AllFreeNovel
Share Us
She loved to be in love, but shealwaysfell out of it.
She just didn’t want to lose her privileges yet. She… Well, she selfishly wanted to have her cake and eat it too.
She was a terrible, awful person.
She hated that she hurt him. She hated that she felt hurt because of it. She loved making people happy, spreading her cheer. None of her past amors complained when things ended. The separation was always amicable. Nobody got hurt. That was the way she liked it.
But, even though absolutelynothinghad even happened, or hell, even started! she was certain she’d hurt him. Thisthingbetween them was insane. And she’d only known him for a day!
Suddenly, they halted. Divina raised her head from Andros’ shoulder to look about them.
She could see the majestic mountains rising beyond the fortified basin below. A relatively large village, perhaps a trading post, lined the base. A fast-moving cloud of dust descended from the mountain toward the outpost.
She squinted her eyes to try to see more clearly.
“What’s that?” she asked.
“Centaurs,” came Andros’ grim reply.
“Two dozen of them. They must be the warriors sent to collect the sacrifice of virgins.”
~ * ~* ~ *~ * ~* ~ *~ * ~
The cavalry of warrior centaurs charging down the mountain served as a welcome distraction. Focusing on the potential and imminent threat, Andros pushed aside the staggering pain that radiated throughout his body from the center of his chest.
His heart was broken, and he didn’t even know why.
“Stay here,” he commanded Divina, turning his torso to lift her off his back, not waiting for her consent.
“I will go ahead to meet them.”
“What!” she squawked from the ground, one hand clutching a fistful of his hair, the other digging nails into his forearm.
“You can’t go meet them alone! There are two dozen of them and one of you! What if they are hostile? What if they see your presence as a threat? They don’t know you. You’re unarmed. What if they—”
“They aremycentaurs,” he replied implacably, cutting her off. “I feel them in my blood. I will meet them on my own terms, without puny humans as protection. I do not need it.”
She bristled visibly, her amazing, multi-colored hair puffing like an irate bird expanding its feathers.
“We may be puny compared to you, but we helped you before. And I have skills. I know how to soothe people. I can—”
His nostrils flared, and something in his eyes made her hair shrink back a little, cowed, her eyes rounding.
“The way you soothed me? Will you pet them, stroke their hides and mane and tell them they’re beautiful too?”
Her eyes widened even further as she stared at him with her mouth open. He’d rendered her speechless. He seemed to do that easily.
He hated that he just betrayed how much she’d hurt him with her rejection. He didn’t understand the whirlwind of emotions churning within him. He didn’t understand the feelings she evoked, nor his body’s reaction.
He just knew that everything hurt.
He was furious for some unfathomable reason. And he already wanted to tear the unknown centaurs limb from limb at the mere thought that she would “soothe” them too.
“Stay here,” he ordered once more through gritted teeth.
Without a backward glance, he galloped down the hill toward the fort. At the pace he was going, he’d intercept the centaur cavalry just as they arrived at the outer walls of the fortress.
As he sped through the surrounding village, humans and their animals scattered to give him a wide berth. No one dared stop him. He kept his senses tuned to potential threats, tracking movements out of the corner of his eye for hidden weapons.
