The Enchanted Flame

Chapter 11- Better at hiding

The chirping of the birds fell into my ears first, I stirred slightly in my sleep when a ray of sun fell on my face.

Slowly opening my eyes, I realized my head was resting on Killian's shoulder.

Making sure not to disturb Killian I got up stretching my arms and legs which were sore from staying on the uncomfortable ground.

I moved my neck right and left, then rotated it clockwise to get rid of the sore feeling.

A smile made its way on my lips as I watched Killian sleep peacefully, resting his head on the large rock behind him.

The sunlight had started to brighten the dull valley with the colors.

I went over to Killian but instead of waking him up I took the feather from the side of my bag and poked his nose with it. Killian swatted away the feather in his sleep. Suppressing my laugh, I repeated my action again.

But this time Killian opened his eyes with a frown, "That's not a very great way of waking someone up, shortcake."

There was a shine in his eyes as he said the words and I realized immediately it was best for me to run away.

My eyes widened hearing his voice and I quickly stood up but Killian held my arm, "Running away now, are we?"

There was a mischievous smile on his face and I tried my best to get my hand free from his hold.

But before he could take his revenge the pendant on my neck started glowing.

He lifted the stone gently and started looking at it in amusement, with his head tilted towards the left.

"Why is it glowing?" I questioned, looking at the fire inside the pendant.

"I have no idea," he answered, lifting his thick eyelashes.

Our eyes connected with each other and there were so many emotions I could see in those deep eyes. They were beautiful, reminding me of the night sky. There was something soothing about the sky at night and the same was with his eyes. I could imagine myself looking at them with nothing in my mind. There were emotions swirling in his eyes, feelings I had no idea about. Maybe it was true, eyes were the mirror of the soul.

Unknowingly, I lifted my hands to trace my fingers on his sharp jawline gently, feeling the stubble under my fingers. His aura was powerful, much more powerful than the guards I saw on the first day but it was warm...warm like the sun during winters.

And like a moth, I felt attracted to his fiery aura.

It was the first time I felt his aura, otherwise, no matter how much I tried I could not read it and the experience was overwhelming, it was something I had never felt before. I could feel the warmth. Most of the time, I avoided letting someone's aura break my walls. The emotions could become unbearable for me, it was best for me to stay away from people and what was going on in their hearts. Or maybe because whenever I tried to warn someone about the aura of a person, it always came back to bite me in the butt.

But again, one could never be sure about a person just by their aura.

When I met Lily and Amara for the first time I studied their aura as well. Lily had an aura of a witch, there were powers around her...the powers of her covens but at that, I could not understand it. After they told me she was a human, it did not feel right. And in the end, I was right she turned out to be a witch with the bloodline of two covens.

Amara was a whole different story, her aura was strong but felt like it was being covered under layers of soil. It was warm and yet cold.

"What's wrong?" Killian asked when my fingers stopped moving on his face.

"Your aura," I whispered softly, "it is different."

He quickly let go of my pendant and stood up, while I kept sitting in the same position with my hand in the air.

Shocked by his reaction, I stood up as well, "Is everything alright?"

"Yeah...I think we should eat something and start moving," he said the words without looking at me in a monotone.

A small piece of my heart clenched hearing his cold tone.

Did I say something that I was not supposed to say in front of him? Due to some reason, the idea of him being upset with me was far from my liking.

"Killian?" I called his name to get his attention, "did I say something to make you upset?"

He looked at me instantly, "What? No, I just...got surprised by the whole aura thing that's all..I did not know a witch could do that."

I gave him a small smile, "Some of us have different powers, I can read the aura, maybe this has something to do with the su...I mean my source of power."

"You all have different sources of power."

I nodded, "Every coven has their own."

"What is your source of power?" he asked with curiosity dancing in his eyes.

I gulped.

"Sun?" I lied but Killian just gave me an impressed look.

"That sounds good," he muttered, "so what is my aura?"

"It is different, I can not always feel your aura. Today I felt it for the first time, it is strong, warm, red like a fire," I answered, focusing on his aura but once again, I felt nothing.

"Can you feel everyone else's aura?"

"Yes."

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.

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I felt something unsettling in the pit of my stomach as we reached the place where we met those three men.

