Page 18 of The Promise Born
“Yes.” I looked back at him.
“Good.” He wrapped one arm around my stomach, pulling my back into his chest as he kicked Kune into gear. The two creatures ran forward in unison.
I couldn’t help it. A part of me melted into him as we moved. The warmth of his fire reached through the sheer fabric of my dress and made my entire body flush.
“Hold on,” Asante whispered in my ear before he urged them to move faster.
As my luck would have it, we arrived at the stables in front of a crowd of people. They watched as he carefully climbed down and untied the connected reins. Synth ran back to her stable, no guidance necessary. He then turned back and held his arms out to me.
“Let’s go.”
I hesitated, but the pain still throbbed in my leg. He was right. I wouldn’t have been able to ride alone. I thought of protesting for a moment, but then I realized that complaining would probably just prolong this unintended performance in front of the crowd. So I conceded and allowed him to carry me from Kune’s back.
“Prince Asante!” Domin ran over to us. “Are you alright?”
"I'm fine," Asante stated, a hint of annoyance coloring his voice as he looked at the bewildered man and then nodded curtly in my direction. “She is the one who is injured. Let’s get her to the healers.”
Domin didn’t care about me, but he feigned interest, anyway. “What happened to her?”
“She fell. It should be a simple fix for them.” Asante answered.
“I’ll get this taken care of,” Domin said and gestured to a guard to come help.
“I have her,” Asante said with an air of protective warning.
“As you wish.” Domin responded through gritted teeth. “I’ll go ahead to get them prepared.”
He turned and ran off ahead of us.
“He really doesn’t like me.” I chuckled as Asante carried me.
“He just wants me to be okay. Everyone here does.”
“I supposed that is good. You know I’m not here to hurt you, right?”
“How could you be? I forced you to come here, remember?”
“Oh, yeah. Right.” It was strange that I wanted to defend myself. Something inside of me wanted Asante to know that I wasn’t whatever Domin thought I was. But he was right. It wasn’t my idea to be there, so why would anyone suspect I had ulterior motives?
“Did you forget that I have you here against your will?” his brow raised.
“Of course not!” I fussed.
“Sure,” he paused. “It’s almost like you’ve changed your mind. Like you want to be here now.”
“Don’t flatter yourself.” I rolled my eyes. “Be quiet. All this talking is making my ankle hurt more.”
We arrived at the healers, and Asante handed me over. They were eager to take me in and fussed about the way he held me.
“Your grip is far too tight.” A short man patted Asante’s arm. “I’ve always told you that.”
“I’m sorry, Uncle Eivek.” Asante smiled as he lowered me to the bed. “Please take good care of her.”
“Oh, so this is the one.” A tall, slender woman with bright eyes said. “We’ll give her our very best.”
“Thank you,” he said, and we shared an awkward glance.
The one.
