Free Legend 4 - Free Falling by Claudy Conn Page A

work on them—your Fae skills. You need to use your abilities to their full potential. And you need to be discreet.” He shook his head. “You haven’t had enough interaction in battle to know how useless you are.”
    “Hey—you said we would try and respect each other. That is not trying.” I pouted as I thought about his words. I knew I was pouting, but I didn’t bother to control myself. I was ticked at everything and everyone. Now, after I had been training myself for weeks, he had basically told me I was ‘nothing’. It ruffled my feathers in the wrong direction. There was more I needed to know, though, so I quickly asked, “What do you mean, I leave a trail? How can I not?”
    “We all have a scent of our own. All Seelie Fae have the alluring scent of Tir, pines, a bit of vanilla, and herbs, but each of us also carries a very distinct but discreet scent all our own. A Tracker who is greatly skilled can follow even the faintest scent to any particular being. Gaiscioch possesses enough of a skill to follow a strong scent. You, Daoine, leave a strong scent—one of strawberries and rosemary that is all your own. It is a part of who you are, and you haven’t a clue how to disguise yourself, or at the very least, leave as little behind as you can.”
    My temper rose—how could it not? “It is all very well for you to tell me I don’t know this and I don’t know that …” I frowned up at him. “Is that how you followed me to Inverness?”
    “No. I have … another way.”
    “What another way ?”
    “It doesn’t matter. You are safe now and back at MacDaun, and when you leave … you can be comfortable in the knowledge that I can follow.”
    “Yes, but …?”
    “Now tell me, when did you tattoo yourself?”
    “I didn’t tattoo myself. I went into Inverness and had a professional do it. I have been teaching myself black magic and needed the protection. I have a band of runes and knots on my arm as well, and one just here …” I pointed to the small spot just above the crack in my butt, and then I felt myself blush. I noted silently that he was always making me blush for one reason or another. I didn’t really blush—not that shy around the guys, you know. It was irritating.
    He regarded me from guarded eyes as he thought that over and then said softly, “Yes, that was wise of you. Even the strongest-minded amongst the Fae can become the target of dangerous magic, if we don’t protect ourselves against its backlash.”
    “But not you, huh?” I directed my pointer finger in a swirl from his head to his toes and wondered if there was ink on his big, hard body. “No tatts?”
    “Just because you can’t see them, doesn’t mean they aren’t there. I have my share, but I don’t advertise them. Black magic can be very helpful in a battle where your opponent means to use it to his advantage, and I am ever ready.”
    He had diverted me from one of my earlier concerns. I recalled it and cocked a look at him. “Fine, now tell me … how did you track me?”
    He grinned from ear to ear and said softly, “You don’t need to know.”
    “Oh, yes I do,” I snapped, sounding juvenile even to myself.
    He shrugged as though to say, There is nothing you can do about it. I can track you, and that is that.
    Of all the most annoying beings in the universe, Danté had to hold high title! I wasn’t going to get any more out of him, so I let it go—at least, for the moment.
    He frowned suddenly, and a serious hardness held his face sternly as he reached for and took my hand. “ Enfant  … I must leave you for a few hours … I have been called to Tir. Promise me you will not leave MacDaun until I return?”
    He was still holding my hand. I felt myself shiver and immediately prayed he had not sensed it. No way, no how, was I going to let my raging hormones into this mix. After all, I could scarcely tolerate his big Royal Self—and besides, I had no time for sex or romance … So, I eyed him