SEDUCED BY HIGHLANDER
Colleen McDoon sat looking in the mirror of the Lady Sylvia. Colleen had been a servant for the lady for month’s years now. She would rather live her old life, but she couldn’t dare. Her family had been methodically killed off, and she had to be careful.
The only reason she wasn’t noticed as a McDoon as of yet was because of her looks. While the rest of her family had blonde hair and blue eyes that had made them stand out in the Highlands. Colleen had come out with a dark black hair.
It was the only reason she had come wearing rags to this ladies house some several months ago at the young age of 17. She had escaped her house. Colleen had witnessed the deaths of her family. Thankfully the men who had come to the castle had only killed the rest of the family.
A servant had taken her and hid her behind a cabinet. She had peaked through the hole she could see through. It had made her weep as she watched them beheaded. Colleen knew that her clothes would make her stand out, so she had switched clothing with one of their dead staff.
That was the night she had created a new life for herself. It would be one that made her work hard; she didn’t feel she had a bad life though. Lady Sylvia had always been so kind to her. Colleen wasn’t sure if the Lady knew who she was or not. But the fact that she was still alive had her feeling a bit safe.
Lady Sylvia had taken her in and told her she would pay her food to do work for her. Colleen had agreed quickly, she didn’t mind the work. That seemed like a lifetime ago now. Somehow she had managed to stay hidden. Though she knew that eventually her identity would be discovered. There would be writings at her family’s castle that would be discovered. In those writings Colleen knew she would be listed as one of the children.
The new Queen wasn’t a dumb woman. She would realize that there was an extra person, a body that wasn’t located. Colleen’s mom had always been a person who loved to write down things. She knew that in those writings her mother would include great detail of many things. That would include Colleen and her secret would be out her eye color.
That was the one thing about Colleen that stood out. Her brilliant green eyes, they would spot her by the way her mother had described them she was sure.
She smiled thinking back to hearing her mother describe Colleen’s eyes. “They glow in the dark sweetheart. You know how you love cats, I swear you are one. Those eyes of yours are quite hypnotic to look into. Her nerves were frayed with worried. It had been too many months now, they had to know.
The search would surely come to Lady Sylvia’s front door soon. Colleen had to be gone before that day came, but she didn’t know when it would be. Any hesitation on Colleen’s side could mean the difference between life and death.
“I have to go soon. Where will I go though? I don’t know how to protect myself? I have a lot of things to learn.” Colleen watched as the tears rolled down her face. She didn’t want to put Lady Sylvia in harm’s way either.
Again she wasn’t sure that the Lady didn’t know she was the true heiress to the kingdom. But as far as she knows her family is dead. She doesn’t realize that she has plenty of people in the kingdom who would stick up for her, heck fight to the death even. If she had been a boy she would know how to protect herself. She got upset at her circumstances once again. It was that anger inside of her that Colleen knew would help keep her alive.
Colleen heard Lady Sylvia come in from behind her, she hurried back to work.
“Colleen, I need you to listen to me now.” Colleen heard the Lady speak from behind her.
Her heart sped up; perhaps while she was dreaming about her past life, they had come. Colleen knew she had been listening to what was going on around her. She had been too focused on her recent losses.
She turned around trying to put a smile on her face. “Yes Lady, what can I do for you?” Colleen said a smile on her face. It was hard to hold that smile, but somehow she was managing it.
“You must go, take the black horse tied up in the barn. Here is a map; I’ve drawn it as well as I can. Get to Kaiden Sahmes, tell him who you are, he will protect you.” Lady Sylvia handed her a map.
Colleen looked down at the map, trying to read it as well as she could. Right now she really wished she had paid more attention when her father and brothers had tried to teach her things.
“You must not worry, we have a large enough head start you should be just fine. But no hesitation, and don’t stop until you get there. You’ll be tired but you must keep going on, it will be a long ride. But it will be the only way you will survive. The Queen has called for your head and is offering a reward. While many will still protect you here, many will not. They need the money; the Queen has raised prices on everything and lowered what they are paying the workers and farmers. Life isn’t easy right now, and after 3 months of this, they are desperate.” Lady Sylvia explained.
“Okay, why didn’t you say anything before? Why didn’t you tell me you knew who I was?” Colleen asked.
“I could never be too sure when one of the other servants wasn’t around. I told them they could go home today and get paid full pay. They gladly left, so now we can talk. Perhaps I should have done this before now. But I didn’t want you to be nervous that I knew either. Listen Colleen, we can never be too careful who we trust.” Lady Sylvia stated.
Colleen saw the seriousness of her face. “How do you know you can trust this man I’m going too?” She asked the obvious question.
“He is a good man; he will make sure you are safe.” Lady Sylvia said.
