Free The Lady of the Storm - 2 by Kathryne Kennedy

debate this subject with her either, so he switched to the subject he’d been meaning to discuss all day. “There could be another reason for the soldiers’ presence, Cecily. They could have heard about the magic you performed in our village.”
    “So soon?”
    Giles knew the elven lords had a magical means of communication, but again, if Thomas had not seen fit to tell her… “Anything’s possible. So to be safe I suggest you do not use your full powers. I think we can escape them if we move in secret, but if you use that magic of yours, they will know where to look for you.”
    The trail brought them closer to the channel again, and the wind picked up with a vengeance. She buttoned her coat while Giles did the same.
    Cecily raised her voice over the crash of the waves. “I’m back where I started—running and hiding. I won’t do it again.”
    Giles studied her face, looking for the determination behind her words, but unable to stop himself from noticing how lovely she looked in the wind, with pink cheeks and curls of midnight hair playing about her face. Her lips were a dark red, like the finest claret, and so damn kissable that he wondered where he’d found the force of will all those years ago to deny them when she’d offered. Of course, she was a woman now and not a young girl and that made a difference… although he knew he had done the right thing, the only thing he could have under the circumstances…
    Alas, what had she been saying? Oh, yes. “Do not think to give yourself up to Breden of Dewhame. The elven lord does not understand mercy. And despite your impressive magic, you would not stand a chance against him.”
    “Must he hate me so?”
    Her voice trembled and he brought Apollo to a stop, the mare placidly halting alongside. He reached down and touched her shoulder in sympathy, a flare of tenderness running through him. “Do not allow yourself to think that the elven lords have feelings like we do. It is not in their nature. Indeed, their own people consider them mad, or so says Thomas.”
    Her eyes flashed. “Thomas is my true father.”
    “Indeed. So think of him. You cannot find him if you give yourself up to Breden of Dewhame.”
    She nodded, and Giles breathed a mental sigh of relief. The young woman could be stubborn and unpredictable, but she would listen to reason.
    Giles urged Apollo forward, allowing the gelding to pick his way carefully in the near darkness. The jagged cliffs had softened to a smoother slope down to the ocean, and he took a trail that he remembered from his visits here. Once in Dorset, however, he would be in unfamiliar territory, and would have enjoyed the adventure of it if he didn’t have the young woman to protect.
    “Where are we going?” she asked from behind him.
    Giles did not answer, for she would see quickly enough. Sand softened Apollo’s hoofbeats. Giles guided him to the right, behind a fall of rock that looked solid, but held a gap just barely wide enough for the beast to pass through. The ocean breeze no longer pummeled them, the crash of the waves now muffled. When Giles felt the chamber open, he dismounted and set about gathering driftwood by feel, and making a fire.
    The flames lit the cavern and Cecily still sat atop her horse, staring about with joy.
    “I knew you’d like it,” he said. Faith, every time he came here he had thought of her, and how he would like to show her this place. He just never thought he’d actually have the opportunity to do so.
    Magic had crafted this cave, he knew. But how or why, he couldn’t fathom. Seashells had been imbedded into the walls to form pictures of sharks and dolphins, and seals near the bottom. A layer of blue shells separated water and sky, with a myriad of birds crafted above. Some of the birds he could put a name to: puffins, razorbills, and kittiwakes. Some he could not identify, and wondered if they were native to England… or perhaps that fabled land of Elfhame. For dragons had also been