Free Hidden Jewel (Heartfire Series) by Jennifer Strong

of whom the very idea filled him with want, with needs he could not have begun to describe. Micah’s refusal to bloody his own hands with his father’s mistake had infuriated the drunken bastard; the force of the blow knocked him to his knees, the air stricken from his young lungs. The pain had been tremendous, for a few breathless moments he had feared that his heart might explode.
    Micah gutted the scrawny deer.
    He spent most of the night trying to think of a way to get himself and his twin brother, Jacob, out from under Kiah’s roof without getting either of them killed for it. A near impossibility, proven the very first day they'd arrived at Hidden Jewel, when the Mackintoshes had been made witness to the inconceivable strictness with which Kiah Black ruled over his twin boys; exhaustion, only, had pulled Micah down, away from the troubled life he'd led for nineteen long years; an entire lifetime. He slipped into dreams at once familiar, a young woman who did not look like any normal woman, tiny, vibrant, whom he had begun to see in his dreams at the tender age of twelve; she came clearly into his mind though he had not dreamt of the beautiful enchantress in well over a year. The dream last night was why he was so sure that today would be the day, why he had slipped out of the small cabin, into the blue-black of predawn; a risk to the health, the very lives of both he and Jacob. A risk he was willing to take.
    Stepping silently away from the muddied trail, moving stealthily under the thick canopy of dew covered leaves, Micah stopped behind a large, sturdy oak for a peek at the rider coming at a slow but steady pace up the winding mountain path. He wanted to see her first, to get a good hard look at this woman who just might be able to help him get away from his maniacal father once and for all, as the dreams had led him to believe despite the utter queerness of those subconscious flights of fancy, the odd sensation of soaring high above an enchanted land, perching, occasionally, upon the cool stone turrets of various castles; a dream, surely, for it could not have been more, no matter that he'd saved a few small bits of the very stone he'd sat on the last time he met the unknown woman in his dream.
    It had rained the night before, the combination of moisture and unseasonal warmth covered the valley below with a thick blanket of mist; curling tendrils wound about the ancient trees like smoky fingers. His keen ears picked up on the sound of more than one mounted rider; disappointment rolled slowly through his mind, his heart; Annie had not said her daughter would be alone when she came but, like a fool, he'd assumed. Idiot! No woman in her right mind would travel alone through such a dangerous land. Especially the daughter of The Mackintosh. even the surreal woman he'd seen in his dreams for so long would move about so carelessly- if he could hear their approach, so could anyone else with ears. Unhappily, the fog kept the advancing horses cloaked, invisible to his sight; squinting rather absurdly for a man with perfect eyesight, he kept his gaze trained on the darkened ribbon of mud and last years leaves, just at the edge of the vaporous cloud, and suddenly, almost as if by magic, they appeared from out of the mist.
    There were two of them, as he had suspected, both riding twin sorrel mares laden minimally with thin bedrolls and heavy leather saddlebags. The first rider was... not the man he'd been expecting! His heart leapt with relief at sight of the old woman in the lead; the hair pulled back from her forehead was pure, snowy white, a marked contrast to the smooth, lightly tanned skin of her arms and face. Spine straight as a rod, her bearing was regal, her head cocked in a well-honed manner of aloof reserve; her clothes were fresh and clean, as if even a speck of dirt would not dare to settle upon the pale green folds of dress and cloak. Not moving, hardly breathing, Micah watched curiously as the ancient gently