She waited to see if there was more to be said, but the Lady didn’t say more. Colleen knew or at least felt she could trust the Lady. If she said she trusted him that would have to be good enough. It just gave her a chill the words that she had just uttered to Colleen. The words echoed in her ears again, “we can never be too careful who we trust.”
Colleen finally figured it was her one and only chance. “Thank you very much.” She turned and walked out of the house. Her running beginning already, she had only hoped for a few more days rest. Then she chided herself, “You’ve had a four month rest, your family is dead, at least you’re alive.” Colleen knew it was all true.
Kaiden Sahmes sat looking out the window of his cabin. His life had been turned upside down overnight. He hadn’t known he was as dangerous as he had been that night. But he now paid for that night over and over again.
He couldn’t go back home. He was stuck here in the woods. What kind of life could he have now? They were all afraid of him when they saw him. No one would buy or sell to him, unless they felt threatened. But Kaiden wasn’t the type of man who would threaten a person.
Maybe that was why his magical unleashing and the death of many had scared them so much? It would make sense. Up until that night he had been the fun loving nice knight that just about everyone had loved.
If that group of robbers hadn’t invaded their home that night none of this would be happening to him right now. He thought back one more time, like so many others, about that night and how it had happened.
He had been sleeping when he heard his little sister yelling out it had made him sit straight up in bed.
“Anna what’s wrong?” He ran out of the room. No real thought of danger on his mind. Nothing like this had ever happened in the past, why would it now? He came around the corner as his mother’s throat was being sliced open.
“Tell us where you keep your jewels.” A man had hit Kaiden’s father hard in the face.
“We don’t have any jewels.” Kaiden’s father had answered, it had been the truth. But the robbers didn’t believe him.
A man drew a knife over his sister’s throat; he saw the blood begin to flow and watched the life go out of her eyes.
“Stop it.” He had yelled. The noise had been ear shattering. His fury was immense. He had now seen two of his family killed his mother and the sister he loved very much. It had been too much for him.
“Who the hell are you?” One of the robbers said as another grabbed at him.
“I’m the person whose family you should never have messed with.” Kaiden said his eyes steaming.
He unleashed the lightning bolts from his fingers. But before he could save him, his father was dead; the other robbers had no chance at that point. He killed them instantly, taking great relish in their loss of life. What he hadn’t realized was that there were other people who had witnessed the event.
They had run to the town and spread the gossip quickly. Kaiden had gone into town to get help to bury his family, to mourn his loss. He had been told that he wasn’t welcomed; they didn’t know who he was.
“You know my family has magical powers, why are you turning me away?” He had asked one of the people who closed his shop doors to Kaiden.
“Aye, we know your family. But we have never heard of such demon power coming from them. They always helped us; I don’t think your parents would have killed anyone.” The man had said.
“But they killed my family? What am I supposed to do, let them go?” Kaiden had argued.
The man had shaken his head and shrugged his shoulders. “I don’t know. But I don’t want to be the only one to let you in his shop.” The man had closed the door.
He had gathered what he could from his family home and made his way to this cabin. It had been one his family had visited before in the past. But as far as Kaiden knew it wasn’t something that many knew about.
Right now all he wanted was to go back to his old life though. It was hard to not think about his family and be sad. He knew he had been different from his parents though. Where they had always been so caring and nice to people, Kaiden had seen mistrust.
Now he understood where that feeling had come from in the past. Even the townspeople had thought Kaiden was different then, how long had they felt this way? He wondered as he looked out in the woods.
At least he had a nice view and it was so far away from anyone. Kaiden knew it would be best for him to stay here the rest of his life.
He saw a horse approaching from the side of the house. On the back of it was a hooded rider. It was clearly someone who was female, or perhaps a smaller boy. With the hood he couldn’t tell, but he didn’t feel a threat in the air. He had worked on his skills of being in tuned with nature since he’d been here the past few months.
Though he felt no threat he still watched the rider approach cautiously, Kaiden stayed on guard his skills ready to be used if needed. She slowed as she came closer to the cabin. He could now clearly see that the figure was a female.
He saw the long black hair as it flowed over her shoulders. She looked at him finally and he saw her green emerald eyes. He couldn’t take his eyes off of them right away. They were astonishing he found them to be amazingly startlingly too. Kaiden felt a mixture of apprehension and fear coming off of the girl’s body.
“Are you Kaiden Sahmes?” She asked him.
“Yes I am. Who are you?” Kaiden asked her.
He saw the girl take a deep breath of relief. “Lady Sylvia McCloud sent me. I am Colleen McDoon.” She told him.
