If Persimmon wasn’t already nervous enough being atop a horse, now she was feeling even more uncomfortable sitting with her back pressed up against the handsome stranger’s chest. Stone also had his arms around her waist. Never before had she been so close to a man that they were actually touching. She could feel his body heat against her back. His scent of leather, the outdoors, and woodsmoke filled her senses, oddly bringing her to life. Persimmon had led a very sheltered life living at the convent, and never before had she been as intimate with a man as she was at this very moment.
“Relax, I’m not going to hurt you,” came his voice in her ear. His cheek was pressed up against the side of her head. When he spoke she could feel the vibration of his deep voice rumbling in his chest. His breath whisked past her ear, causing a delicious shiver to spiral through her.
“I am relaxed,” she told him, not wanting him to know how affected she was by just being in his presence.
“Your back is as straight as a rod and even your words are stiff and forced,” he replied. “What is it about me that makes you so nervous?”
The man was very observant, she’d give him that. She supposed it was part of his training to be observant, being a bounty hunter. “It’s not you making me nervous,” she told him, even though he made her knees quake. “You see, when I was a young girl I was thrown from a horse and almost died. I haven’t been riding since.” This was the truth. She had been just a child at the time. It had happened right before her mother sent her to live at the convent. Since the nuns didn’t ride horses, she never had the opportunity to get atop a horse again, only making her fearful memories stronger.
“Didn’t your mother make you get right back on the horse?” he asked.
“Nay. My mother didn’t spend a lot of time with me when I was growing up.”
“You are different from the other women here,” he said his thought aloud.
“It’s because I am a stranger to this land,” she reminded him. “I have never been anywhere besides Lornoon. I admit, I know very little about the land of Mura or its people.”
“The same goes for me,” he replied. “I am a stranger here, too.” She shifted atop the horse, trying to make space between them. “Does that worry you?”
“I don’t know you at all so I am not sure what to think about you quite yet,” is all she said, having learned to always be cautious and to trust no one. Still, she felt protected in his embrace and that couldn’t be a bad thing.
“I’d like to change that, Persimmon. Mayhap you can tell me a little more about yourself and the land you come from.”
They continued to ride. Aithrod talked with Darium who was leading the way. Fang was up front as well. Stone and Persimmon brought up the rear.
“I’d rather you told me about yourself and where you come from instead,” she said, not wanting to talk about herself since she felt she was naught but a boring girl.
“All right,” he agreed. “I am Stone Nightstalker as you already know. I come from a land called Taelgonoth. I cannot tell you where it is from here since we came through a portal and I am not sure how we got here.”
“Yes. So, you’ve said.”
“What else do you want to know?”
“Are you married? Do you have children?” She looked up from the side of her eye, waiting for him to answer, hoping he didn’t have someone back home waiting for him.
“Nay to both. How about you?”
She let out the breath she hadn’t realized she’d been holding. “Me? Married?” She couldn’t help but smile. “No, I’m not married and I don’t have children.”
“That seemed to amuse you,” said Stone.
“No one has ever asked me that question before.”
“Why not? A beautiful woman like you back on Taelgonoth would have been married for years and have at least a half dozen children by now.”
“Really?” She turned and looked over her shoulder at him which only made their faces even closer. Mayhap she shouldn’t have done that. It seemed to be such an intimate move. “Are all the women in Taelgonoth beautiful?” she asked, needing to know.
“I think every woman, no matter where she comes from, has beauty in one way or another,” he answered. “But you, my lady, are by far the prettiest one I have ever met.”
“Oh!” That took her by surprise. No one had ever called her beautiful before. “Please, don’t use a title when you refer to me. I am not a lady,” she pointed out.
“Well, your father is also father to Queen Lira, so doesn’t that make you a noble, too?” he asked, which made sense. “Or at least a half-royal?”
“I believe Lira’s mother was the royal one, not our father,” she said, as the thought caught her off guard. “I have only just found out I have a queen sister, so I have never thought about that before.
“Speaking of your father, tell me something. Why doesn’t the elf seem to like you? It strikes me as odd. I mean, you are his daughter.”
“I really couldn’t tell you the answer to that.” Persimmon longed for the attention of Elric, especially since her mother had passed away and she had no other living relatives that she knew of. Except Lira and her brothers, as she’d just found out after getting here. “It is almost as if he despises me, but I don’t know why or what I could have done to turn him against me.”
“Mayhap you frighten him,” said Stone.
She smiled again. “I don’t think so. I’m not a very frightening person, am I?”
“Not to me, you’re not,” he told her. “However, you do have magical powers and mayhap it has something to do with that. Why he avoids you, I mean.”
“My father has powers of his own, so I think naught.”
“I see.”
“Stone, I have to admit to you that I am not as powerful as you might believe.”
“You are the daughter of a sorceress and an elven sage. I’d say you are very powerful indeed, sweetheart.”
“If so, I don’t know much about my powers.”
“Didn’t your mother ever teach you about them?” asked Stone. “Or isn’t that how it works? Since we don’t have magic on Taelgonoth, I’m not certain I understand it.”
“I can move objects with my mind alone,” she blurted out, not even sure why she was telling him this. Since she’d just met the man, she wasn’t even sure she could trust him. Still, a part of her wanted to talk to someone about this. She couldn’t dismiss the fact that she wanted to say something to make him like her or respect her. Mayhap this was wrong. She no longer knew. “I have had the ability ever since I can remember. No one taught it to me. It just came naturally.”
