Dreamwalker's Bride - Chapter 372

Chapter 372: Being polite
Mia cursed the secondary pull, and her efforts to pretend it wasn’t there.

She was drawn to Ford, even when she wasn’t consciously paying attention to it, and now she’d bumped into him like a simpleton!

She braced for his sarcastic remark, knowing it would be more playful than mean-spirited, but his face changed slightly before he answered.

“No harm done,” Ford told her with a tight smile. “You’ve been through a lot.”

Mia’s mouth fell open a little. She must have scared him worse than she thought, being unconscious so long.

“Thanks,” She responded, torn between gratefulness and slight suspicion. She wouldn’t have terribly minded a little bit of sarcasm. “Are you doing all right?”

“I’ll get there,” He sighed.

“Anything I can do to help?” She asked gently, but he shook his head.

“You’re already doing plenty.”

“If you say so,” She shrugged, unwilling to push any further. The man was an enigma, and she wasn’t entirely sure what to make of this attitude of his.

The group fell into line, with Mia leading the way. For a while they would be single-file on a narrower shelf, but it wouldn’t last too long.

Mia cherished the minutes alone with her thoughts. There was much she could do, and even more she couldn’t.

She’d killed a monster yesterday. With her own hands. It still felt like a bizarre dream, perhaps a nightmare, but no, the enormous corpse of the ancient-seeming creature had borne testament to her deed.

The greenish blood was a mystery, and the lingering fatigue in her system. Daniel had promised her over breakfast that he would remember every bit of it to write in a book for the kingdom’s library.

That had made the boy’s mother smile. Her son, an author of such a book. Of course, he wondered if anyone would believe it, but there were too many witnesses now for him to be doubted!

At least, not by the king, who knew him and his mother personally. The populace, on the other hand, might have a great deal more skepticism for their tales.

Mia’s lips curled into a grin. If they all got back safely, the stories would be thrilling and daring. Of course, that was only if everyone got back safely. She must make sure to do everything in her power to make it so.

As she and Harper hopped up to the final shelf before the summit, Ford came up beside her.

He didn’t immediately offer his hand, though she glanced at it expectantly.

“Are you feeling all right?” He asked in a low voice.

“If I promise to tell you when I’m not feeling all right, will you promise to stop asking?” She teased lightly.

He narrowed his eyes at her, as he must be recalling when he told her something similar. That seemed like ages ago, and she was sure he hadn’t meant a word of it. Her smile grew wider.

“Sure, if you’re actually going to,” He challenged. “Are you?”

Mia had to think about that, but eventually, she nodded.

“I will let you know if I fall below an acceptable threshold of feeling all right.”

“That doesn’t sound like much of a promise,” He said. “What does ‘acceptable threshold’ mean?”

“It means whatever I think it means in the moment… so I suppose you’re right, it’s not much of a promise,” She admitted sheepishly.

“Hm,” He answered, holding out his hand for hers. She took it with a smile and a flutter in her middle.

Already, she started feeling better, but whether that was from stemming the trickle of magic outflow or something else, she couldn’t entirely say.

The shelf provided the same phenomenal view of the world that Mia had seen earlier, only with a little more height. Ford seemed lost in thought as he gazed out at it, and Mia hesitated to interrupt.

So she partially joined his appreciation for the sight of the sun shining across vast swaths of land.

Solitary, puffy clouds in the sky painted a patchwork of moving shadows across the forest and the grassland beyond. There was no hint now of the storm which had driven the group into the alcove where they had been hiding.

As they moved into the mountains, Mia realized she would miss this ability to look back and see how far they had come. She had gotten discouraged in the forest, feeling like they covered the same ground over and over until the wood-wights, or changers, or whatever they were, released the group.

Or transported them?

She still hadn’t figured that all out, entirely.

“It will be a long way home,” Ford said as they continued walking.

“Yes,” She agreed, hoping that the journey home was a concern that they would have to deal with.

When the final ascent to the top came into view, Ford released her hand to take the little jump first, then turned with a slight bow to offer his hand to Mia to help her up.

She blushed slightly, even though they’d been holding hands already all this time. Was all this simply friendly to him? It felt like more to her.

“I see Grandpa’s lessons must have included instruction on being gentlemanly,” She commented with a small smile.

“Ah… yes. Among other things,” Ford responded, leaving her to raise an eyebrow.

“What’s the most interesting lesson you’ve had from him of late?” She quizzed, genuinely curious about the matter.

“It would be difficult to just pick one thing…” Ford paused. Was his face turning a little red?

“Pick as many as you’d like,” Mia reached for his hand and he pulled her up. It was high for a step, but not so high as to require any climbing. The delicate balance caught her slightly off guard, and she found herself nearly face to face with Ford.

“The lesson on… treating women with respect comes to mind just now,” He gulped and took a step back from her, releasing her hand so that she could coax Harper to join them at the top.

Mia watched him back away, wondering what exactly Ford had been considering that brought that particular lesson to the forefront of his thoughts, but she didn’t get a chance to ask him.

The sight of a clearing around them made him lose interest in conversation with her entirely.