Page 23 of Flame and Starlight

“This way,” he said, brushing past me, making sure he bumped my shoulder to push me out of the way, and crunched ahead into the undisturbed snow. I followed him while looking around and taking in how beautiful the landscape looked in the falling snow and starlight. I loved the silence that came with fresh snowfall. Even the trees didn’t seem to move underneath the heavy blanket layering up on top of their branches. I breathed in the fresh scent, and it reminded me of Asher’s shadows, biting cold at first but then refreshing. It woke up my lungs and refreshed my face.

“Did Emric tell you about my little trick?” I asked into the silence.

“Little trick? I don’t think I would call it little or a trick.” He tucked his hands into his pockets and slowed down to let me catch up. I shrugged as I fell into step at his side.

“Supposedly Emric has never heard of a Fae being able to do that? But you can feel my emotions through this,” I said, gesturing up at my neck. He glanced down at it out of the corner of his eye and then trained his eyes back ahead.

“That’s only because a part of me is inside of you.” His lips twitched upward. “Now that was an innuendo,” he said, looking much too proud of himself. I rolled my eyes.

“So, it’s true that no other Fae have been able to do this?”

“Not that I’ve heard of in the time I’ve been around.”

“And how long have you been around?”

He snorted. “Emric said you asked him how old he is.” We were both silent for a moment. It was long enough that I thought he wasn’t going to tell me. But before I could fill the silence with another question, he answered me. “I’m four hundred and thirteen.”

“Will I live that long?”

“If we can manage to keep you alive and get your stubborn Fae side to kick in, I don’t see why you wouldn’t.” We were walking across the slight roll of a hill, and my calves started to strain with the effort. Maybe I wasn’t in as good of shape as I thought.

“She isn’t stubborn,” I said, defending the Fae side of me. “She’s just shy.” His eye roll was so evident that I felt him do it. A large barnlike building was straight ahead, tucked into the edge of the woods. Before I could ask what it was and if that’s where we were going, Asher chimed in.

“Call her whatever you like, but it doesn’t change the fact that without her, you’re too fragile to be here. Nonetheless, I think your gift could be helpful,” he said on a sigh. “But we aren’t going to use it until you’re fully Fae. Keep this knowledge to yourself in the meantime. It doesn’t need to go further than us three.”

I nodded again. “Where are we going?”

“The stables,” he said, nodding towards the barn in front of us. “I thought we could get around more quickly and see more on horseback.”

“Horseback.” I swallowed and took hold of his forearm to slow him down. Even his forearm felt strong beneath the grey wool sweater he had on. “I don’t know how to…drive a horse,” I said for lack of a better word.

His throaty laughter was back, crinkling the skin around his eyes. I really didn’t want to admit to myself that the butterflies I got were actually from his laugh and not the horses.

“You drive a car and ride a horse, Alys.”

“Whatever,” I mumbled and kept following. We reached the barn, and he pulled back the sliding door. Rows of horses stretched down the stables. He walked up to a tan horse that had a splotch of white across her nose. “Isolde here is a gentle beast. She’ll be good for your first ride.”

I watched him silently as he took her out and saddled her up, all the while whispering sweet nothings at her and petting his hands down her long neck. It was a new side of Asher I hadn’t seen. He could actually be described as pleasant when he wasn’t yelling at me or baiting me with snarky remarks. His shadows were relaxed, free flowing in the breeze as he stepped back out of the stables.

“Isolde, this is Alyssandra,” he said, leading her up to me. “Even though I know she can be quite taxing, I would appreciate your patience. You’ll be her first experience.”

I glared at him and then turned a kind eye onto Isolde. Back in England, an ex’s family had had horses on their property. So I had been around them before, but not so close. I would feed them apples while they were locked in their stables, but I had never been around them while they were free in the fields. And I had definitely never ridden one of the beasts.

Honestly, the sheer size of them sort of freaked me out. I tried not to let her smell it on me as I reached out slowly and stroked her white splotch with the back of my fingers. Her breath came out in a foggy snort as she shook her head. Asher motioned for me to come over next to him at the side of her.

“Left foot in here, and hands up here,” he said, putting me in position. He hesitated and hovered his hands over my bare skin.

“You can touch me,” I said, a bit defensively. “I can’t feel your emotions.”

“Interesting,” he said, making contact with my hands and holding them onto the thing that looked like a gear shift at the front of the saddle. His fingers were cool, but his grip was strong. “You’re going to use this to keep your balance while you swing up and over.” He squeezed my hands for emphasis. I nodded. “On the count of three, I’ll help you get up.” I blew out a breath and nodded again. It really did suck to be short. The saddle on Isolde seemed completely out of reach.

“One, two, three, up!” He grabbed me low on my hips on three, digging in his fingers a little harder than necessary, I thought, and practically threw me onto the saddle.

“Christ,” I breathed and shifted a bit on the saddle to get comfortable. My legs felt a bit shaky at how far above the ground I was. How he thought I was going to be able to ride her on my own was beyond me. I could see Isolde running wild through the woods and me holding on for dear life.

“Scoot up a bit,” he said, patting my thigh and grabbing onto the saddle in front of me. I shifted forward a bit, assuming I was sitting incorrectly. “Move your foot.” He took my foot out, and before I could look back down to ask if I was okay, he slid his foot in and jumped up on the saddle with me. His right leg swung around, and he settled in at my back. I leaned forward, trying not to let the entire length of his body press up against mine, but there was nowhere for me to go.

“Excuse me!” I squeaked, swinging my gaze over my shoulder to stare him down. He reached around me and grabbed the ropes of leather off Isolde’s neck. His infuriating smirk was back as one of his arms snaked around my stomach and pulled me back to where I was before he joined me. I sucked in my stomach on instinct.

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