Quinn
It has been one week since we started our journey, and I must say, I thoroughly enjoyed the experience so far. Most of the time, our route was through farmland, which was safe, and during that time, I'd ride on the stallion with Aldric, which was lovely and romantic. When we passed the woods, I'd be shuffled back into the carriage with Elizabeth and Maria. The atmosphere during this time would always be tense as monsters were lurking about, waiting to pounce on us.
Indeed, we were pounced on several times, mostly goblins—small, green, ugly beings with nasty personalities. They seemed to have a thing for young women and would charge at me and Maria every time, even when we were inside the carriage and away from their prying eyes. Apparently, they could smell us, the young women. I suspected it had something to do with the scent of female hormones. It was like they could smell pheromones or something.
"They kidnap women and use them for breeding," Theo said, and I shivered in trepidation. Not that I couldn't handle them with my elemental magic though. It was just the thought of those things forcing themselves on unwilling girls that was a distaste to me. But, of course, Aldric, Vincent, and Theo would annihilate them within a blink of an eye every time they made their presence known. Sometimes, Liam would join in since he had been casually tutored in the art of combat by Theo when we had spare moments.
During those spare moments, too, Aldric would teach me how to ride a horse, and so far, I could manage, barely, without falling off and landing flat on my face. Vincent had been teaching Maria to ride one as well, and she seemed to have the knack for it, unlike me.
Why was I so horrible with anything that was physical? Even Elizabeth, who had been guided by Theo a few times, was already turning the horse about like a pro.
I sighed and gazed up at the sky.
"What's the matter?" Maria's voice came my way.
"Just wondering when I'd be able to master horse riding," I said. "You and Mother seem to have already mastered it, where as I..."
"Keep at it," Maria said. "You'll get there. Besides, isn't it nice that you get to spend that time with Lord Norsewood? He's very patient."
I nodded in agreement. All that time I had failed to follow his instructions, he never once showed any sort of irritation with me. Indeed, he was a very patient man.
Speaking of Aldric, I hadn't seen him for a while now. I scanned around our makeshift camp, noting Theo was with Elizabeth preparing our lunch with the ingredients I had created, while Vincent and Liam were tending to the horses.
"Theo, where's Aldric?" I asked.
Theo nodded toward the other side where the waterfall was located. "Washing himself undoubtedly. Orc blood is foul, after all."
Yes, of course, he'd be washing himself. We had only encountered a horde of orcs early this morning, and Aldric alone had slaughtered them, which was beautiful to watch. Not that him doing the killing and monsters dying with blood spurting out everywhere was beautiful. I meant his graceful fighting style.
I stood, dusted the dirt from my pants, and then strode toward the waterfall. It was nice here, with some of the trees still in beautiful autumn color and the birds and bees.
I admit it was getting colder now as we got farther north, and winter was just around the corner. I sure hoped we'd arrive at Norsewood before the first snow started to fall, though according to Aldric, we shouldn't take longer than another week to reach our destination.
Another week, huh? That meant our traveling time was shorter than I expected. The journey from Bedford to Norsewood was meant to be at least one month, so how was it possible that we could do it within two weeks? Aldric must have taken us through a shortcut perhaps? Or maybe it was because we were the A-team.
I bet it was both. After all, some of the route was very rough, trekking through an unclear path in the woods. Furthermore, the horses, both ours and Aldric's, had been healed of any fatigue and injuries from me daily. Not to mention I had analyzed and given Aldric's stallions supplementary pills, too. I bet that boosted their health, strength, and stamina even further. So, yes, our horses were the A-team.
As I got closer to the waterfall, the sound of the water gushing was louder. I rounded a bush and saw Aldric. He was nude and half-submerged in the pool while cleaning himself using the bodywash I had created for him.
Aldric, as well as Vincent and Theo, had now started cleaning themselves routinely like us Fairchilds. They seemed to enjoy brushing their teeth, too, and Vincent had said his mouth had never felt so clean and fresh before now.
Smiling, I went to sit on a boulder and made myself comfortable, taking the opportunity to enjoy the beautiful view of my husband naked. Or half-naked since, unfortunately, the lower portion was submerged under water.
Goodness, but he was a hunk, with a body so damn shredded, I simply wanted to gently run my fingertips across those bulging muscles. Suddenly, I felt heat coursing through me, and I wondered when we'd get to our honeymoon scene.
We had kissed now and again, and when we rode the stallion together, he'd cuddled me and at times buried his face against my hair or the nape of my neck and even kissed me there, but that was it as far as intimacy went.
Then again, I suppose it was impossible to be intimate when you were traveling with other people around, not to mention the danger, too. I guess us going any further than a sweet kiss would have to wait until we got to Norsewood.
Aldric ran his fingers through his wet blond mane, and as he did so, those ripped muscles of his moved along with that sexy action.
I was drooling now and thought, my husband is one gorgeous hunk. When he moved and turned to the other side, his arms still up in his hair, I thought I might get to see his toned lower back and even get teased by a peek of his butt cheeks, but I was sorely disappointed.
No, it was not disappointment that I felt. It was a sickening feeling in the pit of my stomach when I saw something I didn't expect to see.