Two thoughts crossed his mind at that moment. The first was why would Lady McCloud trust him this much? Did she support his truth? Could he possibly go back to town, with her support? The second was everyone knew about the McDoon’s. “Don’t be silly everyone knows that the McDoon family was slain. Why would Lady McCloud send you to me?” He asked.
Kaiden’s eyes were half way shut trying to recognizing any of the feelings of nervousness at being caught in a lie. He couldn’t quite read her completely. It was those eyes of hers; they kept attracting his attention away from what he was trying to do.
Colleen heard his questions, but the one that worried her the most was “why would Lady McCloud said you to me?” She heard it as if it was being shouted directly into her brain. Along with that question she was hearing Lady Sylvia as she said “We can never be too careful who we trust.”
There was a warning bell going off in her mind. But still she stood in front of this man. There was something else about him that seemed to pull her in, to keep her in this spot.
She looked at him once again to study him. He was tall, around 6’ 1” tall, a bit taller than her, she stood 5’ 8” tall. She looked at his hair it was a dark brown, and there were a few silver hairs coming in on the sides. He was obviously older than her 18 years.
There was an odd feeling of kindness that surrounded him too. His eyes were brown, but they looked as if there were small sparks of yellow in them. It made her look closer at his eyes once more. The harder she starred the more yellow seemed to appear in between the brown.
She shook her head again, realizing she hadn’t answered his questions yet. “I’m the middle child, the one who didn’t look like any of them. According the Lady Sylvia though, the Queen has put a bounty out on my head. She doesn’t want me to build up and opposition and throw her off the crown.” Colleen explained. She wasn’t sure why she was sharing so much. But she had to admit she had felt safe since she first saw him. Except for those few moments of fear where she wondered why he didn’t know Lady Sylvia trusted him.
He shook his head but didn’t say anything right away. Colleen didn’t trust the silence much yet. It made her mind think about what this man was like in other ways. He made her feel so many odd things in such a short amount of time, Colleen wondered if he was one of those male witches.
She had heard about them from her older brother. He had warned her since she was close to turning 18 and would soon be dating. “You know father will want you to marry well, so you’ll be meeting a lot of princes.” Her brother had told her.
Colleen realized that she was lucky that hadn’t taken place yet. If it had, the men who had killed the rest of her family would know all about Colleen. They would have found her in the caste sooner or later, unless she lucked out and got out. Even then they would have been on her trail a lot sooner, and she stood out among the people. She knew this. Sometimes it was hard to think of the good things that came out of her families deaths. But this had been one of the best things, timing. Had they waited until now and her family was still alive, everyone would have known about Colleen.
“Lady Sylvia told me you were a good man, she said she trusted you.” Colleen finally told him.
She had to admit she was quite nervous about having told him who she was; however, again there was a feeling of being safe at the same time. Colleen thought maybe she was delirious from the long ride to get here.
But here she stood in front of him as he studied her more. She took the time to look at him more. Wondering how old he must be? What was his story? Why had Lady Sylvia picked this man to help her out? “How do you know Lady Sylvia?” She finally asked.
Colleen watched his face for a reaction. “Well it seems like she might be one of the only people who trust me in the area. Maybe she is more of an ally then I’ve realized in the past?” He said.
The answer didn’t really give her anything, she looked at him. She waited for him to continue, again looking at his eyes and seeing the yellow flecks in them. As she looked at him she suddenly realized what her mother had meant by eyes that entice you. His eyes were something that kept her wanting more.
“She was a friend of our families.” He finally said.
“But I don’t know of you? Why not, surely if you’ve lived in the same area as me for so long I would know you.” Colleen asked. She studied his face to try and place him. But then she realized she didn’t really go out much. Her family had been afraid of being attacked for the past several years. The last time Colleen had been out from behind the castle walls was well over 10 years ago.
“I don’t know why but I’ve never seen you either? So with that being said, who is lying and who is telling the truth?” He questioned her as well. She saw his eyes narrow once more as if seemed to scan over her.
“I know why, my family has kept us inside for many years now. My sisters and I especially because they knew someone was after the family. However, when it came to me, they used to make sure very few people knew of my true nature. I guess they were told by a witch that one day they would give birth to me, and I would be a special key for something. I’m not sure what it could be or what it really is, if it is even real. For so many years I’ve not believed in magic or anything like it.” Colleen said.
She watched as he created fire with his fingertips, he simply flicked one up and there was a flame coming from the end of it. “What the hell?” She jumped back from him.
“This is magic.” He stated.
“What all can you do?” Colleen asked. She was curious more than scared. Again she had no reason to fear this man. Lady Sylvia had trusted him and honestly he didn’t seem like a bad sort. Colleen realized she thought he was good looking.
