Earth & Sky (14 page)

Ibbe’s voice rose, mocking her brother.  “De-winged,
impaled, and beheaded by a magic-less Shifter in less than two minutes.”  She
snorted sarcastically.  “Oh, bravo.”

Marshall glared up at her.  “And why were you over here
watching?”

She cast a mutinous glare over her shoulder toward Ville,
who was watching us all with a bored expression.  “He cheats.”

Marshall laughed as his sister took his hands and hauled
him to his feet.  “Well then, final round goes to the victors.” 

Ville nodded at me and I bared my teeth.  He would be more
of a challenge than Marshall had been.  This was going to be fun.  I retrieved
my staff and squared off with him.  I had forgotten, somehow, just how big and
menacing he was on the field.  He faced me, his massive wings extended, katana
at the ready, and a hard look in those stunning eyes. 

I squared my shoulders and waited.  A half-smile curled
one corner of his mouth and he launched into motion.  He was faster than Marshall
was, and his movements had more focus and direction.  I danced aside and
blocked his blade, but just barely. 

I spun to face him; knees bent slightly, muscles tense,
poised to spring.  There was no time to gather myself.  His “blade” was
everywhere, a constant onslaught that took all of my focus to counter.  But I
managed to shield myself from his blows. 

I found an opening in his attack and forced my way in,
trying for his head, his ribs, his knees.  He fought off my attack, his face a
blank mask.  We kept at it until my arms grew heavy, and my breathing short. 
Ville was tiring too, his movements slowing.  We were evenly matched.  Finally,
he spread his wings and leapt into the air.  He hovered, each stroke of his
massive wings stirring my hair and blowing bits of sand and grass into my
face. 

I stared up at him, staff at the ready as I felt his power
ripple over my skin.  Apparently, we were using magic now.  I dodged the ball
of energy that crackled at me from above.  It burst on the ground where I had
been standing, sending out little blue tendrils of electricity before it
disappeared.  It left a black singed spot in the grass.  I rolled, finding my
feet.  Throwing the staff aside, I clapped my hands together, and focused my
energy.  As I pulled it to me, I dodged two more balls of electricity.

I smiled to myself as a sheet of rock appeared above
Ville.  I focused to make it light and porous- not lethal.  My magic was
slower, but more solid.  I dropped what would have been a ton of rock on his
head.

He jerked his attention upward at the last moment,
shattering the rock with a burst of energy.  Bits of rubble flew out in every
direction with stinging intensity and I heard Marshall swear.  There was a
prickling sensation that made my hair stand on end and I slapped my hands to
the earth, pulling it up under me and flinging myself skyward as a burst of
energy like lightning crackled along the ground where I had been standing,
leaving the area black and smoking. 

I tucked and rolled, hitting the ground with bruising
force.  Finding my feet, I kept moving, not wanting to give him an easy target. 
I zigzagged across the field, pulling rocks the size of my head into existence
in the air behind me. 

I spun and crouched.  Touching the earth, I pulled up a
wall of stone between Ville and myself.  He had come back to earth, and one
wing was held close to his body, probably nicked by a boulder.  I touched the
earth again, causing sudden spikes to rise beneath him, throwing him to the
ground. 

I darted around my rock as he fell, and leapt onto him,
pinning him to the ground.  He wrapped his long arms around me and I felt his
energy stir as he prepared to fry me.  A sharp spike of obsidian appeared in my
hand and I pressed it to the long, white column of his throat.  He still could
have zapped me, but when the tip of the stone dagger touched his skin, he
relaxed in surrender.

Ibbe and Marshall rushed to us to see what had happened. 
“Wren it is,” Marshall declared with a grin.  “And she didn’t even shift!”

I stared down at Ville and his hard expression melted into
a smile.  “Good work.”

I dropped the blade and it crumbled.  Ville’s arms were
still wrapped around me, and I became aware that I was straddling him.  I
pushed away and stood, then gave him a hand up.

“He let me win.”  I said, whined. 

Ibbe nodded, as if she had known it all along.  However,
Ville shook his head in denial, flexing his bruised wing.  “You won.  If this
was real, I’d be dead.”

