Chael's Luck (A Knights of Dorathan Novel) (24 page)

“Chaela…”

Unable to talk through the tears, I sat up
and looked into his amazing grey eyes. He swallowed hard and gently
touched my cheek. He frowned.

“I dreamt that Chael…”

I nodded.

“Chaela. Everything you’ve worked for…” Ian
shook his head.

I rubbed my cheek against his palm and closed
my eyes. “Was worth giving up to be with you.”

His other hand came up so that he was holding
my face. His thumb brushed the tears from my cheeks before he
pulled me down to him. His lips brushed mine and I didn’t bother to
hide the shiver that ran through me. I took a deep breath and
brushed the hair out of his eyes.

“I do love you, Ian.”

He smiled. “I’ll never doubt it.” He wrapped
his arms around me and crushed me to his chest. “I do love you,
Chaela.”

I tightened my hold on him. “I know.”

I heard the others running toward us.

“What, in the name of the gods, just happened
here?” Mac touched my back. “Chaela, get off of the man so we can
wrap up the cuts.”

I kissed Ian once more for good measure
before doing as I was told. Harry passed me a water canteen and I
thanked him.

“Did we lose anyone?”

Hal grinned. “Not one man. Or woman.”

I laughed and groaned. “By gods, I feel like
Klora’s thrown me twenty feet into the air. I looked up into the
black sky and smiled. “Thank you, Chael,” I murmured.

John raised an eyebrow at me. “That’s not
usually the god most people thank.”

I grinned. “Most people aren’t named after
him.” I watched as the men who weren’t too injured started fires
and set up camp while others moved the goblin bodies into a pile
out of the way. Ian sat up, his cuts cleaned and his chest
bandaged. I placed our blankets near one of the fires and smiled as
he sat beside me.

He frowned. “Chaela…”

“Don’t.”

“But.”

“No. Not a word. You won’t blame yourself for
this and you won’t question my actions.” I leaned into him and he
put his arm around me. “Ian, with you, I can be me without having
to prove myself. You’ve helped me find myself. In the past few
months, I have felt a freedom I’ve never felt before and you’ve
been a big part of it.” I closed my eyes at the feel of his lips on
my hair. “I do love you Ian.”

“And I, you.” He lay us down and looked
deeply into my eyes. He smiled softly. “Does this mean you’ll agree
to be my wife, then?”

I frowned then kissed him as his smile left.
“Of course. I just… I’d never really thought about being a wife.” I
started to laugh. “You do know I’ll make a horrible wife.”

He grinned. “You’ll be mine and that’s all
that matters.”

“I can’t sew.”

“I can. I can’t cook.”

I kissed him. “So I’ve noticed. Cooking,
however, is something I happen to be good at.” I sighed and
snuggled into his chest, careful not to hurt him. Around us, the
others were settling in for the night.

“Goodnight, Ian.”

“Sweet dreams, Chaela.”

*****

In my dream, I felt peaceful. I was lying on
a bed with Ian pressed against my back, his arm around me. His lips
brushed the back of my neck and I shivered.

“Good morning,” he mumbled against my
skin.

“Good morning.” I stretched and turned so I
could kiss him.

He smiled. “Is coffee made, yet?

I grinned. “Coffee’s your job in the
morning.”

He groaned and pulled me tightly to his
chest. “Alright.” He stood and pulled his pants on. I watched as he
went into the kitchen.

“Good morning.”

I jumped and pulled my dagger from off the
nightstand. I frowned at the chuckle that came from the corner of
the room.

“Is that any way to greet your favorite god?”
Chael walked out of the shadows and sat on the bed. I looked toward
the kitchen and Chael shook his head. “He won’t realize I’m
here.”

“Why are you here?”

“I just wanted to see how you were
doing?”

“I’m fine.”

“I can see that. It’s not very often that a
person goes through what you just did and still manages to have a
dream this peaceful, just hours after the fact. You truly were
ready to get rid of your Knight’s blood to spend the rest of your
days with this man.”

I nodded.

He grinned. “Well, then, I’m satisfied.” He
stood. “This won’t hurt nearly as much as when I took it from
you.”

My heart jumped in my chest. “You’re giving
it back?”

He nodded.

“Why?”

