The attraction Calhoun felt towards the woman was instant, surprising him as he had
searched for a woman that would make him feel that way for days. Worst of all, he barely knew
her, and he found himself wishing that she was smart as she was beautiful.
“I apologize.” He said, his voice coming out hoarsely. The lady rubbed her forehead as
she stepped back from him.
“It’s okay.” She said, turning to look behind her. Calhoun scrunched his brows, looking
behind her to see what she was looking at. There was no one there, so he turned back to look at
her, wondering who she was looking for.
“Can you please give me a moment of your time? I wish to ask you a question.”
Calhoun nodded his head, permitting her to ask him whatever she wished. He found that
even if she never asked, he would have looked for a way to keep her close to him for much
longer.
“Do you know anyone who is called Old Porv?”
She was looking for the old man? Today had to be his lucky day. Instead of thinking of
ways to make her stay longer before they both left, he could bring her straight to where he stayed
and get to know her for as long as he liked. Stifling a smile, he looked at her, studying her face as
he answered.
“Yes, I do. I am currently staying with him.”
Her eyes widened in surprise and elation. For how long has she been looking for him?
But these thoughts were overshadowed by how his heart raced faster as he took in her pale grey
eyes, her white hair illuminated by the setting sun, the way dimples appeared at both sides of her
face when she smiled, her smile… He cut himself off, surprise clouding his vision. He had never
felt like that in forever. Was she, perhaps the bride he has been searching so hard for?
“Can you please take me to him?”
“Sure.” He nodded.
“Please wait here, let me go call my companions.” She ran off before he could ask who
her companions were. He looked at her as she ran farther away, his heart hammering like it never
had before. The rush of emotions that clouded him seemed foreign yet comfortable, and he
couldn’t wait to get to know her. Hopefully, he thought, she would be the bride he would finally
take home with him.
A few minutes passed, and she returned, two individuals flanking behind her. One was a
woman whose beauty almost looked ethereal, hair dark as night and her body round and
curvaceous in all the right places. She wore all dark clothes, which enhanced the shape of her
body. Despite her beauty, she had a dangerous glint in her eyes that made one think twice before
approaching her.
The other behind her was a man who was just as ethereal looking as the woman. Calhoun
didn’t know why, but he immediately disliked the man. He had hair brown as a deer’s hide,
bouncing curls that mopped above his head. He had eyes like a doe, all innocent looking if one
doesn’t look too closely. His eyes held a mischievous glint that Calhoun was sure made women
swoon at his feet. The man was looking at him curiously, and he walked closer to the white-
haired lady as if to protect her.
Calhoun almost snarled.
They reached him, the two new people looking at him with suspicion and curiosity, while
the white-haired was looking at him with eagerness.
“He is the one I told you about!” The white-haired said, pointing at him. “He is going to
take us to Old Porv.”
The ethereal woman looked at Calhoun, not hiding the dangerous glint in her eyes.
“Who are you?” She asked. White-haired’s eyes widened in realization, noticing that she
indeed didn’t know his name. She turned to face him, awaiting his response.
“I am Calhoun. I stay with a man named Old Porv. He sells swordsmanship scripts. If the
person you are looking for fits the description I just gave, then you should follow me.” This was
the longest Calhoun had ever spoken to a stranger. He supposed that he didn’t word his
introduction well, as the look they all gave him was one of wariness. He couldn’t blame them.
Even he would be scared of himself. He just wished that they trusted him enough to follow him.
He didn’t want to leave his white-haired lady before getting to know her. They all turned to face
themselves, a silent glance passing through them. When it looked like they had agreed on
something, they all turned to face him again.
“Okay. Please take us to him.” Calhoun almost sagged his shoulders in relief, but he
stopped himself, hoping that his expression didn’t give off any strange signals.
“Follow me then.” He turned to start going.
“If you could just hang on for a minute, we want to get our horses.”
Calhoun had forgotten about transportation. In fact, he had forgotten that he had taken
one himself. All that clouded his mind was how he couldn’t wait to get aquatinted with the white-
haired lady. He didn’t know what it was about her that strongly drew him towards her. He
wouldn’t ignore it, though. As this was his first time experiencing something like this, he would
love to explore it. The only time he ever felt his blood rushing was when he fought or drew
blood. He couldn’t wait to test this new territory where he felt exhilarated without doing either.
He nodded at them, allowing them to go get their horses. For the first time in a long time,
he looked forward to seeing a stranger.
*****
Elena, Forest, and his sister Elion went back to get their horses. Once they reached where
their horses stood, Elion paused and turned to face Elena, both hands placed on her heavily
accentuated hips.
“I do not trust him.” She declared.