*****

I flopped on my back amid the clover and Queen Anne’s lace,
trying to catch my breath.  Ville sat at my side, looking down at me with that
intense blue stare.  I covered my eyes with the back of my forearm to shield
them from the sun- and from him.  This pull between us was too intense.  It
felt like I was being drawn into a vortex.

I felt him lean over me, and I stiffened nervously, even
as butterflies danced in my stomach.  But he only reached to slip his fingers
under my necklace.  “You still have this?”

I stifled a grin.  “I don’t know what you’re talking
about,” I said in a flat voice.  “It’s just a crow feather.”

“Oh, is that all it is?”  There was mischief in his deep
voice.  I sensed a movement, followed by a soft, tickling caress on my lips as
he traced the lines of my mouth with the feather. 

My mouth and I turned my head to escape the tickling
touch, but the feather returned, tracing my jaw line, and tickling its way down
the side of my neck to my collarbones.  It started to dip lower, but the chain ran
out of slack.

I moved my arm and gazed up at him as he leaned over me, a
soft, teasing smile on his face.  His eyes met mine, and the teasing turned to
something deeper.  In a moment, I knew, he would kiss me, and I didn’t know how
I should respond.  I held my breath as my mind tumbled over itself with reasons
to stop him- and reasons to stay right where I was. 

He dropped the feather and sat up.  His beautiful wings
flexed then folded as he drew one knee to his chest and gazed out over the sea
of grass. 

“Why did you let me win?”  I don’t know why I said it.  I
could have bitten my tongue off the moment the words escaped my mouth.  I sat
up and he cast a wry glance my way, a soft smile still tugging at the corners
of his wide mouth.  I remembered the way those full lips felt on mine and looked
down at my hands.

 “You told Marshall that I’d win- but you’re much stronger
than I am.”

He took a deep breath and let it out in a long sigh.  “In
some ways, I suppose I am,” he admitted.  “Physically, you’re no match for me. 
And I think our magic is equal.”  He turned that penetrating stare on me again,
and this time I couldn’t look away.  “But I’m vulnerable in other ways.”  His
dark brows drew together.  “My father always said it was a good thing I was
born a second son; that I didn’t have it in me to be a ruler.”

I shook my head in disbelief.  “Was he blind?”

Ville laughed.  “No.  I think he was very wise.  He and
Henrik both had this ability to make quick, logical decisions without any
hesitation.  I don’t have that.”  He lifted one shoulder in a shrug.  “I let
things get in the way.  Emotions.”  He plucked a bumpy seed head from the
grass, and twirled it between his long, graceful fingers.  “Not very manly.”

I grinned.  “Not at all.”  He flicked the seeds at me and
I laughed, putting my hands up to ward off his attack.  “I have the same
problem…usually with my temper.”  I said.  “But no one can really ever keep
their feelings out of a battle, no matter how hard they try.” 

He regarded me seriously for a moment, and my fizz of
laughter died.  “No,” he said with certainty.  “If you were to betray me- if I
knew you were a threat- even then, I’d hesitate.  I could never spill your
blood.”  He looked down at his hands.  “But if our roles were reversed you
would do what you needed to do to survive.  You’d kill me without a thought.”

I started to protest this cold assessment of my character,
but he held up a hand.  “I’m not saying you’re heartless.  Not at all.  It’s
just that this is what you’ve been trained to do.  You put your needs and your
feelings absolute, dead last.  You would eliminate the threat, even if it ate
you up inside.  You’d take it in and suffer in silence.”  He exhaled.  “So…
you’re stronger than me.”

I snorted.  “Not very feminine.” 

He shrugged.  “I’m glad you are who you are.  I want to
shelter you and keep you safe, but the truth is, I won’t always be able to
protect you.  So I’m happy that you’re strong where I’m weak.”

His gaze traveled over my face again with a burning
intensity that made me flush in response.  It stirred up the butterflies again,
and they went careening around my insides.  “I think I would love you, even if
it weren’t for this bond between us.”

I stared at him with my mouth hanging open.  The wind
stirred the grass and ruffled his shining black hair as he stood.  “Come on,”
he said with his same old easy-going smile.  “Let’s go back before the others
come looking for us.”

I nodded and stood, following him in silence.  Had he just
admitted that he loved me- was something like that even possible for two people
as hopelessly different as we were? 

