Bria tugged her hand free, though she knew he had released it, his strength far too great for her to win against.
“I will have the truth,” she demanded, shielding herself with a hug as useless as it was.
“I know some of both,” Kaelan said reluctantly.
“How?” She stared at him, wondering how she could have been so foolish to feel something for him—a stranger. “Who truly are you?”
“Now is not the time or place?—”
“It is the perfect time and place,” she argued, though he might be right about that.
He turned his head away for a moment and when he turned back, his dark eyes seemed to grab hold of her and secure her to him, not as chains would but with something far more compelling and far more difficult to escape.
“I cannot answer you now. You must trust me. I mean you no harm.”
She shook her head the whole time she spoke. “I should trust your word when I cannot even trust who you are?”
“In time?—”
“I don’t want to hear that,” she said, dismissing it with a wave of her hand as she took a step away from him.
Kaelan’s arm swung out, snagging her around the waist and yanking her against him, then taking several steps back.
She tried to break free of his grip when he turned her around, keeping his arm at her waist. Her eyes went wide and she pressed back hard against him unable to get close enough.
“It’s a silver hugger snake,” he said. “It doesn’t bite, but it loves to wrap things in a tight hug. Sometimes too tightly.” He shook his finger at the snake. “She’s mine. You cannot hug her.”
Bria watched, its silver skin shimmering, as it wrapped itself around the tree branch it was hanging from and slithered along it.
Kaelan saw the conflict move across her face and felt the pull toward her strengthen again, deep and unrelenting. Every instinct within him urged him to keep her near, protect her, and give her time.
She was not ready for truths that would change everything she believed about herself, about him, and about what now bound them together. Pushing her too quickly would only drive her toward fear. And fear was already growing around her fast enough within these woods.
A harsh cry sounded overhead as it swept down between the trees close to them.
Instinctively, Bria turned to press herself against his chest.
Kaelan’s arm tightened around her.
“How can you remain so calm?” she asked, her voice barely above a whisper for fear any sound might stir something unnatural.
“Fear doesn’t allow wise decisions,” he said, glancing around.
She felt it then, his calm, it drifted slowly through her, easing her fear. It was like her own touch when she comforted those in need. She purposely rested her hand on his arm, seeing what she could feel.
Calm that mixed with her own, then a shot of confidence so strong that she could almost believe she had nothing to fear. He would keep her safe. But then she felt something far beneath that, so deep she could not reach it, but it stirred as though waiting to be released.
Bria lifted her head to look at him, not realizing she had rested it on his chest.
He dipped his head so that his lips nearly touched hers. “Be careful how deep you go, Bria, you may not be ready for what you find.”
He brushed his lips across hers, a whisper of a touch that sent a pleasant shudder through her that caught her breath for a moment. Then his arm fell from around her waist, his hand slipping around hers as he took a step away from her.
Briefly, before his hand took hold of hers, when there was no touch between them, she felt that odd emptiness rush over heragain. It vanished as soon as his hand gripped hers. She could not make sense of it, and right now, she had no time to dwell on it. Not here, not in Driochmor.
Kaelan gave her hand a gentle tug. “We need to keep moving.”
Bria remained where she was for a moment longer, unsettled by how easily his calm had slipped through her, easing fear that had moments before threatened to consume her.
