Chapter 17

Chapter 17

Being wrapped up in a cloak while cradling a delicate flower, while on the back of a horse, while traipsing through hollow infested woods was an extremely awkward and uncomfortable end to the night. We were approaching the remnants of the older village that surrounded the keep. Now that I knew it had once been thriving, the path back in was that more depressing.

We hadn’t talked much after the act; I wasn’t sure how to react. Did we go back to passing barbed insults at one another or did we show each other a tender sweetness? The evening had changed everything between us. There was no going back now. Even if I chose to stay human, we would still be bound to one another for decades and he just gave me too many orgasms to just be his maid.

I felt his body tense behind me as his arm wrapped around my waist. The horse’s ears pushed back, wary of something I had yet to see. A hollow could be close or maybe even a Lightbringer. The fog dispersed and there stood two figures at the gate. It was Orrin and a blonde woman.

I felt Altyr’s body relax behind me as Orrin’s velvety voice rang out, “Took you long enough. We’ve been waiting all night for you to greet us!”

He slid off behind me and in a few steps was embracing his friend with a hug. His arms soon wrapped around the woman and he gave her a long embrace as well. I sat there awkwardly in his cloak, naked underneath. This wasn’t the best time to not be clothed. He had ripped my dress to shreds, there was no salvaging it afterward. Fortunately, he had packed a cloak with him on the trip, although it smelled a bit too much like the horse.

Orrin’s eyes looked to me, then back to Altyr, then back to me again. “Well, I was not expecting this outcome.”

Altyr pushed his shoulder and walked toward the locked gate, setting the magical reaction off for it to allow them all entrance. I made eye contact with the woman. She was absolutely beautiful. She had high cheekbones and kind eyes. Her lips were as full as her blonde hair. She looked like she belonged on an elaborate and expensive painting, not walking around with vampires.

She walked toward me and offered her hand out to help me off the horse. Altyr was quick to intercept her, lifting me off the beast himself, and setting me softly on the ground. I saw the two of them make eye contact with sly grins. It amused me that his friends would give him a hard time over it now knowing his lonely history.

I wasn’t sure how they knew we had done the act we had, outside of me tugging the cloak a little too tightly to my body anyway. Orrin kept giving me a knowing grin and Altyr just huffed and pushed past him, leading me through the gate by the hand. His grip was firm as he pulled me along.

I smiled at the woman as I passed. “Pleased to meet you. My name’s Sylvia.”

She grinned ear to ear. “I’m Lenora! We weren’t sure what happened to you both. We’ve been here for hours. I was actually a little worried. We were just discussing trying to scale the walls or tough it out in one of these run-down shacks for the day before having to go rescue the two of you in whatever mess you got yourselves into when night arrived.”

“You wouldn’t be able to get over the walls, too many protection spells against our kind are in place,” said Altyr, not looking at our new companions as he motioned them to follow us into the ward.

Orrin laughed and said, “and when was the last time you updated those? I doubt they are even effective.”

“Fair point.”

“Where were you? You never leave your cave.”

He motioned to the Night Flower I was cradling and said, “we were gardening.”

Lenora looked like the cat who caught the canary when she said, “plucking flowers out there, eh?”

I looked to Altyr to see his response as we walked. A smile briefly dashed across his face before he gave an expected grunt of a response. I took the opportunity to join in and said, “we went back to where we first met, Orrin.”

“That grove? Why in the world did you go there? Are you two mad!? That is far too close to Silver city. The same city you two set on high alert not but a week ago! Lightbringers would have been all over that forest!”

“I needed to get this,” I said as I held up the Night Flower, its buds all sealed tight as twilight was in full swing, the sun edging its way up toward the horizon. We really did make it back at just the right time.

“What’s so special about the flower,” asked Lenora.

“It only—“

“It’s rare.” Altyr had interrupted me. “It only blooms at night. It’s why she was in that field that night. So I got it for her.”

“You got it for her,” said Orrin with a skeptical look on his face.

“Yes.”

“Why?”

“Because she wanted it.”

Lenora let out an abrupt laugh. “My, my, this is interesting.”

“Be quiet,” Altyr said with a hint of humor in his voice.

