Erondale

Chapter 10

To say the last few months were chaos is another statement. After my friend Toby told us about the unidentified dead girl, my brother forbid me from seeing Sir Alrich. I defended him of course. There was no way that it could have been Alrich.

My birthday is coming soon. I’m turning 16 and I have yet to stop hurting over the fact that Chris had used me all those years that we were friends. I don’t know what Emma and Erin have planned for my birthday party though. They seem to promise that it will be a party of a lifetime. All memories of Chris at my previous parties are apparently going to be obliterated.

“Earth to Rae!” I hear Alrich say.

Yes, I won the argument against my brother. "Oh, sorry. What were you saying?”

He chuckles. “I asked, where you wanted to ride? Where were you at?”

I blush and look away. “Oh, I’m sorry. I was thinking about my birthday.”

“Oh?” I glance at him and see he has a tiny frown on his face. “Am I invited?”

Turning back towards him, I tilt my head while I look at him. Confusion mars my face. “Why would you not be?”

He rubs his hand across the back of his neck. “I know that you’re brother dislikes me.”

I laugh. “My brother dislikes any boys who take an interest in me.”

His brow rises. “Even Chris?”

A pang in my heart causes me to clutch my chest. “Yes, even Chris. At least once Chris’ sister left to get married, anyway.”

“You know, I won’t hurt you like he did.” He says softly.

I freeze for a minute. I’m not too sure exactly what it is that he’s saying. “I don’t know what you mean.”

He only replies with a sad smile. Shaking his head, he smiles brightly. “No matter. So,..” He pauses. “Where do you want to ride?”

“The lake?”

He nods and steers Tor towards the pond. I follow behind on a brilliant gray mare that I managed to train a few days back.

The ride is peaceful as we take in the scenery. The animals are scurrying about as if there are no worries. I wish that I could be that care free.

“Alrich, did we ever figure out who the girl was on your property?” I ask, quietly.

He stiffens in his saddle. “Yes.”

I wait for him to elaborate but he doesn’t. “Who was it?” I whisper when it seems he is going to completely ignore my question.

He sighs loudly. “It was a girl from another village.” For a second I don’t think that he’s going to say anything else.

His next words shock me.“She’s my ex girlfriend.” He says, barely audible.

“What?!?!” I holler out, almost falling off my horse.

“Her name was Annemarie. She was my intended.”

I feel my eyes widen, almost wanting to bulge out of my sockets. “You’re intended? I didn’t know you had an intended.”

My heart feels heavy. If he is supposed to have gotten married then I must’ve misjudged his intentions. I’ve known him these last few years and not once did I know that he was intended to be married.

Though I wasn’t wanting to date him, as I only considered him a friend, I am a little shocked to find out how wrong I had been. I would laugh at my stupidity if it wasn’t for the fact that the poor girl was dead.

“We broke up.” He said, bringing me out of my thoughts. “She didn’t love me.”

He glanced over at me. “I didn’t love her, either. She lost her virginity to the boy she professed to love.”

He shivers as he remembers something. “The day that she did it, she came to tell me with tears in her eyes. He apparently didn’t love her and dropped her like she was a disease once it was over.”

I gasp. “How awful. So, why did you break up? If you didn’t love her, why did it matter?”

“My father broke it off. He said that he didn’t want me to have a ‘tainted’ wife. He’s a pig, was a pig, sometimes. Don’t get me wrong, he was a good dad but sometimes the things that he thought about women were too old fashioned.”

“What was she doing at your house?” I ask. Maybe he is wrong. Maybe she did care about him.

“I don’t know. She was found before I got there.”

“Oh. What killed her?”

I saw him shiver again. “I don’t know.” He looks back at me. “Can we stop talking about it? The image is making me sick.”

“Of course.”

We have reached the lake and I dismount. I glance at Alrich, who looks lost in his own head. Whenever I am stressed, I like to swim in this pond.

