“I have heard little of Northland beyond trader tales,” she admitted.
“Most tales focus on the harshness of it.” His gaze drifted briefly toward the fire as though seeing another land entirely. “The winters truly are fierce. Snow begins in the fall and often remains well into spring. Ice covers the rivers thick enough for horse and wagon to cross.”
Despite herself, Bria found herself drawn into the quiet warmth entering his voice as he spoke of home.
“But it is beautiful,” Kaelan continued. “More beautiful than most realize. Forests are heavy with snow. Mountains shine beneath ice. The silence after fresh snowfall…”
A faint softness touched his expression that she had not seen before.
“There is nothing else like it.”
Bria smiled faintly watching him. “You miss it.”
“Aye.” He gave a brief nod. “But the summers…” A deeper warmth entered his voice now. “The land changes completely. Flowers spread across the hills and valleys everywhere you look. Color returns to everything after the long winter.”
Bria found herself strangely fascinated listening to him speak this way. This was not the guarded Kaelan she had traveled beside through Driochmor. This was the man beneath the silence.
“The Thornek are a sturdy people,” he continued. “The winters demand it. Families remain close because survival often depends upon it.”
Bria nodded once, understanding that much at least. “And family matters greatly to your people.”
“It is everything.”
The simple certainty in his voice settled deeply within her.
Kaelan looked down briefly at their joined hands before lifting his gaze to hers once more.
“There is another reason the Thornek hold family so closely.”
Bria waited quietly.
Kaelan’s thumb moved slowly across the back of hers. “My people possess the ability to know when they meet the one meant to stand beside them through life.”
Bria wasn’t quite sure if she understood what he was saying, and asked, “Do you speak of love? Marriage?”
“Aye, I do.”
Bria’s brow wrinkled. “One touch reveals love?”
Kaelan’s gaze held hers steadily now. “Aye, one touch is all it takes.”
The words settled softly between them.
It was strange to think such a thing was possible, though she had wondered if perhaps one day she would touch a man and feel, know he was meant for her, as foolish as the thought had been. It struck her then… the first time she laid her hand upon Kaelan. The strange warmth that spread through her. The pull she had felt ever since. The emptiness whenever they were apart.
Had he sensed it too?
The uncertainty must have shown plainly upon her face because Kaelan’s expression softened slightly.
“I felt it as soon as you touched me, Bria. It rushed through me and squeezed at my heart until I thought I would burst. Itwas like nothing I’d ever felt. It was difficult to sit there and do nothing when I wanted to take hold of you and never let you go.”
Bria stared at him, bewildered, barely able to ask, “You speak of love?”
“Aye, Bria. I love you from the depths of my heart, strange as that may seem to you, though you felt it yourself when you touched me just moments ago. So you know I speak truthfully,” he paused as if uncertain to continue, “but that doesn’t mean you must love me in return. You are not Thornek. You do not possess that certainty of my people. Which is why I told you… in time.”
Bria thought suddenly of all the moments he had spoken those words to her. In time… not meant as avoidance or dismissal. It was patience, or at least an attempt at it.
Confused by it all, she said, “Yet now you tell me. Why?”
