Druidess Found (Druidess Trilogy Book 1) Machelle Hanleigh (best ebook reader under 100 .TXT) 📖

as if he stood next to her, but he stood by the Queen. She frowned and shook her head as she turned in the direction of her hut. She imagined his ordering her around in her head. She obviously needed more sleep. It had been early when she rose and the ordeal at Crystal Lake had obviously been too much for her. Almost drowning could do that to a person, she imagined. The walk to her hut appeared to take forever. She knew it wasn't that far, but it felt like it. She was tired and the adrenaline of her ordeal began leaving her system.

Once in her hut, Kaily sank to the floor. Too many thoughts passed through her mind. The most prominent thought and question she could not shake; did she possess the strength to stay? She didn't know much about the Kahoali people or Moto. Even her time with him didn't give her much to go by other than he frustrated her. She didn't know him. Her time with him in the forest and by Crystal Lake showed her someone she wanted to get to know better, but the person around his people, that person she didn't care for at all. Which person was his true self? In truth, it was probably something in between the two. She didn't know if she could deal with the differences in him.

Kaily closed her eyes and laid her head against the door. Did she possess the strength to stay? She didn't have an answer to that question. He wasn't open with her, but she said she would stay. A part of her wanted to stay, but another very real part of her wanted to go back home. Images of Moto passed through her mind. She thought about her time spying on him and Shimani, her dreams of her dark warrior, and her time with him at Crystal Lake. She couldn't deny she felt drawn to Moto and despite some of the events since she came into the village he appeared to be drawn to her as well. She couldn't deny she felt a connection on a level she never felt before and didn't have the words to describe, let alone understand it. One thing she knew, if she did stay, she needed to stop being a coward.

Kaily stood and draped the wet towel over a chair by the table. She didn't know how much time before Shimani would be at her door. She didn't care. She would hurry. She would clean up and be ready when Shimani did arrive. If Moto wouldn't give her the answers she needed, maybe she could get them from Shimani or Sari. Of course, getting answers from Sari assumed she could convince Shimani to take her to Sari's village. Either way, she was done being a coward. She would face the future with courage no matter what happened. She made a mental list of what she needed to know. It was a short list, but it was a start. She smiled as a new image crossed her mind. It was the look on Moto's face when he realized she was not the quiet, meek girl she imagined he thought she was.

Chapter Eleven

 

Moto caught Shimani's attention on his way to attend the Queen. He discretely signaled to Shimani indicating the direction of Kaily's hut. He felt relief when Shimani headed in that direction. They trained long enough together that Moto sometimes felt they could read each other's minds. It helped that they developed hand signals when they started exploring other worlds together, just in case they couldn't speak to each other. Moto didn't expect to need those signals among his own people. He didn't expect to be in this situation. He could breathe easy for the moment. Shimani would see to Kaily's needs and keep her out of harm's way.

He focused his attention and emotions as he came to stand before the Queen. "My Queen." Moto said with an informal bow. It would be an informal reprimand and he responded in kind. The Queen summoned him to her side in such a way enough times he knew the conversation would not be pleasant.

Queen Shakti looked him up and down taking in his entire wet self, and then turned her stern gaze in the direction of Kaily's retreating back. Moto could feel emotions emanating from her and knew just how angry she was with him. She set the plate she just filled on the table. "Walk with me."

Moto cursed to himself as he followed her to the back of her hut and in the opposite direction of the path to Crystal Lake. Never a good sign when the Queen wanted privacy to speak with him. He ignored the sideways glances as he followed the Queen. Never good!

She stopped at her special place she often went in the early morning hours to be alone. "Sit!" He felt her emotions close to the surface and her tone strained.

Moto sat on the bench she pointed to without comment. He struggled to maintain the facade of emotional neutrality and watched as she paced in front of him. It was a sign of just how angry she was with him. The Queen seldom paced. She was quite adept at maintaining emotional neutrality so much so that he often admired her for it, and for the patience she displayed with her people. Moto would admit he could stretch her patience beyond endurance, not that he tried. It just happened that way. He waited. He could almost hear the lecture to come word for word.

Finally, Queen Shakti stopped pacing and turned to face him. "Why would you take the outsider to Crystal Lake?"

"I didn't." He forced his emotions to remain under control.

"Don't insult my intelligence, Moto." Fire burned in the depths of Queen Shakti's eyes. "There is not the remotest possibility she just happened to discover the portal behind my hut, and she just happened to know how to use it