She smiled at his face, realizing that he was handsome as well. The brown eyes with yellow flecks did something special for him. Colleen felt herself drawn to him as by a rope. She wondered if this was him making her behave this way.
“I can do some other things. But I would rather not talk about my magic right now.” Kaiden stated.
“Okay I’m sorry if I asked too many questions. I’ve just never seen it. I always thought it was crazy people saying things. But the maids would tell stories about magic. Nothing like that fire from your finger though. I remember one story where someone conjured some sort of animal though, can you do that?” She asked.
He looked at her again. Colleen held her hands up as to say sorry, and sat down on the chair beside him.
In his mind Kaiden was wondering if she had heard stories of his magical event. Maybe and he didn’t want to talk about that. Instead he would rather look at her eyes and her face. She was a beautiful woman.
For him she was the best looking of the McDoon’s he had remembered seeing in the past. He thought about her story of how her family had kept them inside. He realized that it had been years since he’d seen one of the females of this family.
Kaiden knew a couple of the boys though. The whole family was dead? He still remembered the day he had heard of that tragedy. It had been a few months before his own heartbreak night had occurred. I know how she feels right now, he thought.
“Come inside, I’ll get the bath water so you can clean up. I’m sure you are tired after your trip.” Kaiden stood up and said. “If you’re hungry I’ll heat you up a little stew. I’m sorry it is all I have right now.” Kaiden said.
“I’m a little hungry.” Colleen admitted.
“Let me warm the water up for your bath first though.” Kaiden stated.
She sat by the table and offered to help. “I can help with something.”
“No its fine you did have a long trip. Do you realize how far this is actually from the city?” He asked.
“No I just know it seems like I’ve been riding for all most the whole day.” Colleen admitted.
“Yes you have. Now come on get in the bath I’ll bring your food to you in a few.” Kaiden said and left her in the room.
Colleen slowly undressed, and tried to figure out how to cover her body up for when he brought the food into her. She finally grabbed her under garment and draped it over the edges of the pool covering most of her body successfully.
Kaiden brought in the meal in a few minutes after she had gotten in the bath. He knew she was beautiful, had already seen that. But when he saw her body near naked, since she had covered the most precious parts of her skin already, he stopped cold. He didn’t feel lust for her, well he did, but it was more than just an animal need to possess her. Kaiden felt like he was put on this world to protect her from everything. He had to wonder if it was because he had lost his sister, but really Colleen wasn’t anything like his sister.
No he might have to think about this more. He placed the food down and walked out of the room without a word. He had meant to talk to her more, learn even more about her as a person. But more so about the situation she was facing and how dangerous it might be for them.
Kaiden had a lot of things that he should make Colleen aware of as well. However, he found her bare skin far too distracting and knew that he might take her. Not that she would agree to this, he wasn’t sure.
However, they had much more important things to discuss before he could focus on his feelings for her and her body. Going into the other room he tried to clear his mind, but all he could picture was her naked body. It was too much of a distraction to him. Kaiden wanted nothing more than to go back into the other room and sit by her, just to watch her wash herself.
Instead he stayed out in the other room and decided to build a fire. It would be a lot cooler out soon, and with her just bathing, she was sure to have wet hair. “It is only nice to build a fire.” He commented to himself.
Seeing that more wood needed to be chopped he gladly went outside to take out some of his sexual frustrations on the wood. It helped him out a lot, but the time Kaiden was back inside, not only did they have enough wood for several days. But he also had little energy left to think of anything more physical than raising a glass to his lips.
As he watched her come from out of the bathroom, her wet hair hanging down her back, that all changed. His body found out that it had more than enough energy to begin to consider those more nefarious actions he had so nicely blocked out before.
He had seen beautiful women in his 28 years before, but she had a different effect on him. His body and mind both reacted when they thought of her. It wasn’t just his body. That would make this far too simple if that had been the case.
But Kaiden could tell that his mind was more than intrigued about this young female. Colleen’s eyes might have held a lot of that interest; those stunning green eyes seemed to stand out more than normal. He found it attractive and like it lured him in a bit.
He sat and thought about her a bit more. She was eating and he didn’t want to interrupt her. By the look of how quickly she was eating, she hadn’t had much food in the past day.
“I know you don’t believe me yet, who I am. I get it; I do look so different from my family. But that doesn’t mean I’m not who I say I am.” Colleen stated in between bites of food.
“No it isn’t that I don’t believe you. I just don’t know how they managed to keep you such a secret for 18 years of life. Were either of your parents dabblers in the craft of magic?” He asked her.
“I don’t think so. But I told you already that I didn’t believe in it. I had never seen it before. So how could they do magic and me not have seen it?” Colleen questioned him.