Elena figured that since she was Forest’s sister, she would continue their journey with
them. Elena didn’t find fault in that. In fact, she was happy that she had someone who could fight
when the need arose. Also, it was about time she had a real female friend. Mac, Wazir, and
Forest were nice, but there were just some things that she couldn’t divulge to them because they
wouldn’t understand; only a female would.
“I understand why you don’t,” Elena told her. “But right now, he is our only choice. If we
should notice anything strange or suspicious about him, we fight him off immediately.”
“There are already so many suspicious and strange things about him. His whole aura
screams of suspiciousness.”
“Well,” Elena said, shrugging. “If he is even more suspicious, then we escape. Let’s keep
our eyes on the road in case we do need to escape. As tired as I am, I would not want to have
problems running around, especially as the night draws near.”
Elion took a deep breath and turned to face Forest.
“Are you okay with this?” She asked him. He merely shrugged as he looked at his sister.
All he just wanted to do was to aid Elena in her journey. Nothing else.
Elion gave a slight scowl toward Forest before burying it with a defeated sigh.
“Okay then. What do we have to lose?”
Yeah, Elena thought. What do they have to lose? She thought back to the man who
agreed to help her, and she couldn’t fight or understand the intense feeling of curiosity and
dependency she felt when she glanced at him. She wondered who he was. She wondered how it
would feel to be protected by him, which made it all the more unusual for her, as she had just
met the man merely minutes ago. She would have to follow the man to find out what it was and
if he felt the same pull towards her.
“Let’s go.” She called out, releasing her horse and walking back towards where they had
left Calhoun. Probably Forest or Elion did the same behind her, as she could hear the whine of
the horse. She realized immediately that Calhoun had introduced himself, and they hadn’t.
Feeling as if she had committed a huge crime, she walked hurriedly towards where Calhoun
stood waiting for them.
When they reached, she was slowly panting as she looked up at Calhoun, bashfulness
clouding her eyes and staining her cheeks.
“It just occurred to me that I never introduced myself,” she said, tucking away a strand of
hair behind her head.
“I am Elena. My friends’ names are Elion and Forest.” Calhoun wasn’t sure he heard the
rest of the introduction after hearing her name, but he didn’t care. He took in the blush staining
her cheeks and how she kept looking at her feet out of shyness and his heartbeat faster than
usual.
Forest and Elion returned and looked at both of them suspiciously, noticing the
atmosphere between them.
“Miss Elena,” Calhoun said, dragging the name like a caress, “let’s start going.”
He walked a bit to where his horse stood and was grateful that he didn’t ask his guard to
accompany him. With the way they acted around him, he doubted they would have followed
him. Once they reached, he jumped into his horse, and they all followed himElion, with Elena
waiting for him to start his journey.
Elena took in Calhoun’s appearance after making herself comfortable above her horse.
She noticed that he was very handsome from the first time she saw him, although his face was
always a scowl. They would think he was annoyed by their presence alone if one didn’t know.
She doubted that was the reason. She noticed how his bulging muscles moved whenever he
raised his horse’s reins, how his lips tightened whenever he reached a bump, how huge his hands
were, how his arms exposed veins that proved his manliness, if that was possible.
He was tall, huge, and had skin the colour of sand, his hair was arranged like a bun atop
his head, and the more Elena took in his appearance, the more she became even more aware of
him. She shivered and snapped herself out of her emotions. She had never felt the way she did
before, ever. She noticed that the man glanced at her more than usual, and instead of feeling
scared, she flushed, her skin heating up even more. Several times their gazes had clashed, and
Elena removed her gaze immediately, pretending that she wasn’t just studying his features.
The sky was getting darker, and the sun had almost completely set. After finding Old
Porv, she realized that she hadn’t even bothered to look for an inn.
“Calhoun,” she called out. She noticed how he jerked when she called his name.
“Do you know where we can find an inn?”
He turned slowly to face her, his eyes an otherworldly glow as the setting sun’s rays
shone on his face.
“Old Porv uses his house as an inn. That is where I stay.” She frowned as she looked at
him.
“There are other inns in the area. But he said if I didn’t care for the noise the nightwalkers
who visited there are likely to make, I could lodge with them, if not I could stay with him for an
even smaller sum of money.”
Elena thought hard, remembering the first inn she had stayed in. Despite how good the
environment was, the presence of the nightwalkers made her uncomfortable, and she was always
afraid of someone barging into her room unannounced. She supposed she could follow Calhoun
to Old Porv’s inn. If it turned out to be a trap, hopefully, she would be able to subdue him with
Elion and Forest’s help. That didn’t seem like a problem. Smiling, she faced him.
“Please take us to him. He might be interested in having new customers if he wouldn’t
mind.”