Page 3 of Desire

One’s pulse called to me more than the others. Strong. Familiar. Urgent.

“Father,” I gasped, snapping out of the spell Edmund had wrapped around me.

I thrust my head back sharply, connecting with Edmund’s nose. He cursed. Daemon laughed. I spun around and darted out the door before any of them could stop me.

Energy from the air and the ground seeped into the well, enabling me to run faster than the men pursuing me.

“Kellen, stop!” Brandle yelled.

An arm circled my waist just before I could reach the trees. We tumbled forward together, but he turned us at the last moment so I landed on him instead of the ground.

“Wait. Don’t go. It’s too dangerous. Please, Snow.”

The pet name he used halted my struggles to be free. I closed myself off from the energy pouring into me and looked up at the overcast sky. The faces of Liam, Darian, Eadric, and Daemon appeared to block the view.

“Are you mad, Princess?” Darian asked, watching me closely.

“Sparrow?” Eadric asked.

“Lamb, you look pale. Tell us what happened. Was it Edmund or something with your father?”

I sat up on Garron’s chest and turned to look down at him. The desire to cry was now safely locked away in the well. But I still felt hurt. Deeply.

“You see me as cold?” I asked.

He flushed and shook his head. “Never.”

“Why Snow then?”

The scarlet staining his cheeks deepened.

“Snow never stays long.”

The sad way he said it almost had me forgetting my purpose.

I rose and offered him my hand.

“I’m not leaving, Garron. I felt my father. He’s running this way. Something’s wrong.”

The words were barely out of my mouth when I heard a growl from within the shadowed depths of the forest.

Father.

His clothes were even more tattered than they had been. Old blood matted the fur on his chest. My heart broke for him, and I moved forward as he extended his hand.

“Kellen. Men come.”

“Kellen, don’t,” Garron said, catching my arm. “It’s dangerous.”

“Magic,” my father growled. The word was barely discernible, unlike the familiar red ribbon my father held in his outstretched hand. My intuition whispered it was dangerous to me.

“How many men?” I asked him.

“Five.”

“I understand.”

He set the ribbon on the ground and retreated deeper into the shadows.

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