“There are spells that make people forget things they’ve seen. In fact there are even spells that will make you forget people.” He thought silently for a minute. A spell that size to make a kingdom forget a princess? That would mean someone who was more powerful than even he could imagine.
“I don’t know honestly. I mean I guess it is possible. But why would they do that?” Colleen asked.
“Well you said that they knew for years the enemies were getting closer right? If they knew this, why not send out a spell, something that will make people forget they’ve seen the McDoon girls? How many of there were you?” Kaiden contemplated the implications he was making.
“There were two other girls and three boys in total.” She said, remembering her siblings with sadness filling her heart.
“I’m sorry I know it hurts still to think about them. I don’t know how long that will last honestly. You might have to deal with it for years.” Kaiden stated.
“No I understand why you are asking. Is there anything you can do to help me remember?” Colleen looked up at him with hope in her eyes.
“You’ll have to go through it all, not just the good times.” Kaiden stated as if he could read her mind.
“How did you know? Wait is that part of your power too?” She asked him.
“Yes I don’t mean to pry and I try not to do it. But seeing people’s thoughts and feelings just seems to come naturally to me.” He admitted.
He saw her turn red and knew exactly what she was remembering. It had been a thought she had when he was in the room earlier. Though he had tried to hurry, he had stopped long enough to look at her. He realized he had been staring, but he had heard her enjoying his gaze.
“I would love for him to do more than just look!” Had been the exact thought he had heard from her.
It had been all he could take; he had run out quickly and went to cut wood. He had needed the physical exertion at that moment. More than ever though he had wanted to remove his clothes and touch her all over.
Kaiden was much older than her though, and he didn’t want to leave her with an older man to take care of. Why was he thinking long term with her? He didn’t know but it just seemed logical. As he thought again, it is more than just physical with her.
As she heard that he could read minds she flushed bright red. Now it all makes sense, she thought remembering the washroom scene. There was something about him that had made her want to touch him.
He threw off an animal magnetism that she seemed to be honed in on, and she couldn’t shake the feeling. Colleen wanted to have him touch her so badly. She wanted to learn what it was like to be a woman, and wanted Kaiden to show her exactly what to do.
She looked up at him again. Colleen could tell by the look on his face that he hadn’t missed a single thought she had in the past few seconds.
“What is it?” She asked him.
Kaiden closed the space between them and swept her up into his arms. He kissed her as he carried her to his bedroom. “You’ll have to say it out loud before I do anything though.” He finally said to her.
“Please just show me.” Colleen sighed.
They kissed deeply. Kaiden guided her tongue around with his and soon she had the idea of how to kiss him the same way. Colleen sighed as he put her on the floor.
“One last time, I’ll ask you. Because after you have your clothes off I won’t be able to stop.” Kaiden stated his eyes almost full of yellow more than it was of brown.
Colleen shuddered at the look of his eyes and nodded her head yes. “Please I want you to be the one.”
Her clothes and his were off more quickly than he could hope. Colleen looked down and saw his huge arousal. She felt her body start to hum. It was if a song was being played in her every cell.
He lowered her on the bed and kissed her again. His hands roved to her breasts and he stopped to play with one of her nipples. She watched as he lowered his mouth to her nipple and sucked it in. Colleen felt her lower regions become wetter.
She moved her hips up into him and looked into his eyes again. “Please take me now.” She said.
Kaiden didn’t hesitate. He moved his dick to the opening of her hole and pushed into her slowly. She came up trying to get him into her body more. But he pulled back and delayed the penetration of his cock into her fully.
Colleen arched her back higher each time he thrust into her, but he was onto her game and held back. He didn’t want to hurt her, so he took his time and slowly put his cock into the to the hilt.
When he was finally all the way in he didn’t move, just held his cock inside of her deeply and moved it. Colleen moaned out as her body felt even better. She didn’t know how to explain these alien feelings. She had never had sex, never been touched by a boy.
“Don’t stop please keep going.” She said to him.
Kaiden moved in and out of her slowly at first. Soon she had the rhythm of his thrusts down and was meeting him. Her speed was quickening so he sped up as well. He could tell by her pants that she must be close to climax.
Colleen didn’t want this feeling to end. It was the most marvelous feeling she could ever imagine having in her life. She felt a deep rumbling in her pussy and suddenly she was rocketing into heaven. All reasonable thought was impossible. She moaned loudly and felt her legs quaking as this pleasure hit her full force.
She raked her fingers down his back as she climaxed. It was too much for Kaiden he released deeply into her. He felt her body quake one more time as he was filling her up. Her nails dug deeper into his skin.
Colleen looked up at him as her body seemed to be calming down. I love him, she thought. His eyes were filled with a look that she had never seen. But she had to think it was the look of love.
