Horse Stone (Book 1 of Ilyrian Series)

Chapter 87

Dani cleared her throat and shifted on her feet while she cocked her head and studied me. "So, when are you going to tell Papa that you know about Ilryian?" she asked, growing serious.

I looked down and shrugged while I grimaced. "I don't know," I said honestly and cleared my throat. "What if he is mad at those that knew that I know about Ilyrian?" I folded my arms across my chest and shrugged again.

"He won't," Dani said and shook her head. She moved a hand through her hair while she cocked her head and studied me. "What do you want to do now?" she asked and looked at Vanar before she looked at me. "Do you want to ride Shadow?"

"Yes," Vanar said and nodded. He nudged my shoulder with his head, and I took a step forward so that I wouldn't fall. "Let's go ride."

I hesitated but shook my head, the whole day catching up with me and leaving me exhausted. "I don't think so," I said softly and closed my eyes. "I think that I need to take a nap, but I'll be back later to ride you. We still have that... thing with Liam after school lets out."

Dani raised an eyebrow and a small smirk appeared on her face. "Oh?" she asked, and there was a small teasing sound in her voice. "What do you have going on with Liam?" She wiggled her eyebrows, and my face grew redder while I looked down and shifted on my feet.

"No..." I said quickly. "Nothing like that." I kicked at the ground and cleared my throat. "Liam and I are going for a ride today... We were supposed to go after therapy yesterday, but..." I shrugged and cleared my throat while I grimaced, and my cheeks grew redder. "As you can tell, that didn't work out."

Dani slowly nodded and understanding filled her eyes. "But are you two going to go alone, or are you two going to be going with someone else?"

I shrugged. "Alone," I replied. "However, Lucas will probably be watching over us and making sure that nothing happens."

"And Serena will be "nearby" too," Vanar said. He nuzzled my shoulder, and I rubbed his head.

"And Shadow has my back too, so... ya," I said, and he nodded in agreement because he does have my back. "Besides, Liam's not like Ethan..." I grimaced and shrugged. "Liam respects boundaries, and I think that he will keep respecting boundaries that I set..."

"He will," Vanar said and nodded. "There is no doubt in my mind that he will respect your boundaries."

Richard...

The wind seemed to blow that word through the trees, and it only reached my ears.

He is Richard. He is yours...

I blinked and blinked again, getting more curious about who Richard was and how Liam was connected to me.

Vanar nudged my shoulder to gain my attention, and I looked at him to see that he was already staring at me. His ears were pricked forward while he studied me, staying silent as if to make sure that Dani couldn't hear what he was saying.

I still had my block down, feeling comfortable that he knew what I was thinking and feeling, and I had a feeling that he knew about my thoughts straying to Richard and how Liam was somehow connected to him.

Dani looked between us and cleared her throat, and we looked at her with an equal blank expression on our face. Her brows were furrowed, and she cocked her head while she studied us and raised an eyebrow. "What are you two hiding?" she asked. "Why did you two get quiet all of a sudden?"

Tigra said something to Dani while she walked over to us. She rubbed up against me before she hopped onto Vanar's back, and he flicked his tail in annoyance but didn't kick her off.