She surprised him again when she stepped away from him.
“First, I need to step outside for a bit,” she said.
“I will go with you.”
“Nay, we are safe here. There is no need and I will hurry since I am eager to return to you.”
Kaelan smiled wickedly at her as he started shedding his garments. “I’ll be ready and waiting impatiently for you.”
Bria kissed him again and if nature hadn’t called, she would be shedding her garments just as eagerly.
“I will be but a moment,” she said, seeing he was almost naked already.
“I will warm the bed for us.”
She hurried outside, her passion mounting at the thought of the night ahead and encountered Fiora sitting on the edge of a rain barrel. She looked about to topple in.
Bria scooped her up and placed her on a patch of grass beneath a tree and covered her with a few leaves and pine needles as well since the night had a sharp chill to it.
“I like you, Bria. You have courage,” Fiora mumbled and cuddled beneath the leaves and pine needles.
She hurried, wanting to get done and back to her husband quickly, missing him already. She was almost done when a mistsuddenly rolled in gathering around her ankles. She knew how fast a mist could gather and leave one unable to see anything around them and she turned to hurry back to the cottage.
A wall of mist greeted her. She could see nothing. Something was amiss, seriously amiss. She had to get to the cottage, to Kaelan. She took another step and the mist cleared leaving the shimmering shape of a woman, slim with long blonde hair, and a lovely face, though it was not easy to see with the way her ethereal form shimmered.
Surprisingly, Bria felt no threat from her, but she did sense distress, and she immediately sought to comfort her. “Let me help you?”
The figure floated away from her, though pointed at her and it took a moment for Bria to realize what she was pointing at. It was her chest where the pendant lay.
Bria slipped the leather cord from around her neck and held the pendant out to her. “Is this what upsets you?”
The woman reached out, her misty hand reaching for it and it passing right through the pendant.
Bria took hold of the pendant. “Place your hand on mine and feel it.”
The woman rested her hand on Bria’s and closed her eyes for a moment. The pain struck Bria hard and fast, stealing her breath. Never had she felt such heartbreak. It tore through until she thought she would perish from it. Then darkness began to surround her, growing darker and heavier, and she heard a whisper.
“Keep it safe for the one who will claim it.”
Before the darkness completely consumed her, she thought she heard someone shout her name.
“Bria!”
Then everything went dark.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
A Night That Frights
And Delights
Kaelan lay awake staring at the ceiling. The bed finally warmed and he expected his wife to be in it with him by now. She had promised she would only be a moment. That moment had stretched far too long.
He wasn’t one to dismiss his concern when it came to his wife and the passion he had seen sparking in her eyes, he knew she would not dally. With his unease growing, he threw the covers aside and swung his legs over the edge of the bed.
The chill of the room barely registered as he hurried to slip his shirt over his head, the garment hanging to his thighs.
He crossed quickly to the door, and the moment he stepped outside, his concern sharpened.