I
knelt on the brick path and rooted around in the dirt.  Picking up the old,
well-worn spade, I jabbed it into the ground, burying it almost to the handle. 
Ville’s hand wrapped around mine on the tool, pulling it out about halfway. 
“That’s plenty.  You’ll see- the roots aren’t very deep at all.”

His hand slipped from mine and I felt his eyes on me as I
brushed aside the wide, dark leaves and what was left of the delicate,
bell-shaped flowers to grasp the stems of the lily of the valley.  I lifted up
on my spade to loosen the roots as I gently pulled out the bunch of plants.  He
was right; the roots were barely under the ground, a thick mat of tiny
tendrils.  I set the clump beside me on the walkway and reached for another,
amazed that such delicate things would survive being uprooted and moved to new
soil somewhere else.

 “How do you know so much about flowers?” I asked.  He was
male after all.  And a warrior. 

He stood and picked up the long handled-shovel he had been
using to thin out some daylilies that were threatening to take over the little
garden and twirled it absently.  “This was my mom’s garden.  I didn’t pay too
much attention to it when I was a kid.”  He shrugged.  “I was really young. 
And who cares about a bunch of plants- girls’ stuff.”  He grinned down at me,
probably thinking about how limited this girl’s knowledge of flowers was. 

“After she died, I started spending time out here.  It’s
the one place where I can remember her the most clearly.”  He nodded at the
little lily of the valley plants, spilling over into the walkway.  “Those were
her favorites.”

I sat back and touched a little white bell with my finger,
making it sway.  Most of the plants were done blooming, but this one still had
a few flowers clinging defiantly to its stem.  “I like them too.”  Of all the
flowers in the garden, they were the most understated, but in my opinion the
most beautiful. 

Ville smiled.  My hair was escaping its ponytail, and he
reached down to ruffle it fondly.  “You’re beautiful here in the dirt and the
sunshine.”

I batted his hand away and stuffed my hair back into its
rubber band, not knowing what to say, not used to being complimented.  I
glanced up at his tall frame thinking that, oddly enough, he looked good here
too.  I opened my mouth to say so, but I saw Ibbe coming up the path and
clamped it shut again.

The pretty Fallen crouched and picked up the clumps of
flowers that I had removed.  “Under the magnolia tree, do you think?”  She
tilted her head toward the corner of the garden and Ville nodded. 

He stopped twirling his shovel and straightened.  “I think
I’ll go in now.  I need to get ready for the meeting.”  He didn’t bother to
hide the reluctance in his voice.

I watched Ville’s departing figure while Ibbe relocated
the plants.  She came back and knelt beside me, pulling her own spade out of
her belt.  “There’s nothing he hates more than meeting with the generals about
war strategy.”

I turned my attention back to the flowers, scooting along
the path on my knees as I dug up the clumps that were too close to the bricks. 
“I would too,” I said cautiously.  I didn’t think Ville had told anyone that I
was the king’s daughter.  While they might recognize Winona, I doubted anyone
paid much attention to the younger sister. 

Ibbe was silent for a moment as she pulled out a clump of
flowers, then smoothed out the dirt so there wouldn’t be a hole left behind. 
“You’re probably feeling completely out of place here.”  There was no malice in
her tone, and I glanced at her, surprised.  She kept her attention on the
flowers, not meeting my gaze.

 “Everyone in the house is dying to know how you got
here.”  She banged her spade on a brick, knocking off the clinging dirt.  “I
think it’s obvious why you’re here.  Anyone can see that in the way Ville looks
at you.”

I felt heat rising to my cheeks, but I didn’t respond. 
“So,” she said slowly.  “Everyone wants to know how it is that Ville fell in
love with a Shifter.  How did he even happen to meet you?  The most common
theory is that you’re a spy- that you’ve tricked him somehow and are just lying
in wait.”

I finally met her dark blue gaze.  “And what do you
think?”

She shrugged again.  “I’m not sure.  You don’t seem to be
the type.  But then, maybe you’re just very good at what you do.”

I sat calmly while she studied my face.  “You seem too sad
to be a spy,” she finally said.  “If you were here to play the role of Ville’s
lover, you’d be happy and glowing.  Something’s not right.”