My smile vanished and my blood ran cold as I eyed an ugly, large, dark wound on Aldric's side. I was so shocked at the sight that I scrambled to my feet and hurried toward him.
Oh, God! When did he get that? Why didn't he tell me about it?
"Aldric!" I called out, my voice shaking.
Aldric lifted his head and his eyes dark, he said, "Quinn. What's wrong?"
I worked on calming myself down. Obviously, the wound didn't seem to affect him. He didn't seem to be in any sort of pain or having a fever with infection, so perhaps he was all right.
I didn't want to alarm him with my concern, so I licked my lips and said, "Are you done? I'm hungry."
He seemed to relax then and nodded. As he walked toward me, he said, "Can you pass me the towel."
I turned, and seeing the towel, along with his clothing on the ground, I picked it up and tossed it over to him. He easily caught it and then wrapped it around his waist.
"Give me a moment to get dressed."
"Okay," I said and turned on my heel.
On my way, I nibbled on my lower lip, worrying about his wound and how I should tackle it. Obviously, I was not going to let it fester and cause undue discomfort to my husband when I had the means to deal with it and heal him.
We had grilled steak sandwiches, the soft bread rolls filled with slices of juicy beef and sautéed mushrooms and onions. Despite being delicious, I didn't pay it much attention. I kept drifting my gaze to Aldric, who looked and acted nothing out of the ordinary. In fact, he was enjoying his meal tremendously, as was Vincent, Theo, and Liam. These men just seemed to enjoy anything with meat.
My mind flicked back to Aldric again. Was he not in pain? I wondered. That wound looked like it could kill a man with the pain alone.
Once Aldric finished his lunch, I cleared my throat and said, "Aldric, can I have a private word with you, please?"
He nodded, and we got up and trailed toward the other side a good distance away from the campsite. I stood in front of him, staring at my twiddling thumbs, wondering how I should approach the topic. He didn't seem to mind that I was taking my time and simply stood there, waiting patiently for me to begin.
Finally, I lifted my head. Gazing into his eyes, I said, "Aldric, I, uh, I'm not who you think I am."
He regarded me silently, his face impassive. He wasn't going to show any sort of emotion, was he? Very well then.
I continued. "What I mean is I'm not of this world, and I'm blessed."
"I know you're blessed," he said.
I widened my eyes, surprised. "You know I'm blessed?"
He nodded. "You can use water and fire magic and you can... create things."
If my eyes were large before, they were larger now. I was stunned, naturally. He knew of my blessing, not to mention the creation magic, too. He must have figured it out then, through me using my magic so many times in front of him. And he never even once asked? Was he not suspicious of me?
"Then why have you never asked me about it?"
"I have no rights to ask you or pry into your magic. I believe when you trust me enough and are ready to tell me, you'll tell me."
Oh, wow! What an honorable, honest man.
I nodded. "I trust you, Aldric, and I want to tell you now that I am blessed, not just with the fire and the water magic, but wind and earth, too. There's creation and healing as well."
"That many?" he asked. The remark should be a sort of astonishment, shouldn't it? Yet, his face was still impassive.
"Also, as I've mentioned already, I'm not of this world," I said. "You see, I was from another world. I died in my old world and reincarnated into this body."
"From another world, I see," he said. "You died." He gently stroked my cheek with the backs of his fingers. "I'm sorry to hear that."
I shook my head. "It can't be helped. I just died when Mr. Truck hit me while saving a boy. I don't remember any pain and just kind of woke up to find myself in Quinn's body."
"You did a good thing, saving a boy," he said. "Though it resulted in you forfeiting your life. Do you regret it?"
I tilted my head to one side. Regret? Dying by saving a boy's life and finding myself in this world? Thinking seriously about it, which I hadn't done before, I found that I didn't.
Despite looking forward to the new phase in my life, starting my dream job, there was really no one there for me, loved ones I didn't want to leave behind. I was an only child, and so were both my parents. My grandparents on both sides had passed on when I had been young. As for relatives, yes, there were a few on both sides, but they weren't close, and they weren't likely to grieve over losing me either. After all, I had been put into foster care instead of being adopted by any of them at the age of sixteen after my parents' deaths. I had a group of casual going out friends who weren't likely to shed any sort of meaningful tears. Besides, now that in this life I had people I loved and cared about, and they me in return, I certainly had no regrets whatsoever and was pleased I had a second chance.
I shook my head. "No, I don't regret it at all."
"Then I don't regret you reincarnating and coming into my life either," he said. "I'm blessed to have you by my side."
I widened my eyes, feeling overwhelming emotions welling up inside me. Was this his way of telling me that he loved me? I said, "I'm blessed to have you by my side too, Aldric."
He chuckled, a gentle smile playing about his lips, his eyes twinkling. Oh, wow, he was showing so much happiness here.
"What was your name before?" he asked.
He seemed interested so I said, "Quinn Chen."
"Quinn Chen," he said. "That's a lovely name."
"So is Quinn Fairchild," I said.
We were both quiet, just gazing into each's other eyes, and I cherished the moment. Then he inched his face closer until we were nose to nose, and I knew he was going to kiss me. I eagerly raised myself and stood on tiptoe as his lips touched mine.