Soul Catcher (20 page)

Roslyn Thoroughfare

25

Aleco found a concealed enclosure he utilized during his travels and suggested they rest in the safety of the hidden area for the time being. Accacia looked exhausted, so he offered to stand guard while she slept. After she dozed off, he covered her with his warm cloak, enveloping her limbs with the scorching heat of his body.

He watched over her while she slept. He leaned his straight back against a tree stump and rested his arms on his knees. He pressed his fingertips to his lips, lost in thought. Aleco gazed at the isolated den and examined the dynamic wildlife. He noticed the birds bouncing in the trees and squirrels harvesting fallen nuts. He knew they were preparing for the approaching winter, and he pitied their efforts. Most of the creatures wouldn’t survive anyway.

Aleco removed his fingers from his lips, suddenly realizing who he reminded himself of, and returned his gaze to Accacia. The redness of her exquisite lips became more prominent in contrast to her ivory complexion due to the cold. It complemented the chestnut color of the long, brown tassels that tapered around her high cheekbones. Her unnatural features almost appeared inhuman, so flawless she seemed surreal.

“Accacia,” he whispered as he stood over her. He reached down to squeeze her small shoulder, but thought better of it. She made it clear she didn’t want him to touch her. If he wanted to regain her trust, he knew he had to obey her wishes and fight to ignore his own urges. “Wake up,” he repeated.

She stirred from under the bulky cloak and opened her green eyes. Her perfect face looked serene while she slept in peace, but now it resumed a look of indifference. She rose to her feet and flung his heated cloak back at him, clearly angered that he had given it to her. Her thin body looked immediately frozen without the heated aid of his coat. Accacia’s lithe body was slim, with substantial curves around her hips and chest, along with toned muscles in her shapely legs and formed arms, but she still didn’t have enough mass to keep herself warm.

“Just wear it, Accacia,” he said. He held the cloak out to her. “I have no need of it. Winter has just arrived and the temperature is only going to drop.”

She shouldered her pack without looking at him.

“Accacia, stop being so stubborn and put on the
damn
jacket,” he said. “I don’t know when we’ll find another.”

She walked away. “Let’s go,” she said.

Aleco sighed to himself and followed her.

They stuck to the thickened brush on the side of the weathered path as they advanced to Father Giloth’s woods. Accacia shivered as they moved forward, and Aleco saw her rub her arms to stay warm. He wished she would take his jacket. “I sent a message to the old man,” he said. “He will be expecting our return.”

“I know,” she said. She had read the note in his memory.

Darkness crept into the forest and the landscape was hidden from their sight. They settled into a remote patch of condensed trees and prepared their campsite. Accacia built a fire, but Aleco stopped her before she ignited the wood. “It’s too risky,” he said as he knocked the twigs from her palm. “I’m certain they are searching for us.”

Accacia tossed the branches aside and crossed her arms over her chest, clearly deflated at the lack of heat. She rubbed her palms together and hoped the friction of her chafing skin would bring some respite. Accacia’s skin changed from a healthy red to a cold ocean blue. Her extremities were freezing in the chill. Aleco wanted to slap her.

It began to snow. Tiny flakes of powder kissed the ground and their noses, melting instantly at the warm contact of their skin. The brown soil turned to white with the falling snow, and the green leaves of the trees disappeared under the powder. Accacia tried to hide her shivers, but her convulsions were out of her control. Her lips were turning blue. Aleco never knew
someone could be so stubborn. She would rather die than accept his aid. The thought angered him. “This ends now!”

He covered her shoulders with his cloak and wrapped the wool around her body. Her skin felt like a frozen icicle, and Aleco worried it was too late, that she might become hypothermic and die. Accacia dropped the cloak to the ground. He knew she was too weak to throw it at him. “I don’t need your cloak, Aleco,” she said.

Aleco lost control of his anger. “Let me explain this to you in terms
you
can understand,” he yelled. He grabbed the cloak from the ground and held it in her face. “If you don’t wear this cloak, you
will
die.”

He covered her body with the cloak and held it in place so she couldn’t take it off.

“You
will
wear this,” he said. His glare convinced her to surrender her resistance. “You can fight me if you wish, but I promise you
will
lose. I won’t let you die out here.”

“What about you?” she asked.

He tightened the folds around her and verified every inch of her sensitive skin was covered. It was her first display of concern for him since they had escaped. He reached his hand towards her. “Feel my skin.”

She touched his palm and felt the scorching temperature of his body.
She was surprised by its unwavering heat. Without her permission, he grabbed both of her narrow hands and encompassed them within his own, thawing her arctic skin with his warmth. He gripped her hands for a moment and massaged the numbness from her fingertips then blew his hot breath onto her skin. Accacia felt the tingle of sensation return to her limbs as Aleco’s heat flooded her extremities. He looked into her beautiful green eyes while he tended to her, but she avoided his gaze and focused her attention on his ministrations. The fire in Accacia’s eyes was absent, dormant in the cold. This worried him most of all. “I’m going to breathe into your mouth,” he said.

His words startled her but she was too cold to react.

“I would ask for your permission but you forfeited your right with your stupidity. You don’t get a choice,” he said. “This is
going
to happen. You are lucky that I’m warning you at all.”

She tried to nod but she couldn’t move.

“My only intent is to help you. I have no other motive.” He pressed his lips against hers and breathed into her mouth. She felt the hot air enter her lungs and the heat absorb into her body. Accacia felt her blood thin and circulate through her veins. Her organs thawed with the warmth. Accacia felt the flicker of her heartbeat increase to a pound as it awoke from its slumber. He continued to breathe into her mouth and she was thankful he did. He pulled away and looked at her, expecting to see the wrath in her eyes and was grateful there was none.