He shrugged. “There are those out there,
Chaela, who have things they don’t deserve. With or without the
magic in your blood, man or woman, you were meant to be a Knight.
It shows in everything you do.”

“But what about the laws you aren’t willing
to break? What of the other gods?”

He laughed. “Are you worried about me?”

I blushed. “A bit, yes.”

His grin widened. “I’m Chael. The other gods
tend to expect things like this from me.” He held out his hand and
I placed mine in it. He brought it up to his lips. My knuckles
started to warm where he’d kissed them, the feeling traveling up my
arm and into my chest. Chael stood with a nod and disappeared back
into the shadows.

“Chaela, what’s happening to you?” Ian walked
back into the bedroom.

I snapped awake feel of Ian’s real hand
touching my face.

“You’re burning up. Chaela, wake up.”

I smiled to ease the worry and took a deep
breath as the heat lessened. I reached up and ran a hand through
his hair.

“What was that?”

“Chael… he gave it back.”

“You mean…”

I nodded and snuggled back into his
chest.

Chapter Seven

Ian straightened my belt and smiled. I tugged
on the hem of his dark blue tunic and ran my fingers over his
family’s emblem, a black eagle.

“Are you nervous?” I asked.

He shrugged. “A bit.”

I ginned. “Me, too.”

He grunted. “You’ve been through this
before.”

“But not as me.” I took his hand and gave it
a squeeze. “We’ve been through worse.”

He nodded and kissed me softly. “We
have.”

We both took a deep breath as the doors to
the great hall were opened. General Krane smiled at us.

“The king awaits you.”

We made our way to the front of the room
where the king stood, his wife and daughter on either side of
him.

“Ian, Chaela,” he nodded to both of us. “Your
courage and loyalty have been endless these past few months. Both
of you had more than your share of reasons to simply give up and
forget about the rest of us. Despite all of these reasons, you
stayed and fight, putting your lives before ours.” He pulled his
sword and we knelt before him.

As the king went through the motions of
Knighting both of us, I thought back to the events of the past few
years and I was slightly surprised that neither my first Knighting
nor this one was number one on my list of favorite moments. I
smiled as I remembered playing cards with my father and going for
rides with him. I remembered the tender look on Ian’s face the
first time he’d kissed me and how he always had a way to make me
shiver no matter how innocently he touched me.

“Stand Sir Chaela McKinney and Sir Ian
Murphy.”

We stood at attention, saluted the royal
family then turned to face the roomful of Knights that had come to
watch the event. I smiled at the sight of Harry, Hal, Mac, and John
standing in a line. They saluted and we returned the honor.

“To the end!”

The Knight’s motto echoed through the room
and I grinned up at Ian. “Drink?”

He started to laugh. “Please.”

Our friends fell into step beside us.

“Where are we heading?” inquired Hal.

“The pub.”

Mac grinned. “You know they’re serving drinks
in the great hall, yeah?”

I chuckled. “Yeah.” I took Ian’s hand. “But
after all of the excitement the past few days, all I want is a
quiet meal and a good night’s sleep.”

Everyone grunted their agreement and we made
our way to the pub.

Epilogue

Ian leaned down and kissed me softly.

“Don’t look so nervous. You’ll scare
him.”

I smiled. “I’m fine. I just… by gods, Ian,
he’s so small! Is it possible we were that small when we went into
training?”

He grinned. “Actually, I think it’s safe to
say you were even smaller yet.” We turned as our five year old came
out of the cabin. The breeze messed his dark hair and he squinted
his grey eyes as he looked up at us. I bent to place a kiss on the
top of his head.

“Do you like your tunic, Chael?” I asked.

He nodded and looked down at the dark blue
tunic with a black eagle on the left side and a black winged horse
on the right. Ian gave my hand a squeeze before picking him up and
setting him in his pony’s saddle. I swung onto Klora and Ian onto
Klard.

Once at the arena, we went to stand by
General Krane.

He nodded in welcome. “The tunic was a nice
touch,” he commented.

I smiled. “I thought so.”

We watched as Chael waved to a blond boy.

“I’m Timothy McKenzie. Who are you?”

“I’m Chael McKinney-Murphy.”

Timothy started to laugh. “Your parents named
you after Chael? He’s the god of bad luck!”

