The Steele Wolf (Iron Butterfly #2)(10)

“What’s going on down there? Can’t a man get any well-deserved sleep?”

“Not if you want any cooked ham, fried eggs and fresh baked corn cakes!” I yelled back.

“CORN CAKES!” was the only retort I could hear, followed by a loud scuffling upstairs. What followed could only be described as the sound of two bears fighting followed by a loud thump before a door was thrown open and Bearen lumbered downstairs in a slow and somber manner.

“Well, ahem, if you made corn cakes then we shouldn’t let them get cold,” he said in his most nonchalant voice. “How about I, uh, help you put them on the table.” Reaching for a hot cake, he jumped back and put his large fingers in his mouth. “MFFFHOT!”

“Of course they are hot. I just pulled them out of the oven.” Rolling my eyes, I caught Siobhan looking at me as if I had sprouted horns. Oh dear, I thought. I failed again. Sighing, I brought everything to the large table and set it out for everyone to eat. Siobhan stayed to eat at my insistence, but she seemed ready to bolt at the first chance.

She asked me if I would need her today and I couldn’t think of a reason to have her stay, but I decided to invite her to stop over tomorrow. She left looking confused and relieved at the same time.

“Well, so much for taking this slow and not scaring everyone off,” Bearen grumbled, the evidence of corn still apparent in his black beard. “Keep cooking like this and soon everyone in the village will know that you are not the same girl, I guarantee it.”

“Father, I don’t know how to be that girl again.”

He just grunted in affirmation. “I have business to attend to with the elders.”

“Should I come? Do you need me?”

“No, this is business that would be better handled by your absence.” Bobbing my head in understanding, I watched Bearen leave.

After cleaning up the mess I had made, I looked around the house to find something to occupy my time. Since nothing fit that category, I went upstairs to my room to change into warmer clothes. I found a blue wool short sleeve jerkin with hood, trimmed in white rabbit fur, white doeskin boots also lined with fur in my armoire. At the bottom on the floor was an intricate wooden box, carved with flowers and birds. The box contained elaborate armbands. Some were silver with aquamarine stones, and others were gold with rubies.

Feeling like I was treading on someone else’s life and not mine, I gently fingered them before selecting a silver armband that had a unique design and sliding it up my arm. I was shocked when I looked at myself in the mirror. Granted, I was wearing my own clothes, but the person staring back at me was a stranger. A cunning, strong hearted woman that lived by clan laws. I swallowed nervously as that image disappeared and I saw myself. A fraud.





Chapter 6



I had been cooped up for three many days, hiding from the world, from my clan and from my father. I grabbed the fur cloak before heading to the central stables. Going around back I let myself into the stable and found Faraway.

Run Fast? He asked.

Yes!

After saddling, we headed out to a field and I let him have his run. It wasn’t long before the sound of pounding hooves could be heard from behind me. Drawing back, I looked over my shoulder and saw another rider riding hell bent towards me.

Faster! To the woods, Faraway.

Faraway ran like the wind and headed into the woods. As soon as we disappeared a ways, I had Faraway slow and I carefully stood on his saddle and latched onto a tree branch that overhung the path we traveled on. Quickly shimmying up to a higher branch, I sat and waited as Faraway waited farther up the path, getting ready to run as soon as the rider drew closer.

I heard the sound of the horse panting and the man curse as he came into view.

Go! I commanded Faraway, who took, off making a lot of noise but never going so far that I couldn’t draw on him for power. We hadn’t fully tested the distance of our bond. When the rider and his horse came into the woods and saw Faraway farther up, the man cursed again and changed direction, heading towards Faraway and me. When he came near my tree, I concentrated and pushed a lower branch farther underneath me down into his path at the last minute, and he hit it with a thud and flew backwards off of his horse. The horse panicked and dashed farther into the woods.

“OHH Stars!” the man cried as he slowly lifted himself off of the ground. His hood fell back to reveal familiar auburn hair and pain-filled green eyes.

“Fenri?” I called down from the tree. “What are you doing?”

“Thalia?” Fenri looked around the forest floor in confusion before looking up. “What are you doing in the tree?”

“Bird watching,” I teased.

“Can’t you see birds just as easily from the ground?” he asked, oblivious to my joke.

I sighed. “I didn’t know who was chasing me and I thought this was the easiest way to find out.” I lay along the huge branch on my stomach, not moving an inch closer to the ground.

Looking up at me with newfound respect, he continued, “That is smart.” Confusion filled his eyes. “How did I fall from my horse?”

“I think you must have hit something.” I said as truthfully as I could, while trying not to break eye contact or betray any hint of a smile. “Why were you chasing me?” I asked sternly, sitting up on my branch, comfortable in the fact that I was still high enough out of his reach.