Page 3 of Klaus

2

Ainsley

Iwould miss the sea.

Likely the only thing I’d miss as a result of the wretched situation my clan and I had been forced into. The feeling of skimming through the water, feeling it all over me as I glided along.

Swimming had always come naturally to me. I’d swum the length of the loch closest to our mountain. Dunsapie Loch was as much home to me as our caves ever were.

But swimming it was nothing akin to swimming in living, moving, surging seawater which moved in waves, the current pulling it away from the shoreline only for the water to somehow find its way back. Once I’d gathered up the courage to allow my feet to leave the sandy bottom and let the water carry me, I’d taken to it as easily as I’d taken to flying.

The thought of flying stopped me.

Just like that, I was no longer enjoying myself. My stomach clenched tight, like a fist, and I had no choice but to tread water and wait for the feeling to pass.

Would that it were that easy.

What was I supposed to do once we returned home? I could no longer hide the change which had come over me. I could no longer hide my shame.

If there were an actual noose around my neck, tightening incrementally with each passing moment, taking me closer to returning to Scotland with my clan, I wouldn’t have been a bit surprised. I felt as though I was choking either way.

Who would ever have imagined feeling this way? When I had done nothing but long for home ever since the moment we’d been taken captive. When my dragon had screamed and thrashed against the power-stripping iron shackles which had bound my wrists and ankles all throughout the nauseatingly rough, stressful journey.

I would’ve given anything to be back at the caves. To wander through the enchanted trees which comprised the woods surrounding the mountain we’d called home for centuries, for longer even than almost any existing castles or monuments had managed to remain standing.

The enchantment placed on the woods so long ago had kept us safe—up until that day. That final day. What had gone wrong? Had the enchantment worn thin? Had we lived in a fool’s paradise, believing ourselves untouchable?

I shivered in spite of the warm water, in spite of the sun’s loving rays. Even the quality of sunlight felt different here, more… simply more. I never thought I’d come to love it so.

Would that I could stay.

Such a thought. Just another thing I never would’ve imagined otherwise, the very idea of living without my clan. My kin, my blood, those for whom I’d gladly lay down my life.

Some of them had laid down their lives for me, after all. But to what purpose? They were dead, while I and the others had still been captured and imprisoned in that laboratory. And used.

I allowed myself to sink under the surface until the water touched my chin. I would never feel clean, not ever, not after what he did…

“Hello, out there!”

I was barely able to bite back a scream when I heard his voice. My head swiveled back and forth, my eyes trained on the beach.

Who did I expect to see? The doctor? No, he was dead, I’d never see him again except in my nightmares. He was no longer a threat. He couldn’t hurt me anymore.

Who was it, then? I lifted a hand to my forehead to block the sun, and once I did, I recognized Klaus. He was seated on the sand, legs stretched out in front of him while he leaned back on his palms. And if I wasn't mistaken, it was my dress which he sat next to.

“What are you doing?” I called out, grateful for the presence of another. I wouldn’t have to sink deeper into dark memories. Not for the time being, anyhow.

“Relaxing on the beach. Why? Must there be a reason for my being here at this moment?”

“Do you want an honest answer?”

“I asked an honest question.”

I rolled my eyes, glad he couldn’t see me at a distance. “You must realize my clothing is at your side. Surely, you’re intelligent enough to understand that.”

“I am.”

“Therefore, it ought to go without saying that I’m not wearing that dress at this moment. Correct?”

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