Page 51 of A Foster Fling
He looks strong, wearing a long leather tunic and matching pants. His dark brown hair is also tied back away from his face. A face that is handsome, if a bit weary looking. His mouth is turned down into a frown, making him look stern and angry. But his eyes are dark orbs which look gentle and kind.
I stand in front of the window, watching as he slowly comes closer to the tower, and when his eyes begin to travel up toward me, I finally find the use of my legs. My back hits the wall beside the window as my eyes stay rooted to the tower’s ceiling.
“Shit!” I hiss. I hope he didn’t see me.
“Hello?”
“Fuck!” I stomp my foot at the sound of his voice. A deep tenor that travels over my skin like a soothing balm.
“Is someone up there?”
The horse stops, the forest now silent as the man sits at the bottom of the tower, waiting for an answer. My hand flies over my mouth as fear consumes me. He could break into this tower, kidnap me, and use my essence for himself.
Everything Pearl warned me against is sitting twenty feet below my window, waiting to snatch me up.
I don’t move an inch, keeping my hand over my mouth and clenching my eyes shut. My prayers are answered a few minutes later when I hear the horse carry onward, the sounds slowly fading away.
I should tell Pearl.
No.
She would be worried, and the man seemed harmless.
But what if he comes back?
From the outside, this tower looks like it’s abandoned and crumbling to the ground. He won’t come back. Besides, if he really did see me, he’d have tried to rescue me. Right?
Worrying Pearl would be terrible, especially if it’s over nothing. But maybe I will bring up the wards’ issue by telling her I felt something weird happening. Yes.
Good plan.
——
“You wouldn’t be able to feel a shift with the wards.” Pearl’s blonde brow flicks upward. “You didn’t cast them.”
Okay, not a good plan.
“Is there something you’re not telling me, Zel?”
My mind scrambles as I try to keep my face as still as possible. Pearl can read my emotions like an open book.
“A few days ago, after you left, I woke up with a weird feeling.” I press my hand to my chest. “I had never felt it before.”
Her body relaxes, and she gives me a small smile. “You were exhausted, child.”
“Yeah, maybe.” I look up at her through my lashes. “Could you strengthen them, anyway? It would make me feel better.”
“I could.” She gives me a mischievous grin. “But I must reiterate, I would know if someone came through these wards.”
“Okay.” I chew on my lip, keeping my eyes downward.
Why didn’t Pearl feel the man? I know what I saw, and he was real. I can still see his handsome face in my mind. Yes, there’s clearly something wrong with the wards surrounding the tower because Pearl didn’t feel anyone come through.
“Child, I will strengthen them, don’t worry yourself sick.”
“Thank you, Mother,” I murmur. Calling her Mother still feels wrong.
“I think you should call me Pearl,” she hums, the noise traveling to the pit of my stomach, igniting the familiar fire. “I fostered you, but I never carried you inside me.”