Postponed gratitude (part 2)

Watching him was somewhere between euphoric and terrifying, every single detail about the moment was cut into the surface of her mind, illogical feelings of despair filled her, she stood there, vulnerable and exposed, as if she was the one who was not fully clothed, not Egon von Conradie.

His was a large bone structure beneath bronze skin glistening under the sun, the big muscles that curved outward were showcased by the gallop, and the movement was nothing less than mesmerizing, an incarnation of strength that shifted in and out. His approach had a certain savagery to it, as if he was charging to attack, he looked less like a man, and more like a wild beast to her.

Something terrible had her heart clenching as he got closer.

It was normal for men to have scars on their bodies, in fact, most knights of the First Order proudly carried them. But the scars on Egon's body were something far more sinister, starting from his collarbone and spreading all the way down to his waist, six of them crisscrossed in slightly darker tones than the color of his skin, long continuous slashes caused by a lethal weapon. She dismissed that conclusion as quickly as she formed it. These cannot be a product of a weapon, but what animal has claws this big?

As if she had always been an extension of Egon's grief, the conviction that this man was summoned by a death call before coming back to the land of the living knocked the wind out of her, her own skin felt tender where his scars were.

Scars... Only a human can be scarred like this. The relief accompanying that realization was an unhealthy one.

One thing was for sure. Egon von Conradie was the most beautiful creature Adela had ever set eyes on. She finally looked up at his face and regretted it immediately, even if he possessed the vigour to kill a man with one blow of his bare arm, his black eyes were the most frightening thing about him.

"Good day, ladies," Andreas's tone was soft when they stopped at a nearby distance, his eyes on Larissa who curtsied along with her sister.

Larissa matched his tone, "Good day, gentlemen,"

"Is she hurt?" Egon asked.

With a jolt in her stomach, Adela dragged her eyes back to a pair of dark ones looking surprisingly calm while they stared into hers. She swallowed down the dryness in her throat, "She has a stone bruise,"

Andreas dismounted, "Lady Larissa, de Lanark's stables are too far away from here, I am afraid returning would be a task too great for her. How about you mount my horse and cross over with your mare? Our stables are rather close and a much better option. We shall care for her there, a few days off from riding will aid her healing and protect her hoof from further trauma,"

Larissa nodded, what he proposed was so ideal that she felt no need to discuss the matter with her younger sister before consenting, "We continue to be most grateful to you,"

Adela tried to hide how nervous she had become, "Indeed, we continue to impose on you, but there is no need for you to walk, Larissa can ride with me for I shall accompany you,"

"If someone was to see both of you crossing over with us, it might open a door for more unnecessary gossip,"

Heat exploded in her neck and spread up her face as Egon's words made perfect sense to her. Of course, he is right. One or two of her father's knights must be watching from a distance which was fine, but there was no telling who would be present in the neighboring land. And the last thing she wanted to do was to start another entertaining story for the Lanarkians when the most recent one about her was still on fire.

Awaiting her response, Egon raised an eyebrow.

"You are right," she looked at her sister's approving hazel eyes and was slightly surprised to see the glint of excitement mixing with concern in them. "Right…" She repeated once more.

"I will help you up, Lady Larissa,"

With all ease, Andreas helped the Lady mount his horse and headed to what had become von Conradie's temporary estate. Walking next to her, the two of them looked like one of those romantic paintings. Their lips moved at times and smiled at others, and Adela belatedly found herself wondering if it was wrong of her to leave her sister who clearly liked Andreas alone with the man, her body took one involuntary step further.

"Leaving again?" he said, both jesting and complaining at the same time.

She looked up, ready to deny or argue. But with the way he narrowed his eyes at her, no word left Adela's mouth.

He patted his horse, "...I thought not,"

It was either his sharp tongue, his provoking sarcasm, or how rude it was for him to remove his eyes away from her whenever he saw fit that made him appear more approachable now. Bravery surged through her body; Whether she liked it or not, there was a high probability that she would see more of him going forward. Can they at least try to be civilized with one another?

She took a steadying breath, "That day in the forest… When you first protected me with your arrows, and then saved my knight's life…I never got the opportunity to say what I wanted to tell you… I wanted to truly thank you for that,"

It was more powerful than her, the way her neck seemed to tilt to the other side against her will to appear unshaken, but reading his face and analyzing his responses were laboring now, she tried to convince herself that it was irrelevant whether her gratitude moved the cold him or not but was still unable to look Egon in the eye.

I must leave...

"…I will trust you with my sister and her horse, father will be upset if I do not let somebody know of our whereabouts,"

She mounted her horse with ease and eyes that never looked at Egon, the newly discovered sensations that kept swirling around her stomach added to her eagerness to put distance between the two of them.

Without words of goodbye, she turned her horse around and headed back to where she came from, determined to find the nearby knights and send them to wait for Larissa in her stead.

There they are...

Five knights stood by the edge of the meadow, she found them at a surprisingly close distance that did not give her much time to put her thoughts together, she had to focus and give a concise explanation followed by clear orders, but the closer she got to them, the deeper the frown on her forehead got seeing the grim expressions on their faces.

They Looked like bad news to her.