A World Apart The Jake Thomas Trilogy - By Steven A. Tolle Page 0,91

scarred face unreadable, but his bright blue eyes seeming to shine. As the seconds stretched on with Dominic standing there silent, Jake cursed himself for not listening to Hailyn. He was sure he had just stepped into it. Before he could say he was sorry, Dominic squatted down in front of Jake, bringing himself to eye level.

"Where you come from, do people share other's life stories with strangers, boy?" Dominic asked, voice even and calm. "Jonas told me about your questions regarding me the night you arrived here. He also told me he warned you not to ask me about it. Since then, we have been training together and you have never asked me about it, so I assumed you were following Jonas' suggestion."

"I wasn't sure how you would react." Jake said quietly. "I don't want to upset you or have you pissed off at me."

"Well, now you know." Dominic said, his face becoming hard, his voice tightening. "I was once married and had a son." His face hardened further, his scars twisting as the skin drew tight, giving him a frightening appearance, his eyes like chips of blue ice. "The demons and their half-men took them from me." He said, voice suddenly cold and hard, hands curling into fists.

Jake hesitated for a moment, intimidated by Dominic's deadly passion. Steeling his courage, he asked as gently as he could. "Is that why you resigned your positions and hunt the half-men?"

"Something like that, boy." Dominic replied, standing. He took a deep breath and blew it out, his face relaxing. "If we have time to gossip like a couple of ladies at court, we should be training. Get up."

"Are you mad at me for asking about this?" Jake asked as he stood.

"No, boy." Dominic said, moving back into their training area. "There is no harm in being curious." He turned to fix Jake with those hard eyes, pointing a finger at him. "Just know when to press and when to back off."

Jake spoke to Hailyn about it as they walked to the stables. She had arrived towards the end of the training session, as usual. He declined her offer of healing, as he and Dominic headed back to the shady area to retrieve their swords. Dominic gave her a quick greeting, told Jake to care for the horses and left in the direction of the courtyards.

"I'm glad you got your answers, Jake." Hailyn said. "It says something about you that Dominic chose to share with you."

"I guess so." Jake said, rubbing at his arms. "I think from now on, though, I'll let him tell me about things as he feels comfortable. For a couple of seconds there, I thought I had really crossed the line." Hailyn gave him a smile and a reassuring pat on the arm.

Jake, an idea forming in his head, went to Shadow's stall first, quickly cleaning it out and putting in food and water while Hailyn brushed down the horse. Once they finished, they made their way to Dontas' stall. Several of the trainees working in the stables greeted both Jake and Hailyn as they passed.

Jake unlocked the tack room and went in to get the bridle. Once he had Dontas out of his stall, Jake went back into the tack room. Hailyn gave Jake a curious look when he came out carrying his saddle.

"Armartas said I should try to ride often if I want to get better." Jake said, setting the saddle on Dontas. "Do you want to ride with me?"

"That would be nice, Jake, but are you sure you know enough to carry someone else?" Hailyn asked, looking doubtful.

Jake gave her a shrug and a smile as he first checked, then saddled Dontas and led him down the hall. Once outside, he swung into the saddle, reached down and pulled Hailyn up behind him. Once she was on, Jake booted Dontas and took him out to the training grounds.

They rode for close to thirty minutes, talking while circling the training grounds, changing the pace between walking, galloping and a full run. He was a little distracted by the fact that Hailyn's robe had pulled up as she sat behind him, revealing her booted calves and part of her smooth thighs. He tried to push that out of his mind. Jake found that he like riding, enjoying the power and speed as Dontas charged ahead, and especially liked the fact that Hailyn was with him. After they let him cool down, they took Dontas back to his