Chael shook his head. “My mom says that Chael
is a god of great character and that it’s not his fault people
can’t take a prank.”

General Krane chuckled and I grinned.

“Chael!” A black haired lad dropped his
pony’s reins and ran over to tackle my son. The two fell in a pile,
laughing. I smiled at Mac and Jasmine as they made their way
over.

“Poor Blair. He was so nervous this morning
he refused to get on his pony until we told him Chael would be
here.” Jasmine laughed. General Krane excused himself and made his
way toward the twenty boys running wildly around the arena.

“Alright, boys! Attention!”

The boys scrambled to get into a line facing
him. Chael’s gaze found ours and I smiled as he waved to us
excitedly.

“Should we go to Harry’s while we wait?” Ian
took my hand and started to lead me away.

“Let’s.”

I cast one last look back to our son then
turned my eyes to the sky. “Thank you.”

Ian smiled down at me. “Do you think he heard
you?”

I nodded. “I know he did.”

Acknowledgements

First and foremost, I need to thank my friend
and fellow writer, Evonne Garnett, for inviting me to take part in
Nanowrimo with her school group. Before that fateful email, I have
to admit I’d never heard of National Novel Writing Month. Were it
not for that invite, Chael’s Luck might never have been
written.

I need to thank all of my online writing
friends. You are truly a second family to me and your encouragement
and support is inspiring.

As always, I need to say a big thank you to
my husband. For all the times you’ve cleaned house and done laundry
while I stayed lost in my imaginary worlds, I love you, my
sweet.

Praise for ‘The Chosen One Trilogy’

(Crossover, Journey, Destiny)

Mireille Chester’s adult paranormal
series

“I have loved these books, loving the
imagination of the author that has took me on this fantasy journey,
the world she has created and the Characters and species. I have
loved the romance, the family dynamics, the morality of it and I
would love to see this trilogy made into a movie, it’s that good! I
would recommend them to anyone; these books are hidden gems that
I’m so glad I discovered.” ~ Melanie of Book Passion for Life

“Mireille Chester has sent me on an emotional
roller coaster ride that hours (and even days) after finishing this
book, I still find myself tearing up when thinking about some of
her incredible characters.” ~ Cath of My Book Chatter

“I did not want this series to end because
Hayden and Jasper have such a raw love for each other and had such
love for their family that I laughed, cried and screamed at this
book because they went through so much but in the end true love
prevails and they are living proof of it!” ~ Tee of A Diary of a
Book Addict

Coming December 2012

the much anticipated young adult debut of
the Quelondain world.

Tyler’s Story

It’s been five years since his twin brother
Trent was killed and Tyler has been on his own ever since. When he
stumbles across Heidi, a human from the other world who’s just
crossed over, he vows to get her home against his better judgment.
What he doesn’t realize is that to keep his promise, he’ll have to
risk his life and the one thing he’s managed to keep to himself
since the war… his heart. Still, a promise is a promise and Tyler
doesn’t break his. After facing human rogues, packs of Majs, and
Zerpanays, he’ll have to decide… can he bear to let go of the one
thing that’s managed to bring him back to life? Will he finally
find enough peace to return home?

“Tyler, run!”
John’s cry caused Heidi to jump. The echoing screech raining down
on them from the sky made her freeze with fear.

Tyler grabbed
her hand and started to run along the river, looking for anywhere
to hide. Heidi cried out in pain as she tripped and fell, her
shoulder slamming into a large rock. Tyler stopped, ready to come
back for her.

“Keep going!
I’ve got her!” John hauled Heidi to her feet. The Zerpanay shrieked
and Tyler fell forward as an energy blast pushed him off of the
ground. He landed face first in the dirt and leaves with a grunt,
turned so he could look back for John and Heidi. His heart jumped
in his chest. Both of his friends had been knocked down by the
blast thrown by the creature that now stood over them. The thirty
foot long serpentine body moved in a wave using the ten pairs of
legs it stood on. It lowered its head, the dark brown feathers,
glinting in the sunlight. Heidi screamed as its long red tongue
flicked over her. John kicked up with all of his might and managed
to roll himself onto Heidi. He tensed, readying himself for
whatever came next.