Page 29 of A Winter Courtship
But he and his father lived in the same village, and even if he found his father difficult, he was still Ulrich’s father. So he would need to tell him about Lutoth. And he would do it. He would do it for Lutoth. But he was glad he hadn’t had to do it today.
ChapterEighteen
“People can ride reindeer, can’t they?” Lutoth asked.
The three walked through the forest. Snow had fallen the night before, and it lay pristine and undisturbed before them, except for a pair of fox prints that wound through the trees and disappeared beneath a shrub.
“You want to ride Ethel?” Ulrich asked, raising a bushy brow. “Your legs tired?” Ulrich tapped Lutoth playfully on the butt. “I’ll remind you that you were the one who suggested this walk to the valley today.”
“My legs are just fine.” Lutoth smiled. He remembered how nervous the man had been on the first day they’d met. Now here Ulrich was, comfortably teasing him. “I walk a lot more than you. And I climb too. You should see me when the wind’s behind me.”
“Then why do you want to ride Ethel?”
“I don’t. I’ve just seen people on the trail to Castle Evermore ride reindeer. I’ve never seen anyone ride Ethel. No one except the children.” The sight of Ulrich helping children onto Ethel’s back glowed inside Lutoth’s chest. The man was too sweet!
Ethel stopped to graze. Lutoth and Ulrich paused.
“I’ve never tried to ride her.” Ulrich stroked her back. “I know people ride reindeer, but I always think I’m too big for her.”
“Maybe. But some of the people on the trail are big, and they usually have packs with them,” Lutoth said.
Ulrich scratched his beard, gazing at Ethel. “Honestly, I don’t want to ride her. I’d feel mean when my legs work fine.”
“You’re such a big softie.” Lutoth kissed Ulrich’s wind-chilled lips.
Ethel finished eating and lifted her head. Ulrich brushed away the snow that stuck to her snout.
Such a big softie.
The snow crunched beneath Ulrich’s boots and Ethel’s hoofs as they continued. They approached a ridge overlooking the valley. A pair of birds flew high above, black dots circling against a grey sky. Many trees grew below. Snow clung to branches and leaves.
“Here we are at the valley,” Lutoth said. “Twenty years ago we played here as younglings.”
Ulrich reached out and took Lutoth’s hand. “I’m glad you came back.”
“Me too,” he said. “There is a path down into the valley over there.” Lutoth pointed. “We’ll go that way, since you and Ethel wouldn’t be able to get down how I normally do.”
“How do you get down?”
“Here.” Lutoth gestured to the cliff’s edge.
Ulrich leaned slightly towards the edge. He jerked back, face a little grey. “But not today, right? You’ll come down the path with us. I don’t think I could stomach seeing you climb that.”
“I’m half-oread and half-sylph,” Lutoth said. “I think it is practically impossible for me to fall.”
“I know. Still, I don’t think I could stomach seeing you climb.”
Lutoth laughed. “Lucky for you—”
A gust of wind whirled around Lutoth, caressing his skin as it encased him.
Lutoth’s hair whipped around his shoulders. Lutoth closed his eyes and sucked in a breath. The crisp, fresh air filled his lungs. His skin pebbled, not with the cold but with the feeling of the wind brushing along his body. His blood flowed, alive and buzzing in his veins. He rose onto his toes as the wind urged him onwards. He stepped towards the edge of the cliff.
Lutoth,the wind whispered.Lutoth.
He wanted to run. He wanted to climb. He wanted to move as fast and far as he could through the mountains and peaks, at one with the wind.
The wind died down. He opened his eyes.