“Thank you,” she whispered. Aleco exhaled in relief. She glanced at him in his thin shirt and wondered how he could always maintain such a high level of body heat. She noticed something else, too. She nodded to the necklace he wore. “Why do you still have that?”

It was the very one they had returned to Father Giloth. Aleco had used the contents of the capsule to spare her life when he rescued her from Morkarh. She remembered Father Giloth leaving it on the dinner table and wondered why Aleco kept it.

He was silent for a moment. “No reason,” he said. He tucked the matching necklace within the collar of his shirt, hiding it from view. She caressed her own copy of the chain.

The heat dissipated from the cloak and Accacia shivered again. Aleco eyed her convulsions. He knew her life was no longer in danger so he didn’t breathe into her mouth again.

“You’re always cold,” he said.

She nodded.

Aleco knew how he could keep her warm and comfortable but refrained from asking. He already knew her answer. The sight of her continued convulsions changed his mind. “I can keep you warm,” he offered. “Lay against my chest, and I will cover us both with the cloak. The heat of my body will still stop your shivers.”

“Do I have a choice?”

“Yes,” he said. “And I hope you make the right one.”

Accacia shivered in silence. Aleco assumed that was her answer until she spoke. “Okay.”

Aleco looked at her in surprise. Accacia felt so numb she decided to put her current anger aside. She was too cold to care. He laid himself on the frozen ground and instructed her to crawl onto his chest. She lingered for a moment, uncomfortable with the proximity and what it might bring. The bite of the freezing air encouraged her to continue so she laid her weightless body on his torso. He covered them both with the cloak, and her shivers ceased instantly.

She sighed as the heat surrounded her and thawed her frozen skin. Aleco wrapped his heavy arm around her thin waist, which she didn’t object to. He suspected she was already asleep. He indulged in his deepest desire and rubbed his hand against the steep curve of the small of her back, his favorite feature. He grazed his fingertips through her flowing strands. Her scented hair tickled the skin of his neck, but he didn’t brush it away, welcoming the pleasant aroma of her natural fragrance. His mind drifted to his usual fantasy and he forced the thoughts from his mind. He could hear the restraints of his control snapping as he thought about making love to her. Aleco stopped the flood of images in his mind and changed his thoughts. He pictured Father Giloth, and Aleco felt the blood recede from his appendage and return to his body. He thought of Father Giloth sipping tea and felt his body relax. He hugged her to his chest as his mind fell into the abyss.

Aleco awoke the following morning with Accacia sprawled across his chest. Her fragile arm was hooked around his neck and her face was below his chin. He felt the brush of her lips against his jaw every time he inhaled.

Accacia opened her eyes and sat up. She crawled off his chest without looking at him, and moved away as fast as she could, a sight that burned Aleco’s heart. Aleco wished he could take back his actions more than ever.

They left the campsite and progressed forward. Accacia
ignored Aleco’s words as they traveled closer to Orgoom Forest. Aleco hoped her anger had softened after their closeness overnight, but she seemed to be even more distant because of the incident. Aleco hadn’t foreseen this complication. “I’m sorry,” he said. “I would take back everything if I could.”

He studied her stoic expression. It didn’t reveal any emotion or thought. Her green eyes were the only true indicator of her feelings and they blazed in an evergreen fire at his words. The light in her emerald irises always displayed her thoughts. This was the reason she couldn’t lie to Aleco; he saw everything in her eyes. Aleco gripped his hair in frustration. “What do I have to do, Accacia?” he asked. “What do you want from me? I will do anything to earn your forgiveness.”

She stopped and stared at him. The hurt on her face shattered his heart, and he fell silent under her gaze, hypnotized by the sparks of green embers bursting from her eyes. “Let me make this clear,” she said. “There is nothing you can do. What has come to pass is over, done. I forgive you for hurting me, Aleco. I was the one who provoked your anger by invading your privacy and breaking your trust, but I will never forget what you did to me. I can’t regain your trust and you can’t earn mine.”

“I do trust you.”

“Well, you shouldn’t,” she said. “And you don’t deserve mine in return.”

“Give me another chance,” he begged.

“I already said no.”

“Please?”

“You are wasting your time, Aleco. Your words change nothing and they can’t change the way I feel,” she said. Accacia hated the harshness of her words but she couldn’t hide her annoyance. She thought this conversation was over, never to be addressed again. She hated hurting him but he continued to set himself up for failure. Accacia knew she should just let her anger go and see Aleco for who he really was, but she couldn’t bring herself to do it. Her hatred for his twin was too strong; she was blind. All of this could have been avoided if she could protect herself. She never would have been tortured by the duke, and the guildsman would never have forced her body to the ground. Accacia could have stopped Aleco from hurting her. “There is something I want from you, if you are willing to give it.”

“Name it,” he said. “If there is anything I can do for you, I will.”

She studied his face and wondered if he would grant her this special request. “I want to be your apprentice,” she said. “I want to be as skilled a fighter as you are, and not only with a blade, but with my bare hands and my mind. I want to protect myself. Never again will I be helpless when a man attacks me.”

Aleco dropped his gaze, ashamed of her reference.

“I will never be the victim of an assault or a beating,” she continued. “Never again will a man take me against my will, because they will die before they can even make the attempt—I will be a warrior. Will you teach me, Aleco?”

Aleco looked at her. “Yes,” he said. “I will, whether you choose to trust me or not.”

“Thank you,” she said. “Let’s get started.”

Aleco dedicated an hour a day to demonstrating the fundamental battle tactics he’d acquired during his tenure as a committed member of the Serpentine Guild, where he learned to be the master assassin he had become.

Teaching these maneuvers to Accacia was difficult because he couldn’t instruct her the way he’d been taught, through sparing, which was the quickest route to learning. Aleco refused to take that avenue because of the real possibility that he would hurt her.