Arrows of Time - Kim Falconer [64]
‘Are you kidding? He can protect her, if that’s what you’re worried about, though from what you say she sounds like she can protect herself. Good woman. But Jarrod’s different.’
‘In what way?’
She shrugged. ‘It’s complex.’
‘I think he’s the one that’ll need protecting. I saw the way she looked at him.’
‘Really? How?’
Shane gave her a look that made sweat prickle the small of her back.
‘Oh. I get it.’
‘She likes different,’ Shane said. ‘She likes complex as well.’ He spat out the blade of grass. ‘She likes it a lot.’
Rosette wrinkled her brow. ‘I hadn’t thought of that.’
‘I have…’
She patted him on the shoulder, not knowing how else to respond. Shane was trapped in a creation that was not to his liking, and nothing she could say or do would change it. His emotional dilemma with Selene was his business anyway, not hers. She had dilemmas of her own.
Grayson?
Are you listening in, Drayco?
Only when it’s interesting.
She sighed. He’s been gone a long time, that’s all. Or rather, I’ve been gone from him for a long time.
You miss him?
Feels like it.
Maybe he’s not as far away as you think.
What do you mean?
You don’t know?
She put her hands on her hips and stared down at her temple cat’s amber-orange eyes. You can enlighten me?
No, Maudi. This is one you best work out on your own.
She frowned and roughed his neck. Then I will!
She led the horses to the edge of the path that wound its way like a snake to the basin below. There, grasslands rolled in broad low hills, dotted with dusty grey cows and jet-black calves. The occasional moo bellowed up to the top of the ravine, answered by the high-pitched bawl of a young one. The wind rustled the white-barked trees. She’d never seen the valley so beautiful.
She released the horses, slipping their bridles off over their ears and stepping aside. They stood for a moment, looking back at her, until she slapped their shining black rumps and shooed them along. ‘Have a break, my gorgeous ones. You’ve earned it.’
Swishing their long tails and nickering to each other, they shook their heads and ambled down the path, breaking into a trot until they reached the edge of the grazing land. There they stopped as one and dropped their heads to the grass. Drayco yawned massively as he watched them. Fynn slept on.
‘Will they be all right?’ Shane asked as he leaned against the rock face.
Rosette laughed at the horses cropping the tall grass. ‘I should think so. And so will be the Corsanon herdsman when he finds two Treeon Temple steeds prancing around in his fields. There would be a reward for their return, I imagine. At least, on my Gaela there would.’
I smell rabbit. Drayco stood and stretched before he lunged over a shrub and darted away.
Don’t be long. We aren’t staying. She reached out to Shane and pulled him forward.
‘Come on. Let’s swim.’
‘And then home?’ he asked, following her down the path to the water.
‘Which one?’ she said, stripping off her clothes when she reached the water’s edge.
‘Mine,’ he said, doing the same.
She didn’t answer right away. She’d have loved to go home to her Gaela. But she hadn’t seen Kreshkali in…she paused. How long would it have been? The time loops they’d been experiencing made it impossible to know. It felt like ages. She wanted to see her, and she wanted to find Grayson. They’d separated too quickly. There’d been no time to talk, no time to clarify their connection. But she also needed to find Jarrod, and get Shane back to Tensar. That was a priority.
Torn between her intentions, she trod water, swishing it around her body as her arms glided in circular motions just under the surface, flutter kicking to keep her head up. Finally, she flipped over on her back and floated, letting the gentle current take her downstream.
‘Not back to Tensar yet, Shane,’ she said as he swam beside her. ‘We don’t want to walk into that time loop again. I was thinking more of my other home world. We can get some perspective there, and consult with Kreshkali. She’ll