flicked to where Elewyen was and then back to me. “I cannie lose either of ya.”

I knew what he was trying to say, even though the words didn’t leave his mouth. I was all up in my feelings where he was concerned too. I never knew love, not really. Aside from loving my brothers, as big of fucking dickheads as they were, I never felt anything more than a general sexual interest toward anyone. That was until Rhys. And now I added Elewyen, who crept into my blood, to join the mix.

My heart pounded like a caged animal trying to get out when Rhys was near, and I was restless and wanted to touch him whenever we were separated. I genuinely enjoyed his company and the thought of him hurt or dying made me murderous. All things I never knew before. All things that I couldn’t figure out how to voice. All things that stared back at me from his eyes and swirled around inside him.

“You’re not going to lose me. Besides, soon enough, if something were to happen to me, it’s yourself you better worry about,” I teased.

“Dat’s no’ funny,” he said, and rolled himself off me.

We lay there staring up at the sky that promised either rain or snow and were quiet for a long time.

“You’re right it wasn’t. I’m sorry about your friend and your pub,” I said, looking over at Rhys. It was the first time I acknowledged what happened that day.

“So am I,” he said and rubbed his face. “It’s me fault she’s dead. If I hadna’ introduced her to da Factions, she would’na been caught in da middle of dis feud.”

“That’s not true,” I said. Rhys turned his head to stare at me. “Let’s pretend for a moment she had no idea about the Factions and simply worked at your pub as a bartender, waitress, or even manager. She would’ve done exactly what she did on her way to work when she saw that the pub was up in flames. She was in the wrong place at the worst possible time, but she would have called you anyway. If it wasn’t her, it would’ve been someone else who worked for you. Do ya think ya had anything to do with the villages and all those innocent people who didn’t know ya?”

“Aye, I guess yer right. It jus’ be hard ta let it go, ya know?” Rhys smiled. “Did ya just say ya three times?”

I snapped my mouth shut as I thought about what I said, then rubbed my face as Rhys began to laugh. “I blame you for that. Listening to you talk all the time, I’m starting to mimic ya—no, you. Shit. Next thing you know, I’ll be saying dis, dere, and dat.”

Rhys laughed a little harder before sitting up. “Could be worse, ya know. Ya could sound like a stuffy Faction Four wit dere propa English. You simply must lift your pinky finger when holding a cuppa,” he said, putting on a Faction Four accent and making us both laugh.

It was the first real smile on his face since moving here. Sobering, I sat up and slowly pushed myself to my feet, which were killing me. Everything freaking hurt, but I held out my hand for Rhys to take. Helping him to his feet, I refused to let go of his hand until he looked at me.

“I know how serious this is, and I’m not taking it lightly, but you need to ease up a little, I’m not going to learn any faster with you angry at me,” I said. “Besides, there are other ways you can torture me, even when my arms don’t want to lift this fake sword anymore.”

“Aye, and what might dat be?” He lifted an eyebrow like he expected me to say something naughty. Fair point. My mind was always focused on getting naked.

“I’m thinking you can help me find the books I started to read at Injerbreck. I had to leave them behind, and this library is even larger. I’m lucky I can find my way out of that maze, let alone find a book I want.”

A sly smile crossed Rhys’s face. “I’ma thinkin’ yer just wantin’ ta get me naked on some books again.”

“Fucking brilliant idea. It was certainly the best time I’ve ever had in a library,” I said, making us both smirk.

“Aye, but dat cleanup… I bet Illiam is still swearin’, tryin’ ta get all da books back into dere proper spots on da shelves.”