Under the Trees by Ashley Maker

Author:Ashley Maker [Maker, Ashley]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Ashley Maker
Published: 2016-03-20T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter Fifteen

Princess Araya

Someone shook me, and the faint sound of a voice went in and out of focus with the painful pounding in my head. I groaned, wishing the person would stop. The more awareness crept in, the more I hurt. A sharp pain stung my forehead. My eyelids fluttered, admitting light and a blurry figure outlined by the glaring sun overhead. Closing my eyes tight, I groaned again. New pains erupted everywhere. One wrist burned like it was on fire.

“Araya! Araya, look at me,” a man cried. “Open your eyes!”

The urgency in his voice pushed me to try again, and when my eyes opened a second time, I made an effort to keep them open.

Squinting up in the direction of the voice, the blurry figure slowly turned into Thor. He stared down, face flushing in relief as our gazes met. I had just noticed how very dark blue his eyes were when something trickled down an eyelid, making me blink and close my eyes again. I went to swipe it away, but stopped abruptly, whimpering as a fresh round of pain made the world spin.

“Easy,” Thor said. “You’ve taken quite a fall.”

Inhaling sharply, I whimpered again, the memory of the fall coming back. It had been so sudden I hadn’t been able to react.

“Here,” he said, dabbing at my forehead gently. “Is that better?”

Air hissed in through gritted teeth at his touch, but the trickling stopped, allowing me to open my eyes again. Thor cradled me in his arms and continued to dab gently with some kind of cloth. When his hand pulled away, the cloth was covered in dark smears of blood. My stomach recoiled and a ringing filled my ears as Thor’s face blurred.

Thor shook me again. “Don’t go! Stay here with me.” My hearing went fuzzy, barely able to make out the words when he said, “What have I done?”

Struggling against the urge to throw up, I forced myself to look at the prince, into his eyes, at his nose, his cheeks, his lips, each feature slowly coming back into focus.

What a good distraction. I’d never fully appreciated how handsome Thor was before. Practically flawless, nothing lacking. Surely nothing could make him more perfect than he already was.

“It’s my fault,” he said. “I should have slowed down. I should have warned you.”

He was wrong. I’d known the corner was a sharp one, and I should have pulled Major back, but I’d wanted to prove myself. Wanted to show I could keep up with whatever he threw at me.

The world wasn’t spinning quite as fast now. Speaking slowly, I asked, “Will you help me sit up?”

Thor raised his eyebrows, but helped prop me into a sitting position. His arms were tight around me and warm. I was practically sitting in his lap. Too dizzy to move, I sat there, aware of his presence and his body against mine.

He kept the cloth pressed to my forehead. “How do you feel?”

“Like I fell off my horse,” I croaked out with an attempt at a smile.

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