Page 35 of Where Broken Wings Fly

The sharp jawline that ran the side of his face was just like Raegan’s. The prominent, strong nose belonged to him too.

Why couldn’t I focus? My head was whirling with new information as I tried to open my mouth and test the words.

Finally, I spat something out that was coherent enough for anyone to understand.

“We were attacked.”

14

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The Cluaineach court needed a few days to discuss the information that we provided them. During that time, Raegan and I were to remain in Cluaineach, even though there was a growing divide between the two of us.

The divide was there, and growing, because Killian should have been more specific about what he meant by ‘Raegan will protect you’. Raegan’s idea of protecting me was leaving me in the guest-chambers every hour of every day and expecting me to remain there while he went off, doing whatever a two-timing Prince of kingdoms does. On the first two days, he left the moment the sun rose from within the paned walls of our room and returned only when it started to dip again. We shared very little words between us, though that was not my choice. I had many things I wanted to say and ask of the heir, but whenever I opened my mouth he made a strange gesture with his hand and turned away from me. Because of that, he was happy to let me have the monstrosity of a bed while he took to the floor, muttering wildly to himself until he fell asleep both nights.

So when we woke up on the third day, I was expecting more-or-less of the same. The questions were piling high in my head, but I had refrained from daring a conversation with Raegan and resorted to storing them all until I saw Killian again.

~

It was hard to say which one of us was more surprised when Raegan woke and didn’t immediately depart, but instead paused in the doorway and turned back to the room.

His early morning habits of brooding his way across the room several times before leaving had awoken me like usual, so while I assumed he planned otherwise, I saw him pause in the doorframe.

“Problem?” I groaned as I rubbed at both of my eyes with two balled fists.

Raegan’s mouth opened, slammed shut, and opened one more time.

“You look like a fish.”

Pinching and squinting his face, those fox-like eyes homed in on me. “Some would consider that a compliment.”

I snorted. “I wouldn’t.”

“Yeah, well, you look like a…” It was hard to tell if Raegan’s pause was because he couldn’t come up with a more petulant, childish insult than whatever came to mind, or because simply nothing came to mind. “I’m going out for the day.”

“Okay?” I pushed myself upright, leaning against the stone-headboard behind me. “And that’s new… how?”

Raegan growled something under his breath as he planted his forehead into the bicep braced against the doorway. His response was quiet and choppy, but I picked out enough of the words to drop my jaw upon hearing them. “You may come along, if you’d like.”

I was starting to see why Killian enjoyed prodding the Prince. “I’m sorry, can you repeat that? I didn’t quite hear you.”

He caught my wide grin and scowled. “You may come if you’d like.” He made a point of dragging each word out and slowing down his pronunciation.

“You know, I would like to.” I leapt from the bed, wondering how long it would take Raegan to reject and possibly rescind his offer. Judging by the look on his face, it was any second now.

He didn’t wait for me to be ready, instead turning on his heel and beginning his trek down the hallways of the castle. Stumbling my way across the room with one shoe on and the other in the midst of being tied, I hopped along after him as I worked at lacing my leathers against my body and finishing the pull of my foot into my boot.

After two days of being confined to the semi-glass room of the Cluaineach castle, fresh air scattering over my body was a serenity like no other. My feet stopped after taking a few steps out into the land beyond, my limbs frozen as they worked at soaking in the rising sun and the cool breeze that accompanied it.

“Hurry up, little human,” Raegan hollered from his position half a field away from me, yanking my attention back to the present and forcing me to shake my head free of my temporary lapse. Sighing as I had to break into a jog to catch up to the blond-haired pixie, I noticed how easily Raegan found his stride, how confidently he moved in the direction that he desired. It was then that I was reminded, yet again, that this was not Raegan’s first time in Cluaineach. Not only did he know where he was going, but the way he strode across the lands he was born to was with such familiarity and comfort, it was hard to believe he had ever existed anywhere else.

“Can you slow your freakishly long strides just for a moment,” I huffed as I finally caught up to him, earning me a sidelong glance.

We walked through clipped meadows in silence, where the natural grass had been razed until it brushed against our knees, instead of towering over us like it should have.

“Why invite me today?”

I didn’t think Raegan would actually answer. I expected, like usual, for him to wave a hand in my direction or simply pretend like no one had spoken.