Read Chael's Luck (A Knights of Dorathan Novel) Online

Authors: Mireille Chester

Tags: #romance, #suspense, #horses, #fantasy, #gods, #epic, #swords, #battles, #kings, #spells, #castles, #knights

Chael's Luck (A Knights of Dorathan Novel) (10 page)

“No, that’s fine. I’ll leave it off until
tomorrow.” I waited until he stood behind me and let the material
drop to the ground.

“Arm up.”

I raised the arm on my injured side carefully
and let him slip the sleeve over it. When he’d tugged it down into
place, I turned to face him.

“Thank you.”

He nodded. “Chaela, you are something else
entirely to get used to.” He smiled and patted my cheek. “But I
like you too.”

I watched him disappear up the stairs once
again, not sure if I should be glad or insulted by his comment. I
decided on glad and settled down for the night.

I awoke to the booming of thunder. At first
glance, I was sure it was still night, but a fully dressed Ian
carrying in a cup of coffee contradicted what I was seeing. I sat
up stiffly and rubbed my hands over my face.

“Would you like a cup of coffee?” Ian handed
it to me without waiting for an answer.

“What time is it?”

“Much later than it seems. This storm rolled
in and made it night once again.”

I got up and went to the window to
investigate. Lightning flashed across the sky.

“I have to go check on Klora. He hates
storms.” I started to set my coffee down but stopped as Ian put a
hand on my shoulder.

“He’s fine. He’s in the stall between Klard’s
and True’s, Whisk is in there with him, and when I checked on him a
few minutes ago, he had two of Alex’s kittens asleep on his
back.”

“You’re lying.”

“Now why would I lie about that?”

“Well, a more believable story would be that
you went out to feed them this morning and that he broke out of his
stall, escaped, and now you’re covering so that I don’t go out and
discover you’ve managed to lose my horse.”

He grinned. “That is more believable.”

My stomach dropped.

“But don’t worry, I was telling the
truth.”

We stood side by side and watched the
downpour outside.

“It looks like we’ll be postponing our
departure.” Ian blinked at a particularly bright flash of
lightning.

I grunted. “So it would seem. Hopefully it
doesn’t last too long.” I sighed in frustration and took a sip of
coffee to warm myself.

“How’s your side?”

“Better.”

“You know, that’s the same answer you give me
every time I ask you.”

“And I’m not lying. Every day it gets better.
Whining about the fact that it hurts isn’t going to speed up the
healing process.”

He grunted. “Alright. New topic.”

I noticed this was his way of steering us off
of a current conversation that was leading to another of our full
blown disagreements.

“Alright. What do you want talk about?”

“Dreams.”

I frowned. “What about dreams?”

He glanced at me and I caught the embarrassed
look on his face as another bolt of lightning lit up the room.

“Never mind.”

“No, really. I just mean, what kind of
dreams. Dreams as in, what do you want to be when you grow up, or
dreams as in, last night I had a dream.”

“Would it makes sense if I said both?”

I smiled. “You dream of what you want to be
when you grow up?”

He shook his head. “I’m doing what I want to
be doing.”

I raised an eyebrow at him. “You want to
spend the rest of your life wandering around.”

His eyes narrowed. “Not everyone needs to
prove themselves to others. And I don’t just wander around. I find
some of the rarer herbs and sell them to the healwives. It saves
them having to leave their patients and I get to know I’ve helped
someone who might need it.”

I stared at him, suddenly embarrassed with
myself. I’d spent my entire life being judged, and here I was,
doing the same to a man who’d done nothing but walk away from
something because he’d given a damn about his beliefs. He stared at
the horizontal lines of rain streaking across the window. He ran a
hand through his dark blond hair and blew out of his nose.

“Never mind.” He started to turn and I
grabbed his arm.

“Wait. I’m sorry. Really, I am.”

“Are you always like this?”

I frowned. “Like what?”

“Irking, stubborn, ignorant, spiteful…” His
grey eyes met mine. “Pick one...”

