The Betrayal - By Ruth Langan Page 0,10
to leave, as well.”
“Nay. It’s too soon.” Nola pushed away from the table, unable to stop the words of protest that sprang to her lips.
Everyone turned to look at her.
She clasped her hands together and stared at the floor. “You’re far too young to consider leaving home, Kylia.”
“At my age you were wed and had three children, Mother.”
“But you’ve led a sheltered life. You’re ill prepared for the world beyond our shores.”
“Perhaps. But I’ll learn, as Allegra learned. As you and Gram learned.” Kylia turned pleading eyes to her grandmother. “What good are our gifts if we have no chance to use them? Aren’t we being selfish if we keep ourselves hidden away here, when there are those in need of us in that other world beyond our shores?”
“What about me?” Gwenellen caught her sister’s hand and felt tears well up. She blinked hard to keep them from spilling over. “How can you leave me here alone, Kylia?”
“You could come with me.”
The young girl shook her head sadly. “I can’t leave Mum and Gram.” Her lips pursed into a pout. “Please don’t leave me, Kylia. What will I do with both you and Allegra far away?”
Her sister gathered her close. Against her temple, she whispered, “I shall miss you terribly. But I must do this, don’t you see? I believe it is my fate to do so.”
Nola gripped the back of the chair and studied her middle daughter as though memorizing every line and curve of that lovely face. “Can you not give us a few more days?”
Kylia turned to Grant, who had watched and listened in silence.
He squared his shoulders. “I wish it could be so. I’ve been gone long enough. I must return to my people now.”
Kylia nodded. “Then I go with you. Now.”
As they started toward the door, Nola picked up a heavy traveling cloak and draped it around her daughter’s shoulders.
Kylia paused and turned.
Nola managed a weak smile as she lifted a hand to the fasteners. “I was just your age when I wore this. You’ll have need of it. The weather in that other world is not as gentle as ours.”
Kylia wrapped her arms around her mother’s neck and hugged her fiercely. After, without a word she embraced her grandmother, then her sister, before pausing to hug Bessie and Jeremy.
She stepped out the door where Grant was holding the reins of his steed.
He paused a moment to look down into her upturned face. “You’re sure of this?”
She nodded, too overcome by the enormity of what she was doing to speak. There was a lump in her throat the size of a rock.
He lifted her to the saddle, then pulled himself up behind her. With a quick salute to her family, he flicked the reins and the horse took off at a run.
As the horse and its riders crested a hill, the three women stretched out their hands to one another and formed a circle. As they began to chant the ancient words, Kylia lifted her head. Even above the sound of splashing as the horse entered the Enchanted Loch, she could hear the words clearly. As the water rose, she rolled her cloak into a bundle and tied it behind the saddle before slipping into the water. Grant was amazed by the ease with which she swam, easily keeping pace beside him. With each powerful stroke, he thought he heard chanting.
By the time they’d reached the far shore, he could hear the chanting inside his mind. And though the words were foreign to him, he found them oddly soothing.
“You’ll need this to keep warm until your gown dries, my lady.” He unrolled her cloak and draped it around her. As he did, he felt the quick jolt. Though he’d prepared himself for it, it still managed to catch him off guard. He allowed his hand to linger as he lifted the hood and tucked her wet hair inside.
“Thank you, my lord.” She looked up at him with a heart-stopping smile.
Perhaps it was the smile. Or the anticipation of returning to his home. Or the fact that he’d wanted to taste her lips since the first time he’d seen her. Whatever the reason, he lowered his head to her and brushed his mouth over hers.
He’d meant it to be no more than a simple touch of lips to lips. The merest whisper of butterfly wings. But the minute their mouths touched, mated, everything changed.
Here was more than mere heat. This was an inferno that had the