She let her body melt into his as he lay beside her. Colleen murmured as his arms wrapped around her and pulled her into him. Soon her eyes were heavy with sleep and she was out.
Colleen dreamed of her life as a child as she slept. She missed her parents a lot and her siblings too. But had they been alive, would she have ever met Kaiden? She didn’t think he was in a position that they would consider her marrying. Honestly though she wasn’t sure. She had a feeling that somehow someone had made her forget a few things about her childhood.
Kaiden could hear her breathing deeply as she slept. He must share his story with her when she woke up. It was something that needed to be done. He had seen the look in her eyes, and had heard her thoughts. It would be something he would enjoy when she said those words out loud to him. But until then he would act like he didn’t know.
He had no doubt that he loved her. Everything had seemed perfect between them, like their bodies fit together perfectly. Kaiden felt like he had never touched another woman in his life as he made love to her.
Her body had been perfect. He could feel himself starting to get hard as he thought about making love to her again. Kaiden knew she was sleeping peacefully, he didn’t want to wake her up. So he thought about what he had to tell her when she was up.
“Well I just want you to know that people know me around here. “ He thought of saying to her.
Of course he would ask him how, and what would he say then. “I’m the magic user who went wild and killed the robbers of my family. But some people think I simply killed people for the fun of it. They think that the people weren’t there to harm his family.” He wanted to scream at those people, the anger would flair when he thought of what he had witnessed that night again. He had watched them die in cold blood. He hadn’t been able to stop it at all. If he had only gotten up sooner, heard something before he had; they might all be alive right now.
Even if he explained the story to her the way it happened, eventually she would hear a rumor. Well maybe not, she is in exile in a way too. However, she should be queen. If we did this right we could rule the kingdom. But I would rather just take her off to the middle of nowhere, he thought.
He let his eyes close and decided when they woke up later the first thing he would do was talk to her. Kaiden felt her move a few hours later. He had to fight his body thought, it had other things in mind besides talking.
Kaiden pulled away from her for a minute. “I have to tell you a few things first.” He said.
She looked at him. “Okay, what is it?”
“Many people think that I killed some people. I mean they know that I was protecting my family. But they think I went too far in my punishment. I’m not explaining this right. Let me start from the beginning and just listen.” He stopped for a minute and caught his breath. “One night about two months ago a group of robbers broke into our house. They thought we had jewels or other things that were worth money. I was sleeping when they first came into the castle. I didn’t hear anything right away. If I had I might have saved them.” He stopped and looked down.
Colleen could see the pain fill his eyes. She put a hand on his shoulder and pulled him close to her.
Kaiden lay back on her, his head on her stomach.
“By the time I got down to the room they had my family, my mother was dead and my sister would die in a matter of seconds. My dad was pleading with them not to kill her. He swore he didn’t have anything. But the men wouldn’t believe him. I watched as the knife sliced across my sister’s throat. I saw the light go out of her eyes. I snapped, my mind went to another place. Honestly I don’t know where it went for a few moments. When I came back around though all the robbers were dead, but so was my dad. They had killed him when I snapped I guess.” He stated.
Colleen held him close. “I know how you feel. Just lay back and relax for a few minutes.”
“There’s more though. I guess some people from the town saw it happen. They are all scared of me in town. They think that I won’t be able to control my magic anymore. That I’ll go off one day and kill the whole town.” He looked at her.
“I’m so sorry.” She kissed the top of his head.
“I can never go back there. No one will ever accept me again. I was shocked when you said Lady Sylvia said she trusted me. I didn’t think anyone trusted me.” Kaiden admitted.
“No she trusts you. She wouldn’t have sent me to you. I didn’t even know she knew about me though until she sent me here.” Colleen admitted.
“I always did like her. She knew my parents, I’d spent time in her house almost the whole time I was growing up. I played with her kids when they were younger too. I knew her husband before he died. He was a good man, and she’s always been a good lady.” Kaiden stated.
Colleen tried to picture him as a young boy.
“You know when you look at me with those eyes, it is hard to focus on our conversation.” He said to her.
She smiled at him. “I’m sorry, I’ll try to look at you differently!” She said.
“I just don’t want you to think that we could ever have a normal life. Between your problems and mine we have to leave this area. I don’t know how far we would have to go though. People travel all the time. All it would take was one person to see you or me who was from around here.” Kaiden was running through options in his mind as he talked.
“So you don’t want to be with me?” She questioned.
“No I’m not saying that, I want to be with you. I just need to make sure you are willing to be with a man who might have people call him a murderer?” He asked.
“You aren’t a killer. It is different when your family is at stake. If I had known magic, my family would be alive right now. I would do the same thing as you.” Colleen stated.