I felt my temper flare and I took a deep
breath to calm myself. I’d deserved that. “No. Only since I’ve met
you, actually.” I tightened my hold on his arm as he started to
leave. “Ian, wait. It’s the truth. You… I don’t know. You are the
first person other than my father, aunt, or uncle to ever know my
secret. It makes me uncomfortable. You call me Chaela; I’m not used
to that. This whole situation makes me feel…” I paused, trying to
find the word I needed. “I think I feel threatened, or maybe
vulnerable.” I clenched my jaw with the realization that vulnerable
was exactly how I felt. For the very first time, someone could use
my secret to hurt me. I let go of his arm. “I’m going to check on
Klora.”

I held the door open for a fraction of a
second before running to the barn. The horses lifted their heads
and Klora spooked as the wind caught one of the doors and slammed
it open. He kicked at his stall, panicked. I quickly closed the
door, cringing at the pain in my side, and made my way to his
stall.

“Settle down, Klora. It’s just me.”

He put his head over the half door of his
stall and I patted him between the eyes. The kittens that had been
sleeping on his back were nowhere to be seen.

“I guess that’s just us, yeah?” I gave him a
handful of grain. “We scare off everyone that tries to be nice to
us.”

He nodded his head as if he agreed.

“It’s just you and me, now.” Klard snorted
behind me and I turned to give him some treats as well. “And you.
Don’t worry, Klard, I won’t be leaving you.” I gave True, Ian’s
mare, a handful as well.

“Well, you can’t have True.”

The dark dappled mare whinnied her welcome to
her rider.

I rubbed the crescent of white on her
forehead. “I wouldn’t leave with your horse, Ian.”

“I didn’t think you would. I was trying to be
funny.”

I looked up and found him leaning against one
of the stalls, his arms crossed. I noticed how the muscles stood
out under his tunic and I felt my ears turn red.

“It was funny.”

He shook his head. “No, it wasn’t.”

We stared at each other awkwardly.

“I made more coffee.” He gestured toward the
cabin.

“I could use a cup.” I gave the horses one
last pat before following him back to the house. He’d lit the lamps
and the rooms smelled of fresh coffee and burned bacon.

He rolled his eyes when he noticed my nose
wrinkle at the smell. “I tried to make a good breakfast.”

I started to laugh.

He gave me one of his exasperated, annoyed
looks and I had to sit as my laughter exploded from my lungs.

“I give up,” he mumbled and disappeared into
the kitchen. He reappeared holding two cups of coffee, one of which
he handed to me before going to sit in a chair.

“It’s a voice.” He looked up from whatever
spot he was looking at on the floor and met my eyes.

“What?”

“My dreams. I never remember my dreams. This
one, though, I’ve had two nights in a row. All I can remember is a
man is talking to me, but I can’t remember what he looks like. All
I recall is one thing he says.”

“And what’s that?”

He took a sip of his coffee and shook his
head. “It’s stupid. I shouldn’t have brought it up.” His eyes found
the spot on the floor once again.

“Only you can decide,” I mumbled.

“What?”

“My dreams of late… that’s how they end. I
have no idea what happens in them. All I remember when I wake up is
a deep voice telling me that only I can decide.”

He ran a hand over his face. “The dead will
rise again.”

I stared, speechless.

“Yeah, that’s how I feel; just how you look
right now. What in bloody hell does that mean?”

My heart started to pump a little faster. “Do
you think it has to do with the book? Maybe that’s why the person
who took it wanted it.”

“Maybe. He wants to raise someone from the
dead?”

“But, who?”

He growled, frustrated. “Gods, I wish Alex
was alive.” The confused look on his face gave way to a softer,
sadder one and I felt a pang in my chest as I thought of my father.
Suddenly, the mouthful of coffee I had seemed impossible to swallow
past the lump in my throat. I forced it down and set the cup on the
floor, wiping my arm across my face to wipe away the tears that had
been welling in my eyes.

Ian seemed to materialize beside me. “I’m
sorry, Chaela.” He put a hand on my arm.

“What for?”

“Everything.” Though Ian said the word, it
was my father’s voice that reached my ears. The tears broke free
and Ian pulled me to his chest before I could object. His cheek
pressed against the top of my hair, his arms wrapped around me and
for the first time in all of my eighteen years, I truly felt small.
My tears soaked into the front of his tunic.

“Shush, Chaela. It will be alright. We’ll get
the bastard.”

