Frost

- Five -

      It wasn't quite an apology, but Claire had a feeling it was as close to one as she was going to get out of a man like Kilian. He didn't strike her as the sort to admit when he was wrong, let alone apologize without some intense coercion.

      "Here," he said, pulling something from the inside of his coat. "I found this while I was tracking you."

      It was the nutcracker.

      "You found it!" Claire exclaimed excitedly as she took the doll from him. All the guilt she'd been feeling vanished like a puff of smoke and she threw her arms around Kilian. He seemed momentarily taken aback by her show of affection, standing there stiff and awkward as she hugged him. After a moment he patted her lightly on the back and then wiggled free of her grasp.

      "Don't lose it again, because I'm not going to hunt this thing down every time you drop him," Kilian warned, though Claire was certain she detected a hint of humor in his tone.

      "I won't," she assured him, hugging the doll close.

      "Let's go, we're still closer to that duo than I'd like to be," Kilian declared, motioning for her to follow. His pace was steady, but he seemed to be making more of an effort to keep it slow enough for Claire to keep up with.

      "How did you do that thing with the trees?"

      "What thing?" Kilian grunted as he climbed over a wide, fallen log and then reached up to assist her over as well. She took his hands and shimmied over to the other side, her feet hitting the ground with a soft thud.

      "That thing, I don't know, where you made the trees grab him," Claire replied.

      "Oh, that was a little trick I learned when I was a kid," Kilian said with a shrug. "I told you, Claire, this world, it's not like yours. There is magic here, and there is danger. Now, can you please be quiet and focus on walking rather than talking? You're not the most graceful and the ground is rocky."

      Claire scowled, but nodded.

      Try as she might to keep her questions to herself, there was just too much on her mind. As a result, her silence was short lived.

       "So... that man, Leon, it seemed like he knew things about you..."

      "We used to work together," Kilian replied, his tone edged with annoyance. "Now we don't."

      "Why? What happened?"

      "It's not important," Kilian declared.

      Claire wanted to know more, but it didn't feel right to keep pressing for answers to such personal questions. She was afraid if she did, Kilian might abandon her again and she had no idea where they were going.

      In an attempt to distract herself, Claire turned her attention to the nutcracker in her hands. Why did she feel so compelled to protect a silly toy? Now that she had it back, it seemed almost foolish that she had been so wrapped up in keeping it safe. Because of that doll, she hadn't stopped to think about her own safety and Kilian had come to her rescue -- again.

      Her eyes lifted from the nutcracker and settled instead on the young man pushing through the forest ahead of her. For the first time since they'd met she really looked at him. He was taller than her, but she didn't think they were to far off in age. There was a hard, roughness to his features that masked his youth, but Claire suspected he was much younger than one might initially suspect. What sort of hardships had he endured to leave such a visible mark?

      Claire supposed the real question was why had he come back? Why had he risked his life to save her? Did it have to do something with her godfather? Claire liked to think that Kilian had done it because he cared, but that didn't explain what he'd been doing in her apartment to begin with.

      "Is my backside really that appealing to you, princess, or are you trying to see if you can bore holes through my back with those eyes of yours?" Claire looked up to see him looking back at her, a smug smile on his face.

      "Excuse me?" Claire managed, feeling her face grow hot. "I wasn't looking at any part of you, especially that part. Don't flatter yourself."

      "Uh huh," he snorted before turning away. After a few minutes he stopped, turned and reached out for her hand. "We have to go down, it's narrow so we will have to take the path slowly. I know it will be difficult, but you'll have to keep your eyes up and not on my-"

      "Don't you dare say it."

      "Come on, Claire, I was just teasing," Kilian insisted, grinning and wiggling his fingers, encouraging her to take hold of his outstretched hand. She reluctantly reached out and allowed him to guide her forward. She had been so wrapped up in her thoughts that she hadn't noticed how the trees had thinned and the forest had given way to rockier, more treacherous terrain. Several yards ahead of them, Claire saw what appeared to be a giant gash cut through the earth. Kilian motioned for her to stop as he moved to the edge of the ledge and looked down.

      "Are we not going back to town?" Claire asked.

      "We can't, it's not safe," Kilian replied, sitting and swinging his legs over the side. "Leon will look for us there first."

      "Leon? Why?" Claire asked, feeling a ripple of apprehension sweep over her. Just the thought of the man made her feel uncomfortable.

      "That's the mystery isn't it," Kilian grunted as he pushed himself over the edge without warning. Claire gasped and raced forward. Dropping to her hands and knees, she peered over the edge, fearing the worst. She expected to see Kilian smashed on the rocks, instead he was standing on a narrow ledge grinning up at her like an idiot.

      "Worried, princess?" he asked with a smirk.

      "No," she lied, her heart still hammering violently in her chest.

      "You're a terrible liar," he teased, offering her a dashing grin. She felt her heart skip a beat and quickly averted her gaze. "Sit down like I did, and swing your legs over. You're going to have to jump down to me. Before you say anything, just trust me, I'll catch you."

      "I hope this isn't going to become a habit with you," Claire grumbled before doing as he had instructed. She swung her legs over and tried to ignore the sick feeling in the pit of her stomach as she scooted towards the edge. The drop to the ravine floor was at least one hundred feet, if not more.

     "You can do it, Claire," Kilian called up to her. Taking a deep breath, Claire closed her eyes and pushed away from the ledge. As she fell, all she could feel was cold air as it rushed past her. It seemed an eternity slipped by as she fell, and just when she thought she had made a mistake, she felt Kilian's strong arms wrap around her as he plucked her from midair. He pulled her close to his broad chest as he staggered back a step or two. For a moment she lost herself in his scent, earthy and warm, like a hot summer day after a storm..

      "You're heavier than you look," he grunted, shattering the moment.

      "You're a jerk," Claire snapped, her body had begun trembling from the sudden rush of adrenaline. "Now put me down."

      "Whatever you say, princess," he replied with a smirk. He set her back on her feet and Claire resisted the urge to hit him. She suspected she might feel bad if she made him lose his balance and fall to his death.

       Then again, maybe she wouldn't.