Gathering Storm (The Salvation of Tempestria Book 2) - Gary Stringer (read e book TXT) 📗

Still, she would give much to be able to create beauty, but since she didn’t have that gift, she would do the only thing she could: protect the life of someone who did.

“Now, if Daelen wants to rebuild his training centre,” Cat continued, “he will have to chop down my childhood home to do it. If he really does care for me and not just this girl from his past, then he won’t do that. Maybe from now on, instead of coming here to work himself into the cold grave, he will come to relax and enjoy the beauty of life. This is ‘Catriona’s Meadow’ now; my gift to him. Hopefully, it will serve as a reminder to him that even though I don’t love him in the way he would wish, I do still love him, and before you say anything, Mandalee, yes, I am willing to admit that now.”

“So, you admit you love him, you know he loves you, and yet you’re not going to do anything about those feelings?” Mandalee wondered, puzzled.

“An excellent summation,” Cat agreed.

“Why not?”

“Mandalee, you know I don’t like keeping things from you, but this is one thing I can’t tell you.”

“You mean you won’t,” the assassin countered.

“No, I mean I can’t,” Cat insisted. “I am prevented by a promise – a magically backed promise. When I was cut off from Tempestria, I could feel the magic slipping away, but now that I’m connected again, it’s strengthened anew.”

She explained, as best she could, that her promise could be partially removed via a sympathic agreement that the time was right, but only physical contact could eliminate it entirely.

“So, I meant what I said, Mandalee. I physically cannot tell you why I choose not to have a relationship with him. And please keep any speculation to yourself, OK?”

To Catriona’s surprise, Mandalee assured her that she understood.

“Even without the magical element, I wouldn’t ask you to break a promise. Just one question: Have you ever regretted it?”

“Never for one fraction of a second.”

As far as her friend was concerned, that was all she needed to know.

They stayed there together and chatted for a while until Jessica came to find them.

“Heya, loves! There you are. Wow, love what you’ve done with the place, Cat. Daelen should be up and ready to go again in a minute or two if you want to go and see him.”

Cat thanked her and jumped up, ready to go again, herself, holding out a hand to her friend, who grabbed it and pulled herself onto her feet.

Jessica turned to walk away, but Mandalee called out to her, “Hey, Jessica? You OK, now?”

“Tickety-boo, love,” she replied with a beaming smile.

*****

“Where am I? What happened?” Daelen groaned, rubbing his head as Cat and Mandalee walked in. “Oh no, I’m doing the clichés again, aren’t I? Man, I feel like my body’s been put in a blender.”

“Short version: you nearly killed yourself. We rescued you,” Cat told him.

“And,” Mandalee added in a low voice, checking that the two Chetsuan girls weren’t around, “you upset Jessica, which is practically a criminal offence as far as I’m concerned.”

Cat nodded. “She was so worried about you, she even yelled at her sister.”

Daelen looked suitably ashamed of that, at least.

“Don’t worry, they’re fine again now,” Mandalee assured him. “Nothing’s getting between those two for long, and I’d fight anything that tried.”

Daelen promised to have a word with her, but Cat admonished him, “Don’t you dare. She’d be mortified that we’ve told you. Besides, she wasn’t the only one who was worried about you. Just don’t do anything like it again.”

“Try talking about your feelings, rather than blasting chunks out of the Earth,” Mandalee advised, “or whatever world you happen to be on, OK?”

Daelen smiled grimly. “I’ll do my best.”

At that point, the assassin left the two of them alone to do exactly as she had suggested.

“Before we do that,” Cat began, “there’s something you should know about your training centre.”

“What about it?”

“You don’t have one anymore.”

Daelen went to the window, through which he used to be able to see his training centre. He was quite startled to see in its place, a garden, sitting in the shade of a hundred-year-old oak tree that hadn’t been there a few hours ago.

“Spending time in that garden will do you much more good than your training centre would,” Cat said, by way of explanation.

Daelen just smiled and told her it was the most beautiful gift he’d ever received, and it was at that moment that he tried to kiss her. Catriona turned her head, though, so he only got her cheek, not her lips.

“Please don’t do that again,” Catriona told him.

Daelen stammered an apology. “I—I—didn’t mean…I’m sorry.”

“I know. It’s OK. There’s all kinds of chemistry going on between us, and things just got a little confused, no harm done. But I do think we need to ‘put our cards on the table’ – is that the right expression?”

Daelen agreed that it was.

“In that case, why don’t you start by telling me what you think you were doing, trying to kill yourself like that?”

“Well I wasn’t trying to kill myself, for a start,” he insisted.

“Then why did you push yourself to such extremes? There are a few theories flying around, such as pining over your long-lost love, but I’d like to hear your version.”

Daelen shook his head. “It wasn’t about Rose.”

“Are you sure?” Cat pressed. “I mean, are you sure I didn’t just open an old wound when my research led me to her?”

“No,” Daelen stated, emphatically. “On the contrary, that just made me realise that thinking about Rose doesn’t bring me pain anymore. She’s just a memory, now. A good memory. Rose will always belong to my past, but memories of the past should not prevent us from living in the present.”

“Then, again, we come back to ‘Why’?”

“Because my present is you.”

“OK,” Cat replied, “I know we’re on another world, but I’m pretty sure that, even here, that line makes no sense.”

Daelen breathed,