Dreamwalker's Bride - Chapter 316

Chapter 316: Sorting
Mia’s heart raced. More than raced, it absolutely flooded her with anxiety. She couldn’t even respond to Ford’s question, just tapped her heels into Harper’s flanks and took off at a trot.

Ford’s mount, used to its position by now, matched her pace.

Frantically, Mia tried to remember all she’d said to her father. Not everything. She hadn’t told him why her magic was drawing her towards Ford, just that she didn’t entirely understand it.

He didn’t know, then, that she was looking for a husband. That was a relief, and not a small one, either. But even so, a deep sense of humiliation consumed her.

How could Ford have overheard? How could he have behaved normally around her since then? Why didn’t she notice any sort of difference??

Her face felt hotter than the fire she’d cooked breakfast over that morning.

Unable to process it all, she focused on where they were going. Safest, best, fastest road to Uncle Trace.

The pull remained the same, but the secondary one was on her mind. Why couldn’t she make it go away? Leave her alone!

The forest’s color subtly changed up ahead, and she braced herself, now suddenly far more focused on safety than her own emotional upheaval.

She reined her mount to a halt just before they reached the crossover to the next color. After all, the red-flowered grove had been horrifying. Who knew what was next?

“What is it?” Ford asked breathlessly. “What’s here?”

“I’m not sure,” Mia’s gaze frantically searched the nonexistent path ahead.

“Let me try something,” Grandpa said from behind them. A faint buzz preceded a line of grasshoppers and flies crossing over into the new section of forest. Nothing happened to them. They continued forward as if it were all the same.

“Is it safe?” Mia asked over her shoulder to her grandfather.

“As far as I can tell,” The man answered carefully. “You have reason to think otherwise?”

“Um… I suppose not. Just, the colors.” Mia pointed to the trees. The new section was only subtly different than the one they were in. Maybe she was imagining it?

“It looks the same to me,” Daniel piped up. “Just more green.”

“I… also can’t tell much difference,” Seth said reluctantly, “but I trust your instincts, Mia. If you think there might be danger, we should be careful.”

“It’s slightly more green than bluish, but that might just be these few trees,” Anaisa pointed. “It goes back to normal up there, I think.”

Mia’s fear eased as her embarrassment increased.

“Then, I suppose we’re fine to move ahead,” She announced with more authority than she felt. “I’ll start looking for the safest place to camp… for tonight.”

There was no difference in direction from the path and the place to camp. Mia swallowed, and reached back for her canteen to take a nervous drink before replacing it.

“Are you sure you’re all right?” Anaisa asked. “If there’s something we should–”

“I’m fine!” Mia squeaked, realizing how erratic she was being. First increasing speed, then suddenly stopping for no apparent reason. She’d made them concerned by being overly exhausted last night, she didn’t want to increase their worry by making them doubt her presence of mind.

She could feel Ford’s eyes on her, and refused to look at him. The others could make of that whatever they wanted, she was beyond caring for the time being.

Harper shifted her weight and snorted, and Mia let her begin moving again. The ‘new section’ of forest was indeed much like the other one. Practically identical.

In fact, as they progressed, Mia was convinced it wasn’t a new section at all. The one red grove they passed through was an anomaly, not a precursor of various other strange groves to come.

Mia should relax a little, like Grandpa had advised. Stop taking everything on herself.

“If you’re that nervous, I can ride ahead a bit,” Ford told her. “We’ve been heading in the same direction all day, I don’t imagine a sudden turn is in our immediate future.”

“No, that’s not necessary,” Mia told him.

“Are you sure?” He asked. “Or, I could ride behind. Send your father up to ride with you… if you’d prefer.”

Mia cut her eyes over at him. His lips were pressed together, his brow knit.

Worried.

He was clearly apprehensive that he’d offended her or made her angry. If what he’d overheard had upset him, he would have avoided her before now.

Slowly, she shook her head. No matter how awkward she felt right now, she would rather have him beside her. Banishing him to the rear of the group would only complicate her feelings, and make him think she was miffed with him.

She wasn’t. Was she?

She let the soft clopping of Harley’s hooves distract her from sorting out her emotions.

“The trees aren’t as close here,” Seth said, coming up and letting his horse get in between Mia and Ford. “I thought we might want to try riding three across for a while. Easier for everyone to talk. Don’t you think?”

“What do you want to talk about?” Mia swallowed her annoyance at her father’s interruption. She was sure he meant well.

“I don’t know. Grandpa and I in the back didn’t have much to say to each other. It looked like you two might be having an interesting conversation up here… Could I join in?”

The question was on the very borderline of rude, but of course as her father, Seth had more rights than most to insert himself into whatever conversations she was having, especially with a young man.

“Of course, Papa,” She smiled tightly. “I’m not sure we had anything to say that would particularly interest you. I was just thinking that the leaves here don’t look different after all. What would you say? Are they closer to green or to blue?”

With that, all serious conversation was concretely closed for the day. Ford’s pained expression made Mia mentally promise to find another time to talk to him as soon as she sorted out exactly how she felt about everything….

Whenever that might be.