AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Maybe. But what about you? Your soul is a walled off citadel.”
His lips thinned out and his nostrils flared. “I have nothing to give. I won’t make a pretense otherwise.”
“Bull. I’m calling you on this, Rez. Maybe I’m not right for you either, but that doesn’t change that you dropped out at a time when Tannisford Realm needed you. I know you lost your family, but it became a poor excuse in my opinion for the choices you made.”
“What the hell would you know about that kind of loss? They were my world, my wife and my children.”
She shook her head. “You think you’re the only one? Every realm person I know has lost someone because of the Invictus. As for me, I lost my best friend who also happened to be my big brother, Scott.” She hit her chest. “I feel his loss every day, a pain here that never goes away. But you don’t see me hiding out in a place like the Wild Boar.” Her eyes stung with unshed tears.
He stared at her for a long, hard moment. His jaw worked back and forth and his eyes glittered. “I made myself a promise when my wife and my two boys died and when my daughter disappeared that I would never explain my actions to anyone. I would only do, from that moment forward, what I believed was right. I knew they were vulnerable to Invictus attack because our home was too far out in the realm for any of the Guardsmen to reach them in time. But I did my duty and three of them died. My daughter –” He couldn’t say the words. He couldn’t talk about the likelihood she was part of a wraith-pair. “Anyway, I won’t justify myself to you or anyone. Not now. Not ever.”
He turned away from her and headed out from under the oak tree.
“Where are you going?”
He held the tank and thong in hand. “I need a shower.”
Holly wasn’t about to be left alone in the pasture. All kinds of fears kept pressing in on her. If this new threat of Invictus had been in Millerell, where else might they be?
She was in uncharted waters and
for now, Rez was her only compass.
She lifted into the air and caught up with him.
You fly well. His pathing voice was deep as it hit her mind.
Thank you. Papa wanted all our skills developed.
I approve.
A sharp retort stung the tip of her tongue. But she kept her lips and her pathing shored up tight. She didn’t need to lash out at Rez. Her current situation may or may not have been launched because of him. But, she must have always had the capacity whether he was present or not.
She followed him as he rose higher into the air to clear the tall stone wall that separated the orchard from a landscaped backyard.
She’d been too wrapped up in her earlier lust to notice his garden before. She warmed up her realm vision then slowed in her flight so she could have a good look. This is very pretty.
What? He slowed with her, but he was scowling.
She spoke aloud. “Your yard.”
He slowed even more to hover in the air near her. “My mother laid it out a long time ago, before I was born. She died when I was young, but my father always paid a gardener to maintain it and I’ve continued the tradition. She’s done an excellent job.”
The lawn was an oval with shrubs around the perimeter all leafing out and blossoms sprouting here and there.
“This used to be a smithy back in my grandfather’s day. A lot has changed since.”
He flew once more the short distance to the backstairs. She followed again and landed easily on the pavers at the bottom of the steps.
He waved his hand to encompass the stairs. “This leads to the second floor. Street level is a guest room and bathroom. It’s a small compact home.” Throwing his hand to the right, he added, “Down there, past the stairs, is a potting shed.”
To the left, Holly could see a stone path that led to a cozy sitting area with wrought iron chairs and a small table. Next to the stone wall of the house were more neatly trimmed shrubs.
Holly had an odd feeling about what she was looking at, something she didn’t understand. What had happened to Rez’s parents? Where was his birth family?
A terrible fae intuition told her Rez was alone in life. She might have lost her brother in the war against the Invictus, but she was still blessed with a large extended family as well as her mother, father and sister.
As she climbed the steps, she noticed that a clematis vine was slowly making its way up an outside corner lattice. It would undoubtedly create a verdant flowering mass by mid-summer. Tannisford had reasonable weather and beautiful summers.