Her eyes had a faraway look as she was imagining her using magic. How she would have made those men who killed her family pay. She could think of many ways to use magic on people she didn’t like those men and the Queen being some of the main parties.
“How do you control it? I mean when you get angry, how can you control it?” Colleen asked.
“You don’t get angry.” Kaiden stated.
“But is that possible?” Colleen wondered.
“Not always, there are things that will drive anyone in life over that line. But I have to be more responsible from now on. I can tell you though, if anyone tried to hurt you they would be dead in a second.” Kaiden looked at her his eyes burning into her soul.
“Let’s just run away from it all then. Let’s try it somewhere else. I just want to be with you.” She said.
He couldn’t hold back any more and pounced on her. His passionate lovemaking made her scream again and again. It lasted for hours and he was ready for food after they were done.
“I have to get some food for us.” He got up to go.
“I wasn’t kidding can we go somewhere else?” Colleen asked. The conversation that had started before their lovemaking started up again.
“I guess we can, but we can’t do it all at once. I mean we won’t ride straight through. We can’t be sure before we get there that people won’t know us. There is a price on your head and I’m not willing to lose you.” Kaiden’s eyes sparked.
“I know. But can we at least try. I don’t want to have to hide out forever. I don’t care about the crown either. As far as I’m concerned it has always brought pain and suffering to our family. I know we had good times, but it killed them in the end.” She stated.
Not many would understand why she hated being an heiress. But the only thing about claiming her heritage would be that she would be able to rule the people better. Give them more of a life. She remembered how her father had been with the people. He had given them more grain if they needed it, he had made them wealthy, at least in knowing they were cared for.
“Maybe one day I’ll want to rule. But I don’t know about that. It seems like so many people would be dependent on what I decided. I don’t know enough to make a good ruler.”
“Let’s just try and survive first.” Kaiden reminded her.
“Your right, let’s focus on that first. So when can we leave?” Colleen asked him.
“Tomorrow we can leave. I’ll get everything ready tonight. We’ll try and go as far as we can. I have some spells that will protect us from view. We should be okay, as long as we.” He stopped and didn’t say anything else.
“As long as we what?” Colleen asked him.
“I just haven’t used some of these spells before. I can only hope that they all work.” Kaiden admitted.
Colleen shook her head. “Alright I understand.”
They travelled for what seemed like a month to Colleen before he would allow them to stop. “This should be far enough.” He said one day.
She looked around the town, it wasn’t big, but not too small. “So where will we stay?” She asked him.
“I’ll get you a room in the inn. You can freshen up and relax a bit. I’ll see about finding a permanent house for us.” Kaiden stated.
She watched him walk out of the room after he had helped her get settled. She smiled thinking about him. He was such a good man. She hadn’t told yet, but she was almost certain she had a child on the way.
Colleen hadn’t wanted to tell him while they were travelling she feared he wouldn’t push to the end of their trip had he known. Now once they were in their own house, she could safely inform him about what she thought.
Kaiden came back quickly and there was a smile on his face. She looked up at him. “Good news?” She asked.
“We have a place! Let’s go I want to show it to you.” Kaiden grabbed her hand and pulled her up. “It’s perfect there is a nursery and everything already!” He heard her gasp.
“Did you hear those thoughts too?” She asked him.
He stopped and turned around. “Yes I did dear! Plus I can hear our child’s heart beat.” He smiled at her widely.
Colleen smiled broadly.
He pulled her up to a two story house. It was on the outskirts of the little town. She hadn’t realized it was quite that small at first. However, maybe that would be better. The less people around she still felt the better off they would be. Colleen had pleaded her case to be out in the woods somewhere instead. But he had told her that would have to wait until later. “I will have to find a good piece of land and buy it, then build our home. So we are looking at a few months for sure.”
She hadn’t been happy at that point. However, she understood his plan.
“We are still going to go to the woods eventually right? I mean not wait for too long? How much did this cost? How did we afford it?” She asked him.
“We will move to the woods yes, don’t worry. There are only around 100 people at the most in this town. Don’t worry about the money, I had it. Please Colleen you need to think of the baby.” Kaiden told her, trying to calm all of her fears at once.
“I just think we would be better off without anyone around us.” Colleen looked out the window her fear apparent.
“Look at any sign of someone knowing who either of us are, I can do a spell. It is a hard one to do, but I believe I have enough magic skill to do it.” Kaiden explained.
Colleen looked at him, she studied him deeply. She saw no sign of betrayal in his eyes. He did love her, she could tell that so she felt safe.
“You will do this spell if anyone notices either of us?” Colleen questioned again.
