Her chest was pounding, and the mix of emotions she was experiencing, made her heart feel like it was going to overflow. She wanted to cry and at the same time laugh. He couldn't possibly be telling the truth. She thought. She wanted to believe him. Everything in her cried out that it was the truth, but her brain was refusing everything. This just can't be.
"No? Then how is this tapestry..." He waved his hand towards it. "…in such perfect condition? How do you explain how I stayed in the coffin? Or how you knew what tune to bring me out again. Or the most obvious, how do I know what you are thinking?"
"Trickery, that's all it is. You got there before I did." She said while shaking her head and looking for a reasonable answer. "You climbed in the coffin and waited. You planted the tapestry. And . . . And . . ." She exhaled loudly in indignation. "You're not some half 'Ru'tah' thing, with a curse on you. What do you think I am, stupid?"
"No, but you will see. When I go with you to my family's treasury, which you already have the map and key to.
"Oh, I see how it is. You DO think I'm stupid." She gave a haughty laugh while nodding. "So now you think you're going to come with me on my digs? My big-strong-handsome-savior." She was trying her hardest to be cocky, throwing a shoulder up at each word. "What? Did you plant that guy to come in here, then fake kill him? And I'm supposed to believe that you, what, got rid of the body, while I was out, right?"
A cold sweat slid down her spine as she remembered the sound of his neck snapping and the 'thud' of his body weight as it hit the ground. The memory was horrible and thoughts about it were making her sick again. So, she turned to the only thing she could look too. Anger.
"Right? Get out of my house and leave me alone. I can't believe you thought that half-baked "Family History" lesson you just spouted off was going to get you in on ANY of my digs. I'm sick of this ridiculous conversation. Just leave."
Still, she couldn't stop the hurt from sprouting. She didn't want him to go, not really. She wanted him to be true. For his reality to be true. To be exactly what it was he says he was. For some reason, that fact made her even angrier. But for him to think that he could try and push her around just so he could go on her digs. It had her fuming.
Not a sign of irritation or annoyance passed his face. She even thought she saw humor in it. With no movement or a turn to leave, he said, "Velori. I am not like other friends of yours, and I am not some vagabond off the street. You cannot fancy me with your looks or sass like you do so many others. I know this is what you are trying to do. You do not want me to go, not really. Besides, I like it here." He got up and skimmed his fingers over the back of her leather chair.
Giving a quiet scream of aggravation she stormed out, passing through the library, and speeding up through the hallways. She was in a full run by the time she got through the back door. Running faster and faster, hunting for the middle of her maze. To her small spot. A place that this insane, thing, would not be able to find.
Her chest was pounding, and her blood boiling. He was right. For some unexplainable reason, she didn't want him to go. She liked the way his voice turned words and how she felt connected to him and his family.
No! I'm not gonna have some man tell me how I'm feeling. Or some half-human . . . thing. Her thoughts overwhelming everything else.
She was walking now and attempting to catch her breath through the pain in her sides. She turned the corner to the middle of the garden, and there, sitting in HER swing, smiling as if to annoy, was Gairett.
She stopped short and bent over, massaging the kink in her side. It had gone from a small throb to a now piercing affliction.
She looked back up at him with fire in her eyes, and said, quite emphatically, "NOW." She pointed to the ground still holding her side with her other hand. "Show me, now. If you are this, 'Ru'tah' whatever, then I want pro...ooof--"
The wind was knocked out of her, and as her vision started to clear, she realized she was being held by him. Only it was about five hundred feet in the sky and they were flying. The force it must have taken to lift her, knocked the breath out of her. Only now instead of force taking it away, her fright of heights and disbelief were.
He kept going higher and higher, clutching her closer and closer the higher he went. When they were so high that she could see the tops of the clouds, he stopped and just hovered there. The air around her was extremely thin, so her breaths came often as she had to fight to take it in.
She was clinging almost painfully tight to him but neither seemed to notice.
What she saw was amazing. It was still early enough that last night's inky black was still fading, causing the colors to mingle. She could see the wind moving through the clouds. The perfectly white and plump mists were under and all around her. She could feel it move against her skin and twirl her hair into tangles. The pinks, the purples, the blues, and the grays, were the clearest that she'd ever seen. And yet, so translucent, and blurry, it staggered her vision. He started to twirl, making her absorb even more of the colors and moisture that was in the air. Then he lifted back up, over the clouds, and hovered once more. They watched birds fly by and hid from the planes that passed their way.
For a long time, they were both silent but for her laughter, which seemed to overflow from within. It was something she had never heard come out of her. He was holding her as they floated high above everything. Absently she noticed that the feeling was weirdly familiar. Though she chalked it up as a sign she was traveling too much.
Time seemed like it was unmoving and yet . . . not. She watched the sun go back down and the blues and whites turn to iridescent pinks and oranges, then to purples and deep, deep blues. Then before she realized it, she was watching the stars in a way that she had never imagined she would. They were the clearest, brightest, and most beautiful stars she had ever seen.
Sadly though, it had gotten cold, and he could feel her shivers flow over her whole body. Not to mention the grumbling of her very hungry stomach. She pressed her face into his chest and smelled of the honey and flint that seemed to engulf him.
"So? Do you believe me now, little human?" His voice came out huskier than he had meant it to.
She simply nodded her head, not wanting to leave the warmth of his body. She hugged herself into his chest again.
"I'm going to take you home now." He paused briefly. "I'll be gone for a while."
She jerked her gaze towards him, and held back a plea, "Oh?"
"Yes, but not because you shoo me away."
Without her realizing it, they had made it back down to the estate and he was placing her on the balcony of the second floor and then he was gone. He had simply disappeared.
Her mind was still trying to shove away the thought of something not human sharing her world. Though for some reason, it seemed so easy to just… accept.
She went inside and enjoyed the dinner that the chef had prepared for her earlier. She was sure he was angry that she wasn't there when it was hot and ready. But how could she tell him that she was thousands of feet in the sky with a creature that she found at her last site? She laughed to herself. No, he was just going to have to suck it up and so was she.
Family treasury huh? This ought to be rewarding.
After she finished her meal, she started packing for her next dig and calling the people that needed to be called. If he was going to be gone, so was she.
"We'll just see if he's there when I find it. See if he does know, EVERYTHING." She ended her one-sided conversation with a frustrated huff. She pulled out her matched luggage, two laptops, her gear, and clothes and started to shove them into her backpack with more effort than needed.
I just won't be here when he gets back.
Why she was so irritated with him she couldn't understand. She didn't even know the guy. All she knew was that she had to get to this other family tomb, and she had to do it as soon as possible.
After she had packed everything and had worn herself out dry, she pulled out the map and key and started to look them both over with great intent.