I took a few deep breaths to get myself under
control then looked up at him. “There’s no doubt about it.” I
pulled away when it looked like he was about to wipe my tears away
and I took care of them with the heel of my hands. I went to my
pack and pulled everything out before systematically putting
everything back in while checking off the list in my head. Doing
something this routine helped to take my mind off of recent events
and the fact that Ian had officially been the first man to hold me,
even if it was just a comforting hug.

 

 

 

Chapter Four

 

 

Klora’s ears perked backwards.

“Something’s coming,” I warned Ian. He nodded
and we turned off of the road. The ditch was filled with tall
shrubs that made great hide outs. A group of five Knights cantered
into sight and I put a hand down to warn Whisk to keep quiet.

They slowed to a walk and I swore
inwardly.

“I doubt he came this far west,” stated one
of the younger Knights whom I recognized as Blair, one of the lads
Knighted the year before.

“If I’d killed my aunt, my uncle, my father,
and an old man, I’d go as far west as I could,” countered one of
the older knights I couldn’t place.

“I still don’t think he did it, Dad, I mean,
Sir.” John frowned. “I trained with Chael for thirteen years. He’s
a good man.”

My heart jumped in my throat and I glanced at
Ian with wide eyes. He placed a finger over his lips.

John’s father grunted. “It isn’t our job to
question, John. You saw the evidence for yourself. It was his
dagger they found at his aunt and uncle’s murder, he was absent
from the ball, and no witnesses stepped forward to account for his
whereabouts at the time they were killed. As for his father and the
old man, well, when there are three men present, the first two are
killed, and the third disappears, it is safe to assume the third is
responsible.”

“But why bury them? If he’d murdered them,
wouldn’t he have left them to rot?”

His father glared. “Enough. Our job is to
find him and bring him in for questioning. If you’re going to
question orders, you can go back to Gleama and explain to the
council why you are back before the rest of us.”

John paled visibly.

Ian put a hand on my arm. ‘Breathe’, he
mouthed to me, and I was sure I was paler than John. We stayed
hidden until we were sure they’d gotten out of hearing range.

“I didn’t kill them, Ian.”

“I know.”

“But they have evidence? How can they have
evidence? It doesn’t make sense! I have my dagger right here! I had
it on all night! I swear I never took it off!” I could hear my
voice rise an octave, but I was beyond caring. “By gods, we got
ready for the banquet, Dad gave me my new belt and dagger, and it
hasn’t left my sight…” I stopped short.

“What?”

“It’s my old dagger. Someone got a hold of my
old dagger! That has to be it! It also explains why I couldn’t find
it the following morning. I didn’t think much of it at the time
because I had my new one and we were pressed for time to leave for
Alex’s place…”

“It could have been anyone’s dagger,
Chaela.”

I shook my head. “No. If they say it was
mine, it was mine.”

“Almost all daggers look the same.”

“Not mine. Caleb stole it from me when we
were about fifteen. He carved Chael’s Luck into the hilt.” I pulled
my new one out and handed it to him, hilt first. The same words
were carved into the blade of it.

“Why carve that into your new dagger?”

I shrugged. “For as strange as it sounds,
he’s my namesake. I’ve had Chael’s luck my entire life. The funny
thing is, for as much as I complain to him about it and swear at
him because of it, I talk to him a lot. I have a feeling he might
know how I feel.”

Ian looked at me like I’d lost my mind and I
clenched my jaw.

“Never mind. I don’t know why I thought I
could tell you that. Anyhow, that’s how they have my blade and how
they know it’s mine.” I turned Klora and headed deeper into the
woods. It seemed that traveling the roads was now out of the
question.

I heard Ian swear and Klard trotting to catch
up to us.

“Gods, Chaela, I’m sorry. It’s just… not many
people talk about Chael as if he’s a person with feelings. I mean,
the only time the god comes up is if someone’s having a bad
day.”

I took a deep breath and decided to get off
the topic of the god of bad luck. “Do you think whoever murdered my
aunt and uncle was the one to steal the book and kill Dad and
Alex?”

Ian grunted. “I’d like to say no, but I’ll
have to go with yes. I can’t see a connection between the two, but
I won’t say there isn’t one just yet. Do you know anything at all
about the murders?”

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