Page 11 of A Touch of Iron
As I leaned down to rinse my feet, a ripple in the water caught my attention. At first I thought I’d glimpsed a jumping fish, but then the ripple started to move. It undulated closer and closer while I sat frozen, wondering what the hell it could be. This was a lake. Surely, nothing but fish could be down there.
Stopping just a few feet away, the ripples disappeared and the water stilled. I held my breath, the eerie feeling of someone watching me crawling up my spine. A trickle of bubbles was my only warning before a giant figure exploded out of the lake with a roar.
“Holy shit!” I yelled, falling off the stone onto my side. Terrified, I glanced over at the rock and saw a fearsome creature I’d never seen before.
It looked like a female, but its skin was green and scaly with long, ratty hair, wild eyes, and teeth as sharp as razors. The monster darted toward me and I scrambled back behind the rock, using it as a shield to avoid the slash of her claws. Suddenly, a flickering tongue of fire cracked toward her like a whip and she flung herself back into the lake, the ripple swiftly moving back across the water as she swam into its depths.
With a loud exhale, I clambered to my feet and edged away from the water, never taking my eye off its gently lapping waves. My back hit someone’s chest and I whirled around to see a fae male.
He was tall, with dark hair and eyes, a strong jaw, and a Roman nose. Dark stubble peppered his cheeks and chin. He looked dangerous and mysterious. It looked good on him.
I narrowed my gaze. The burst of fire must have come from him, which meant he was obviously a fire elemental in Air Village. A trespasser.
“Who are you?” I asked, instantly suspicious. A wisp of a memory teased the edges of my conscience, something about how fire elementals were bad.
He snorted. “I should ask you the same. Who areyou?”
My eyes widened and I jerked back in surprise. “Excuse me?”
He grinned, his dimples flashing. “You’re excused.”
I did a double take. He was certainly good looking, but damn, was he rude. He wasn’t winning any points with me, that was for sure.
“I live here, and since you’re a fire elemental, you obviously don’t,” I retorted.
He smirked and arched a brow. “Says who?”
He had me there. “Says … says … I don’t know. It just doesn’t make any sense!” I blurted.
He laughed. “Well, sucks to be you, then, because I actuallydolive here. So why don’t you tell me whoyouare?”
I frowned. If he lived here, shouldn’t he know who I was? Was I more of a recluse than Calypso led me to believe, or was he?
“My name is Aurora,” I answered. “I live in the cottage just up that trail.”
His eyes widened slightly before he schooled his expression. “Aurora, eh? Well, my name is Creed. Shouldn’t you be thanking me for saving your life?”
I scoffed. “I could have saved myself,” I lied, the fib sounding flimsy even to my ears.
No, I couldn’t have. I had no idea what that thing was. Besides that, I had no access to my air elemental powers and was unable to defend myself.
Creed rolled his eyes, unconvinced. “Sure. Because every Unseelie is stupid enough to go soak their bloody feet in a lake where a Kelpie resides. Genius,” he said sarcastically.
“A Kelpie …?” I repeated quietly to myself.
He narrowed his eyes. “Yes, you know, the creature that just attacked you. She scented your blood.”
“Oh.” Yeah, that was a stupid move. But I didn’t know.
Creed tilted his head and watched me speculatively. “You really have no memory, do you?”
“How do you know I lost my memory?” I asked suspiciously.
He snorted. “It’s the talk of the village. So, do you really not remember anything?”
I shook my head. “Honestly, I don’t even know who I am,” I murmured, feeling ashamed.
Creed watched me for a second, then sighed loudly. “Well, don’t throw yourself a pity party. So what if you don’t know who you are? Reinvent yourself.”