Unconsciously my eyes fell on the ground where the bodies were earlier. The scene was once again playing in my head. I tried to get rid of the images as I looked at the ground.

But now nothing was there, not even the drop of blood which made me think if that boy cleaned the stains of his friends or family?

I looked over to Killian who did not seem to mind or maybe he did not realize, it was the same place where he killed those men. Or maybe killing someone was not a big deal for him. The thought was enough to make me shiver under the sun with a cold feeling.

Taking a life could never be easy for someone, maybe Killian was just better at hiding what is going on inside his head.

"This is not the way from where we came here," I asked, looking around the mountains which we left behind.

The path was not protected by the tall mountains anymore, the ground was not covered with the rocks.

We were entering the forest, a normal looking forest.

But again was anything normal here?

"Because we are not going back to Edor," he said like it was pretty obvious.

"Right," I nodded like a fool.

Of course, we were not going back to Edor and Killian knew the way better for going anywhere. But where were we going? I knew asking Killian would be as useful as watering plants in the rain.

But why did Edor warn me?

But more importantly, what was he trying to warn me about? The question came back to my head, I was not thinking about it earlier but the mention of Edor's name brought back the same suspicious thoughts.

Edor was loyal to Killian as he saved his life and I knew he would never say anything against him directly but I could not ignore his coven used to guide us away from the darkness, his coven used to be an alley. He would never betray me, right? Edor could not just turn his head away from me, he was a true leader of the coven and as the true leader of a coven, he could not side with a shifter instead of his own kind.

"What are you thinking, shortcake?" Killian's voice caught my attention, bringing me back to reality.

I turned to face him, only to find him already looking at me with an intense look, like trying to read what was going on inside my head.

"About Edor."

"What about him?"

"Is he safe here? I mean what if your King caught him, shouldn't he go back to our Kingdom where he belongs?"

"Edor does not get the feeling that he belongs in the Kingdom. Just because his coven is there, it does not mean he should be with them too, especially if they do not respect him. They never fought for him, so, why should he bother going back?" Killian answered with complete seriousness, "and the thing about his safety, you do not have to worry about him, he is safe there."

I listened to him silently, wondering how he could be so understanding, how he could understand Edor so well. Shifters did not care about anyone else, especially a wizard.

I just smiled at him, but he was not looking at me, he was staring at the path ahead of him.

We kept walking after taking a break in between to eat something and finally we were at our destination.

Killian's cottage.

"How am I supposed to go back?" I asked in confusion, getting the pendant was not the toughest part but going back to my kingdom would be a very difficult task to achieve.

Killian paused and I mimicked his action as we reached the end of the forest, "Tomorrow, with the first ray of the sun we will send you back."

I nodded with excitement instead of answering, "What are we waiting for here?"

He put his index finger on his lips as a sign for me to stay silent, "I am trying to listen if anyone is here."

We both stood there quietly with the darkness over our heads. It felt weird to be back here, just a while ago we were leaving the cottage to get a way for me to go home, and now we were back again with the pendant shining in my neck.

"Can you sense any aura around?"

I ran my eyes around the area, focusing on finding any aura, trying to see any colors in the dark or to feel any sensation on my skin.

"No, I do not think anyone is here," I finally said when I was one hundred percent sure we were the only ones there.

"Do you think it is safe to be back here? What if those guards came to find me again?"

"They are not here right now and you will be fine before they decide to pay me another visit."

"But what if you get hurt?" I said softly.

I did not want him to get hurt because of me. It was something I would rather not let happen.

"Don't worry about me, shortcake I can take care of myself, let's go inside, I am starving," Killian's mood changed instantly from the serious one and we started walking over to the cottage.

He opened the door and turned the lights on and then I entered after him.

"Are you hungry?"

I put the bag on the table and took a seat on the chair, "Yes."

Killian did not answer and went straight to arrange something for us to eat. I stood up and followed him, "How can I help you?"

I massaged my hands together looking at the things I can do to prepare the meal.

Killian passed me a blank look, "Stay away from fire and everything that could destroy my house."

I rolled my eyes at his comment, "I am not bad at cooking, I can help you."

"I saw how good you are at cooking the last time."

I frowned while pouting, "Please let me help, I am gonna leave tomorrow anyway."

He let out a sigh in defeat as I grinned with happiness.