Behind The Wooden Door (7 page)

I rose from my seat and followed after him. He had already made it through the throne room and to the main entrance to the castle. I ran across the room and called out his name. But he never stopped.

I stopped at the door and watched as he made his way not to the camp but to the woods.

“Tristan!” I yelled.

This time he stopped, and I ran to where he stood waiting. His hand placed firmly on the hilt of his sword and his jaw clenched shut.

“Tristan, where are you going?” I asked.

“Oh, so you remember my name now?” Tristan asked. He took a step closer and glared down at me.

I closed my eyes and swallowed.

“You know I am not supposed to have anything to do with you other than what my father commanded of you. If I acted like I knew you personally, then my father would have–”

“I don’t give a damn what your father would have done!” Tristan shouted. “Do you know what your father is going to cause tomorrow, Lanie?”

I shook my head. No, I did not know what was going to happen come daybreak. Tristan could win this. I knew he could. With Hawk by his side, he was almost invincible. Artair’s men hadn’t been able to touch him.

Tristan turned his back to me and continued toward the trees.

“Where are you going?” I asked again.

“For a walk. I need to clear my head,” he said. He stopped and looked back at me. “You can join me if you like.”

I nodded and followed him into the woods. This was it. We had to talk about the other night. I had to know if he felt how I had.

“Tristan?”

He sighed. “Princess?”

The October wind cut through me like knives, but I ignored the cold and continued after him.

“The other night…I…”

I what? I didn’t know what I was supposed to say.

He looked over his shoulder at me.

“You?”

Apologize. That’s what I needed to do. If he had wanted to kiss me, he would have done it himself.

“I am sorry. I don’t know what came over me. I should have never kissed you,” I said.

I looked up into his face. He raised an eyebrow and gave a half smile.

“And you’re lying,” he said.

He grabbed my forearms and pushed me against a tree. The bark was rough against the opening in the back of my dress and leaves worked themselves throughout my hair.

He stared into my eyes as if he were trying to read all of my thoughts.

“You wanted to kiss me.”

It wasn’t a question.

I took a deep breath and tried to pull my arms out of his grasp.

“I never said that I had not,” I replied.

His smile widened and he wet his lips. “You want to kiss me now,” he said. His voice was not as certain as it had been before.

I no longer struggled against his grasp but let my body relax. He wanted to kiss me too. I could see it in his eyes. But I would not be the one to make the first move. He would have to, and he did.

One step was all it took to close the gap between our bodies. One step.

His hands slid up my arms, past my shoulders, and to my face. I could feel his breath on my cheek as he grazed my lips with his own. I closed my eyes and sank into his kiss.

It was nothing like before. The urgency was gone. I wrapped my arms around his waist and felt the muscles in his body tighten then relax. I was almost afraid of what would happen when he pulled away…if he pulled away.

He deepened the kiss and entwined his fingers in my hair as he had the night before. His body pressed firmly into mine forcing my back to press harder into the roughness of the tree behind me. I didn’t care though. I wanted this.

A deep moan rumbled in the back of his throat as he kissed down my jaw and to my neck. I inhaled sharply and pushed him away. I couldn’t let this happen. Especially not in the woods.

“Tristan, we can’t do this. Not here,” I said.

Silence. I looked up and met his eyes. The same look lingered behind them as it did when he talked about fighting. Hunger.

He cleared his throat and nodded. His deep voice had a raspy sound to it I had not heard before. “We should head back to the castle.”

“I suppose so. You need to let your men know about the battle tomorrow,” I said.

“Battle? You mean suicide mission!” The raspy sound was been replaced by anger.

He closed his eyes and shook his head. “You may want to stop by the camp and tell the soldiers goodbye. It will probably be the last time you see the majority of them again.”

I stopped and watched as he continued to make his way out of the forest. The soldiers were weak, yes. But they could not be that weak.

“If the men are that weak, they would not allow themselves to go into battle, would they?” I asked.

I fell back in step with him and tried to disregard the degrading look he was giving me.

“They’re soldiers. They’d rather die fighting than go out in some peaceful manner. They will fight as soon as I give the order, and they will not hesitate or allow themselves to be slowed because of their wounds. They will fight to the finish. As it should be.”

There was no anger or bitterness in his voice. Only pride. Like a father, other than mine, talking about his child.

We reached the edge of the woods. My path led to the left toward the castle and his to the right where crudely pitched tents and ragged soldiers waited for his command.

“I’m afraid this is where we part, Princess,” he said.

He cupped my jaw with his left hand and gently kissed my cheek. I glanced around quickly to make sure no one had seen him. If Tristan and I were to be together, it had to be a secret.

“Stay with me tonight.” The words came out before I knew what I was saying.

He smiled and shook his head. “No. My place is not in a castle.”

I said nothing. I stared at the ground and tried to hide my embarrassment and my smile. I had never in my life been rejected before, but that was one of the reasons I was so fond of Tristan. He treated me as he would anyone else despite my title.

“But I think it’d be good for the spoiled little princess to have to sleep in a tent.”

He lifted my head and kissed me again.

“I’ll come to get you as soon as the sun sets, and don’t breathe a word of it to anyone. I’d rather not have to deal with the wrath of King Thanos.”

One last kiss and he was gone. I turned to face the blaring sun and knew it would not set fast enough.

CHAPTER 10

A beautiful orange glow casted across the stone flooring of my bedroom. It made everything in the room look more elegant. Even the large wooden bed posts looked gorgeous bathed in dying orange sunlight.

