Wicked Chase

♚ Chapter Twenty-One

[dedicated to BaffledCoconut for being such a lovely reader and commenter] 

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

I had never experienced the thrill of a chase ever. I was the one being chased, hunted down by Thorin's men so that these men could return me back to Thorin. I was now certain that Thorin wanted me alive, harmed or unharmed didn't quite really matter. All that did matter was that I was alive. He wanted me to get to Ronan, my father, and of what use would I be to Thorin if I was dead? Thorin wanted me alive and a chill ran its way down my spine at the thought of all the horrid things that my uncle was capable of doing to me.

I held the dagger by the hilt and watched as the dim light reflected and glinted across the dagger, managing to make a thrilling chill run down my spine. I was going to make Thorin pay for what he did to my mother. He killed her, destroyed her, removed her from this world, took her away from her loved ones. It was only fair that I returned the favour, was it not? An eye for an eye, as they say.

The very next day after Philip and I talked I asked Bronia to get me a dagger and when she asked me what I would use it for I told her that after all that has happened to me in the past I needed some sort of protection, that I had relied too much on my defence skills and even they weren't sufficient to help me at the disaster that had unraveled in the ballroom. Randall had found my weak point with his fast eye and he didn't even give me a chance to recover and stand up. If it wasn't for Alastair and his magic then I would have surely been finished. A dagger was most definitely not equivalent to the perks of using magic as defence but it was better than the skills I thought that I had gained these past years. I still had quite a lot to learn in terms of defence. I thought I was okay, that nobody could harm me but I was wrong. That's why my mother wanted me to be in safe hands - she knew I was in danger.

Bronia agreed, a smile on her lips, "of course, my lady. I'll ask Alastair to get you a dag-"
"No!" I had interrupted, "don't tell Alastair. He has a lot on his plate. He doesn't need to know that I'm being a little paranoid. Don't want to worry him too much." I added the last sentence hastily when Bronia cast me a dubious glance, her soft features growing curious with suspicion.

Now, as I watched the light dance across the silver of the dagger, as I watched the gleam it created with fascinated eyes, I felt the hot blood of vengeance flow within me. Thorin was a horrible man. He was a disgrace to the Salvatore family.

He deserved to die.

I was startled out of my trance when I heard a knock on my door. My hand instinctively tightened around the hilt, feeling the hard planes press sharply against my palm before I let out a breath and ordered my heart to calm down. I quickly tucked the dagger into the bag that contained a few clothes and other items of weaponry that Philip had managed to snag without being noticed. I zipped up the bag in one fluid movement and pushed it under the bed.

Dusting my hands against the riding pants that I was wearing I headed to the door, my nerves in a bundle. I was supposed to be leaving tonight. To Fallonailes.

However, when I opened the door it wasn't Philip that I had found leaning against the doorframe but Alastair Ignacio. His head was bowed down with his jet matted black hair falling over his forehead and straying across those enticing grey eyes of his. He was wearing a black T-shirt with a checkered blue, white and black shirt on top of that, the shirt revealing how extremely fit he was. The corridor was lightly lit because the sun was just setting and the lights hadn't been switched on yet and a part of me appreciated that because the view of his slightly dark skin in this lighting was delicious and made my stomach stir with an unidentified emotion. He lifted his head and when his dark, alluring grey eyes met mine, his silvery gaze heated, my heart began to beat faster against my ribcage. "Genevieve," he greeted, his silvery voice kissing it's way down my spine in a delicately delicious manner.