Druidess Found (Druidess Trilogy Book 1) by Machelle Hanleigh (interesting novels to read txt) 📕

was nice sized. She didn't particularly like closed in places, but the cave seemed large, larger than the guest hut in the Kahoali village had been. At least that was something. She wanted to ask how she had gotten there, but she didn't dare. That would open up the conversation to something she didn't want to think about, let alone discuss. Not yet, not ever, but that wasn't going to be a reality, so she would settle for not yet. Her attention was drawn back to Moto as he leaned away from her and reached for a jar and cloth nearby.

"I need you to lie back down." He told her.

Kaily frowned, "Why?"

"You were," Moto looked around the cave, "injured." He finished looking back at her. He shifted so that he could help her lay back.

She laid back, not that he gave her much of a choice. She kept her gaze locked with his. There was only one place that she felt the kind of pain that might be soothed by whatever was in that jar. She didn't trust what he was about to do. "Where?" She asked again. She wanted to know, and he was not giving her an answer. He looked as uncomfortable as she felt.

He opened his mouth to say something and then shut it. He took a deep breath. "I need you to spread your legs."

Her gaze narrowed and her frown deepened. "Why?"

"Do you remember anything about last night?" He asked as he spread her thighs apart. He did so as gently as possible, but neither did he give her a choice.

She looked away and didn't answer.

He didn't ask her again.

She listened as he scooped out contents from the jar and applied it to her injury. She kept her eyes averted. "Owww," Kaily arched her back. She tried to move away from his ministrations. "What the hell?"

"Be still," Moto held her in place. "You're the one that put your talisman there!" He said.

As soon as he withdrew his fingers, Kaily struggled to scoot away and pushed on his arm that held her in place.

He moved his arm and let her go.

She knew that she would not have been able to budge him and that just made her angrier. She didn't like being at another's mercy, not even Moto's. She glared at him. Begrudgingly, the burning sensation began to subside. She brought her knees to her chest and watched Moto as he wiped his hand off, and then placed the jar and cloth near the pallets where he retrieved them. He picked up the cup and placed it on the low stone slab near the fire pit. "Why would the stone do that to me?"

Moto looked at Kaily from where he stirred the contents in the smaller pot near the fire. "Do you remember anything about last night's events?" He asked again.

Kaily's anger rose to the surface. "Oh, you mean your marriage ceremony?" She felt tears burning her eyes but tried to keep them from slipping out of her eyes. It was one thing for tears of pain to fall unchecked, it was quite another for tears of anger to fall and especially in front of the source of that anger.

He visibly winced. "After that," he prompted.

She looked away. "No." It wasn't quite the truth. She remembered leaving the ceremony and running and running without any destination in mind. She remembered the myriad of emotions that flowed through her. She remembered finding herself in the clearing that she first observed Shimani and Moto sparring, but not much about her time there and not how she had gotten to the cave.

He carried two bowls back to where she sat. Moto held out one to her. "You need to eat."

She stared at the bowl in his hand and then her eyes met his. There was resolve in the depths of his eyes. "What is it?" She took the bowl.

"Porridge," Moto said.

She looked away again without comment. She was still very angry at him, and something else that she couldn't quiet describe. It wasn't a simple feeling of sadness. She felt a loss so deep inside of her, which didn't make sense. It wasn't as if Moto belonged to her in the first place. They were just getting to know one another. Why did she feel the loss of him so deep?

He sat beside her, so he faced her while next to her at the same time. He wrapped an arm around her upturned legs and forced her to look at him with his other hand. He waited until her gaze was focused on him and not the contents of the bowl, he handed her. "You were unconscious when we found you in the training clearing," he stopped speaking to give her a moment to react.

She remained silent.

"Your talisman was fused inside you. Do you remember anything, Kaily? Anything at all?"

She frowned. There was something in the way Moto repeated the same question and his tone that frightened her. She shook her head, "I don't remember what made me lose consciousness." She glanced down. "The rest doesn't matter." She said as she looked back up at him. She didn't ask how the stone fused to her; she didn't want to know.

Moto nodded once. He remained where he was and picked up his bowl that he set aside. "Eat your porridge. It will help you feel better."

She picked up the spoon in her bowl and ate a bite. It was good.

"As for the marriage ceremony as you called it," Moto began, "It was a Kahoali bonding ceremony and it is what I was meaning to talk to you about earlier. Do you remember when we were at Crystal Lake and I said that I wanted to talk to you about something?"

Kaily felt his scrutiny as if he was waiting for a response. She didn't give him one. She didn't bother looking at him either. She focused on the contents of her bowl and ate her porridge. Of course, she remembered. What difference