“Yes I promise you that I will do the forget spell if anyone says a word to us that we have to wonder if we have been discovered or not. I will not make us run, not while you are pregnant. I also promise you that within the next few months I’ll start looking for a place in the woods for us to build.” Kaiden said, putting his hands on top of hers. “Please just trust me. I won’t let a single thing happen to you or our little child.”
She smiled up at him. Her fears seemed to be something that would drive her crazy. “Let’s go out and get some goods for our new home then. We will see if anyone recognizes me. I stand out a bit more than you do anyway!” She commented.
It was true the Queen would have a bounty on her head for sure by now. If they weren’t far enough from home, or if someone around here was from out of town, they might notice her.
“Alright, let’s go.” Kaiden said and walked with her outside.
He helped her get into the wagon. Heading into town, Colleen had a dreadful feeling cross over her body. She wasn’t sure why, but she had a feeling that something might take place. She hoped that Kaiden was ready with this spell. In fact as she thought about it maybe they should have just done the spell without going to get the goods.
She turned to him about ready to ask him what he thought.
“I don’t know if that would be a good idea. What if no one notices you? If I use this spell I don’t know how long it will take to recover. We use it now, and in a month or two someone notices you, I may not be able to do anything. That will mean we will have to flee while you are pregnant, and much more so at that point.” Kaiden commented.
“Aye, you are right.” She admitted.
He pulled up to the front of the store that looked very small from the outside. “ I don’t know how much stock they have on hand, but hopefully enough to start with!” He stated.
They walked in and the shop keeper looked up.
“Hello, new to town?” He asked them. He seemed like a friendly sort.
“Yes we just move down from up north.” Kaiden stated, not giving the correct direction they had come to town from.
The man looked at Colleen. “You look very familiar, do I know you from somewhere?” He asked her. His eyes got a far off look as if trying to place her face.
“No I don’t think so sir.” She answered, but felt the thrill of fear shot throughout her body.
Kaiden squeezed her hand to calm her down.
“The eyes they remind me of someone I once knew I think.” He finally commented and looked away from the couple.
They bought their goods and left the store.
“Did he know me?” Colleen asked almost before they were out the door.
“I’m not sure he had too many questions going around in his head. But I will do the spell once we get home if you want. Or we can wait to see if he says anything to anyone. He didn’t have a direct link to who you might be set in his mind though. So we might be safe.” Kaiden explained.
“That mind reading ability you have is very helpful.” Colleen commented.
“I love it.” Kaiden admitted.
“Let’s wait to see if he says anything to anyone before you use the spell. But we might have to be very careful about it. All it takes is one person thinking the wrong thing, and I don’t know if they will kill me or simply turn me over.” Colleen stated.
“I can tell you he had nothing in his mind about killing you for now!” Kaiden commented. “If he had he wouldn’t be alive still.”
Colleen looked at him no doubt that he was telling the truth.
“Is there a way you can try and focus on the whole town’s thoughts?” Colleen asked.
“It would take a lot out of me too, and trying to keep them all separate would be impossible for now.” He stated.
“But if you hear someone think something well you can do the spell, right?” Colleen said.
“Alright let me do it when we get home. I’ll see if I hear anything.”
When they got back to their new home, Colleen put the things away and Kaiden sat down to focus.
Colleen watched him from the other side of the room. The whole time she couldn’t get away from the feeling of fear in her mind. She watched as his brow furrowed.
“I’m sorry dear I’m going to have to do the spell. I hear far too many whispers about an heiress being in the kingdom. Someone the Queen is searching for. I don’t know who brought in the rumors or anything. But I know we need to stop them now.” Kaiden explained.
“I had a feeling this whole time.” Colleen admitted.
Kaiden focused and chanted the words for the spell. Colleen watched intently as he looked as if he aged years in front of her.
“I don’t know if I’m strong enough. I might be able to do it.” Kaiden stated.
She walked over behind him and put her hands on his shoulders. “Use some of my energy if you need too.”
“I can’t it may hurt the baby. This has to be all me.” Kaiden admitted.
As she watched she saw a few of his hairs turn gray on the sides of his head. The moments passed and more hairs turned color. Colleen began to worry wondering if he was going to survive this spell.
Finally, he fell to the ground. “It is done, we are safe. But I’m sorry baby we will have to stay in town for a while. Please help me to bed.” Kaiden whispered.
Colleen looked at him. “Will you be okay?” She asked, worried.
“Yes I just need sleep.” Kaiden said.
Colleen helped him lie down on the bed and curled up beside him. He placed a hand on her stomach. “It is safe for us now. But I don’t know how long this spell will last on them. I also placed a barrier up around the town to not allow new news into this town. It is what really took the power out of me. However, we can be safe here for a long time now. I hope anyway.” Kaiden said and closed his eyes.
THE END