I felt Orrin’s arm wrap around my shoulders as he said, “when I left you two, I thought the only thing he’d give you was the cold shoulder. Giving you his—a flower, isn’t what I expected. I didn’t think we’d be coming back to you having him traipse through forests for them.”

“I think it’s cute,” said Lenora and I couldn’t help but blush.

“Oh, it for sure is very cute.”

“Watch your tongues,” Altyr said as he unlocked the large front doors. It still amazed me to see the spark of magic crawl across the metalwork before clicking open.

The three next to me weren’t at all phased by the wonders they lived with. The whole interaction was extremely strange to me. These people were all supernatural beings. None of them had souls and yet they were all acting like teasing old friends at a reunion. The vampire world was so odd.

They followed us as we headed to the garden. As we rounded the corner through the arches, the gasps of awe made me smile. The garden was opening its blooms in anticipation of the coming sun. The plants pulling themselves up to absorb as much light as they could.

“Wow, this is beautiful,” Lenora said in a soft voice. “I never thought this garden could be this lovely!”

“Sylvia put a lot of work into it,” Altyr explained. “She once lived in a glass house where she took care of plants as a profession.”

Lenora laughed and said, “You mean a greenhouse? You’re a gardener! How lovely! Did you grow herbs? Tea? Please tell me you know how to grow tea. I haven’t had a good cup in ages.”

Rubbing my face in embarrassment at the praise, I said, “I could grow some for you. I used to supply the bookshop there in my hometown with… tea.”

I hadn’t thought about it in a bit, the life I had left, the tea I would share with Mr. Pendergrass. All the books he had shared with me over the years. I hoped that whatever happened after I left didn’t negatively affect him or his shop, all he did was try to be nice to me. If Bazak had done something to that wonderful man so help me—

“Is this where we’ll be having the ceremony then,” asked Orrin.

“No,” Altyr said sharply. “That’s too many people, it would damage this place after she worked so hard to bring it back to life.”

I saw Orrin and Lenora share another glance. They were not as stealthy as they thought they were. It was some silent communication they had with one another. I didn’t know if it was because of their vampire and hollow connection or it was just because they were a loving couple who knew how one another thought. Either way, they seemed to be on the same page.

“That’s kind of you,” Lenora said as she circled back around to me, taking my hand. “Darling, you have to be worn out from your trip. We should probably get some rest.”

I looked down at the gentle touch, unsure of how to respond. Shaking my head, I said, “I need to get this flower in the ground first, then I’ll take your advice.”

She shrugged and politely dropped her touch before stepping back to wrap her arm into the bend of Orrin’s. We had already prepared a spot for the flower before we left. Circling it with decorative stones to border the new garden bed, we had dug out a mound near the center of the garden. The moonlight would shine directly on the flower without the keep’s walls obscuring it. Eventually, everyone there would see it bloom in the night. On those full moons, it might just glow again.

I wasn’t sure how I was going to explain that when the time came. That was future me’s problem. Maybe by then I’ll be able to explain to Altyr what actually happened. Or maybe I’ll just act like it is something new to me as well. It could have been a one time event with the blood moon. There was still so much I had to know about the flower.

Placing it as carefully as I could in the hole we had dug, I did my best to fill it in so it would flourish here in the garden. The other plants were thriving so it should too. Sitting back on my heels once done I let out a relieved sigh. Looking up at Altyr standing next to me, I gave him a smile and nodded.

Leaning down, he raised my chin with his finger and laid a soft kiss on my lips and said, “It will thrive here just as you are.”

Staring deep into the well of silver eyes, I believed him. That pulsing heat, the connection we had, flared to life as he gazed down into me. At that moment, I knew he wouldn’t do anything monstrous against me. His anger, his hatred, was firmly placed against the Lightbringers, not me. I was safe within these walls. I was safe with him.

“So you two totally fucked, huh?” Orrin laughed as Lenora jabbed him in the side with her elbow.

I couldn’t help but let out an abrupt laugh as Altyr stood up and glared at his long time friend. I was going to enjoy having someone around that could harass him on a level playing field. The next few weeks were going to be better, better than my life had been before. I was determined.