It’s one of the reasons that I wanted to come here. Not waiting for his reaction, I jump into the pond, clothes and all. I hear a chuckle and notice that he is watching me with amusement.

“You know that you didn’t bring any extra clothes?” He smirks.

I shrug. “It’s warm enough. Jump in.” I challenge.

He hesitates for a moment before he jumps in himself. I laugh at the awkwardness of his entry. I swim out to the middle of the pond as I watch him try to figure out his footing. He slips under the water for a second and I get scared when he doesn’t automatically come up. However, when I feel his arm grab a hold of my leg, I know it’s too late. I’m going under.

He pulls me under the water and when I reach the surface, I spit out the water. He comes above the surface and I glare at him. “Oh, you are so going to regret that!”

“Do your best, doll.” He teases.

Doll? Doll? Okay, it’s wartime! Feigning the fact that I am about to start swimming, I jump onto him and push him under. He opens his eye and mouth just as I jump. Eww! That’s going to be nasty. I laugh as he comes spluttering out the water. He glares at me as he chokes. I swim off.

Laughter and splashing water can be heard in the air as Alrich and I chase each other around the pond. Suddenly, I feel a soft kiss on my neck. It isn’t the kiss itself that scares me, that would have been startling in itself, but it’s the fact that it was ice cold and full of menace. That did not come from Alrich.

I didn’t realize that I was screaming until I felt Alrich grab a hold of both of my shoulders. I feel him shake me just as I hear Toby and Emma scream out my name. I look towards the voices and lock eyes with Toby. I feel a sense of calm as I look into his cerulean colored eyes. I can feel myself relax as Alrich sighs in relief.

Glancing behind him, he notices who arrived and tenses. I can swear that I hear him say, “Just great.”

Since he isn’t looking at me, I can’t really tell that’s what was said. He turns back to me, looking annoyed, as Toby climbs in the water with me. I notice Emma watching Toby with sad eyes and my heart constricts. Are they a couple? If so, why does it hurt so much? Emma is my best friend and she deserves happiness. So, why do I feel like ripping her eyes out?

Toby reaches me and wraps me up into a hard hug. I can feel his heart rate speeding. “Oh, my god. I heard you screaming and I thought something terrible was happening. What did he do to you?” He asks while glaring at Alrich.

“N no nothing.” I stutter.

“Then what happened?” Emma asks.

I glance at her. I hadn’t noticed that she came into the water with us. She was clearly annoyed.

I debated telling them but choose not to. “Nothing. I just got spooked is all.”

“Spooked my foot!: Alrich hollers out causing me to flinch. “What happened, Rae?”

“Nothing.” I lie. I look to Alrich trying to give him a message with my eyes.

Toby notices, and clenches his jaw. Before I can ask him what’s wrong, takes off out of the water.

“Where are you going?” I ask, nervously.

I don’t like him angry with me and it’s causing my heart to race.

“Well, it’s obvious that you’re fine so I am just going to go back to what I was doing.” He snaps.

“Are you mad at me?” The sudden thought has me scared.

He glances back, sees my worried face, and smiles slightly. “No.”

He nods his head over towards Alrich. “I just don’t trust him. Come on Emma, let’s go.”

She happily bounces after him and I feel like my heart just ripped out of my chest. Before I can say or do anything, I hear a ghost of a chuckle floating around my ears.

“You’re not ready. But, when you are, I am coming for you. You belong to me, sweetheart.”

My heart rate accelerates and I glance at Alrich. Other than looking at me concerned, he doesn’t seem to have heard it.

He narrows his eyes, knowingly. “You heard it again, didn’t you?”

“Yes.” I whisper quietly.

“Come on. Let’s get you home.” He grabs a hold of my hand, tugging me out of the lake, in a vice like grip.

Just as we climb out of the lake, I hear a shrill scream coming from the direction Toby and Emma went off to. I hurriedly climb out of the lake, Alrich in tow, jump on my mare and race towards the scream. What I see when I get there has me falling off my horse in a dead faint. Everything goes black.