Never would I have imagined that I would be happy whilst my kingdom was at war, but I had never imagined Tristan. Never had I imagined falling in love with an assassin. But there he stood in my bedroom propped against one of the rough stone walls. He hadn’t waited for the sun to set completely, but he swore he hadn’t be seen. He didn’t have to tell me though. Tristan wasn’t foolish enough to be caught sneaking into my bedroom.

His eyes focused out the window at the beautiful colors of the sunset. The red and orange colors reflected off them like fire. Beautiful and intimidating. A smile played across his face when he turned to me.

“After my second war, when Tommy was still young, I told him that dragons caused the sunsets. He was naïve enough to believe it, too,” he said.

When he laughed, it wasn’t unsettling or hollow. It was genuine and nearly carefree. Almost like his brother’s. It seemed foreign coming from Tristan’s lips, but it made him human. Something he liked to pretend he wasn’t.

“I bet you don’t even believe in dragons,” Tristan said.

He ran his hand over the smoothness of the windowsill. His breathing deep and shallow like he was in a dream. Maybe he was back in his homeland, in his mind at least, telling Tommy about the amazing fire-breathing creatures illuminating the sky with their flames.

“You’re right, I don’t. The thought of giant fire breathing beasts is absurd!” I replied.

Tristan laughed again. His fingers wrapped around the top of my arm, and he pulled me closer to him.

“I thought you knew everything, Lanie. There are fire-breathing beasts. There’s even one in your kingdom,” he said. “And I’ll show him to you.”

His hand moved from my arm and his fingers laced with mine. He pulled me from my bedroom without giving me a second to object. Tristan’s boots and the patter of my bare feet echoed throughout the corridors as we ran through the castle. I could feel the ridiculously large smile on my face as we ran freely through the castle hallway. I hadn’t the faintest idea of where he might take me, but I trusted him.

He stopped at the end of the hall with his back pressed against the wall. He motioned for me to do the same and placed a finger over his mouth. His lips silently formed the word ‘guards.’ He bit down on his bottom lip and looked around the hallway for something to use as a diversion.

And he found it.

He moved slowly away from me and reached onto the floor. He turned an onyx stone over in his hand before edging to the corner of the hallway. He smiled back at me before throwing it as hard as he could at a coat of armor. The loud clang of stone hitting metal turned the guards’ attention to the steel suit.

It was all the time Tristan needed to get us to the front entrance way of the castle. Once outside, he didn’t try to conceal his laughter as we continued running through the grounds. He slowed when we reached the black tents of the army.

Laughing and indistinct chatter filled the air as Tristan led me through the camp toward four guys that sat cross-legged around a huge fire. As we moved closer, I saw that it was Tommy, Hawk, and Cormac. The other I had seen on the day the soldiers arrived.

He was more muscle than man, and seeing him made me feel somewhat better about the battle at daybreak. With men like these four fighting, the injured might have a chance.

Tommy made a move to stand as we approached, but Hawk stopped him.

“You’ve never stood for your brother’s shadow before. Why start now?” Hawk asked.

He pulled roughly on Tommy’s arm forcing him to sit. Tommy blushed but said nothing.

Tristan let out a breathless laugh and sat down with the others. He smiled and motioned for me to sit with them. The smile he gave was not inviting but mocking. I had never sat on the ground before, and by the look on the men’s faces, they knew it.

I lowered myself to my knees and sat down beside Tristan. Sitting down was not hard, but I did not know how I would manage standing back up gracefully. I gave him a confused look once seated. There was no way he could be concealing a dragon in his camp. It was impossible!

“Hawk!” Tristan said getting the predatory soldier’s attention. His look of confusion matched mine. He probably wondered why Tristan had brought me to their camp or why Tristan was actually smiling.

“Lanie doesn’t believe in dragons,” Tristan said. “I thought you might be able to persuade her otherwise.”

Hawk’s eyes lit up with the same excitement that I’d seen in Tristan’s eyes the day he and Hawk had fought Artair’s soldiers. Hawk grabbed a large stick from the ground and lit it ablaze.

“Cormac!” he said, looking at the tall brunette. “Hand me that bottle!”

Cormac looked at the bottle of clear liquid in his hands, took a drink, and handed it to Hawk.

After a giant swig of alcohol, Hawk tossed the bottle to the ground, raised the burning stick closer to his face, and blew fire into the sky. The orange flames sparkled in his dark blue eyes just like the last rays of sun on the cloudless sky.  He twirled the torch around in the air and breathed fire into the darkness that was starting to settle around us.

Tristan gave me a mischievous smile before saying, “And you thought dragons didn’t exist.”

Hawk finished his fire-tricks with a bow to all of us as if he were a performer rather than a soldier. When he sat down, Tristan told me the stories of why these men were the ones he chose as his leaders.

“The man to Hawk’s right is Branton. He’s as dumb as bale of hay, but he’s a great soldier. One of our best. He’s Hawk’s right hand man on the battlefield. He’s more of a follower than a leader, but he can get the job done,” Tristan whispered.

Branton looked almost as uncomfortable as I felt sitting in the dirt. He spoke rarely. When he did speak, he looked uncertain about what he said, like he wasn’t sure he had spoken the right words.

Tristan continued, “You probably remember Cormac from the night we arrived. He’s the one I send in with Tommy. He’s the real leader, but Tommy doesn’t know that.”

Cormac looked over at Tristan and me as if he knew we were talking about him. I smiled and made eye contact. Once again I felt as if I had seen Cormac’s eyes before but less excited and colder. His green eyes shifted from my face to his green-eyed leader who sat beside me.

“He’s about the only person I trust to send Tommy in with. He’d lay his life down for Tommy as soon as I would. Well, maybe not
as
soon
as I would, but close. He’s our cousin,” Tristan said as if he had sensed my curiosity.