With every ounce of her strength, Ella prepared to pull the reins.
Just then, the thunder of hooves cut through her determination.
She turned around on instinct.
Another horse, tall and dark, and extrely familiar appeared in her view.
Riding the horse, Adrian moved like he owned the space between the trees, with absolute control of a man who made choices and the world obeyed.
He closed the distance in a few seconds. For a mont, the two horses moved parallely.
Then, his gloved hand shot out and closed on her rein and on her wrist that gripped it.
When Adrian leaned over, Ella’s eyes widened at the realization of what he was about to do, "Wait, don’t..."
"Hold on," Adrian said, voice low and clipped.
The two horses closed in and in the next mont, Ella felt a weight behind her as Adrian moved to the white the horse.
The white horse bucked and skidded under the weight of another person. Adrian’s other arm ca around her waist, anchoring her against the motion.
He hauled the horse’s head hard and his fingers moved over the horse’s mane in an uniform motion.
The animal obeyed slowly. Dust sprayed and leaves fell in a scatter as Adrian whipped the white horse around.
The black horse followed them in silence, as Ella could tell from the approaching sound of the hooves.
Adrian’s familiar fragrance hit her senses and Ella’s anxious heart slowly settled down.
"Adrian..." Ella softly called out to him, rembering his icy face from before.
However, after a long while, there was no response from the man.
She blinked up at him.
He t her gaze with a look that had no softness, only restrained fury and an undisguised care.
"Don’t do that again," he coldly said, reprimand threaded with sothing that made her insides go soft.
Ella also felt a little guilty, "I didn’t..."
"If you jumped, you wouldn’t survive the fall. If you pulled on the reins, you’d have been thrown off the horse," He drew her closer into his chest as he laid out all her plans from before.
Ella clung to him, "It’s not like I wanted to... If it went to the road, there could have been accidents so I..."
The white horse gave a sudden stagger, nearly sinking at the knees.
Ella’s head whipped around, alarm flashing in her eyes.
"Wait—" she barely got the word out before Adrian swung them both off the horse with fluid strength, landing on solid ground without flinching.
The white horse stood trembling, sides heaving, its body slick with sweat.
Ella frowned, her breath was still shaky from earlier.
After the incident earlier, she just thought that the horse was about to go berserk again.
But now it seed like...
Ella squinted, "He is weak..."
As if her words were a cue, the white horse slumped on the ground.
Adrian didn’t answer. His jaw was tight, his eyes darker than usual.
Realizing that Adrian was giving her cold shoulders, Ella felt a little helpless.
Earlier, she hadn’t wanted to risk her life. She had planned to jump off the horse safely at first.
But things didn’t go as per her expectations. When the horse surged toward the road, she had just acted on instinct, not thinking about the risks involved in it.
But like Adrian said... If the horse threw her off violently, then she wouldn’t probably survive the fall.
Now, sensing the man’s silence, she knew he probably hated her guts for risking her life like that.
Ella’s eyes darted instinctively to the black horse standing nearby.
She forced her lips into a small curve, attempting to lighten the mood. "We can take Blackie to head back... and then we will send soone to bring Whitie back."
Still no response.
Ella was about to ask if her idea wasn’t feasible but her words stilled in her throat.
Her gaze fell on the black horse’s hind leg. A thin sheen of crimson streaked down the dark fur, pooling on the ground around its leg.
Her eyes widened, "It’s hurt."
She took a step closer to the horse, "It... it can’t carry us back, can it?"
No wonder it had fallen back in pace while following them earlier.
It was already surprising that Adrian managed to chase up to her with the injured horse.
Adrian’s voice was steady, "It’s injured."
Ella froze mid-step. The realization sank heavy into her stomach. If the horse was hurt, then...
Her head snapped back to Adrian. "Then what about you?"
"I’m fine," he said calmly.
Ella’s lips thinned.
Without giving him the chance to protest, she turned him around, hands brushing over his shoulders, his chest, down his arms.
Adrian did not stop her as he let her do whatever she wished.
Her fingers trembled slightly, but her eyes were sharp and searching.
Nothing obvious stood out against the sleek black of his riding jacket.
For a fleeting second, Ella was relieved. It seed like Adrian was fine...
Just then—
Her palm pressed against his sleeve and her gut clenched.
She retracted her hand and stared at the red sared across her fingertips.
"Adrian..."
His sleeve clung to his arm, the faint tallic sll of blood cutting into her senses.
Before she knew it, her hands were already on his jacket, "Take this off."
Adrian’s hand closed around her wrist.
"Don’t stop ," she snapped, tugging.
"Not here, Elle," He tugged her wrist, pulling her towards himself.
Ella glared at him even as her chest burned,"So you can speak to ? I thought you were giving the silent treatnt, but now you suddenly have the mood to tease ?" Her voice cracked towards the end.
He caught her wrist again when she tried, but she shook him off this ti, her stubbornness blazing. "I will undress you right now and right here."
Adrian’s lips twitched and he released her hand.
She walked behind him. Her fingers hooked under the fabric and she tugged the sleeve down both his arms.
After removing the layers, she walked to stand in front of him.
When her gaze scanned across his body, Ella froze.
Against his pale skin was a wound so vicious it almost didn’t look real.
Garish, ragged marks, like the bite of so wild animal, dug into the flesh of his right arm.
Blood seeped down in thick trails, glinting against tiny fragnts of tal embedded deep into the torn muscle.
Her hands shook when she tried to touch the wound.
"What... what exactly is this?" Tears blurred her eyes as she looked up at the man, "How did this happen?"
Seeing the tears in her eyes, Adrian stiffened.
The man let out a helpless sigh and pulled her into his embrace with his uninjured arm.
If it was a few minutes before, Ella would have felt relieved that he was no longer giving her the silent treatnt.
But right now, she couldn’t stop the tears burning even more in her eyes.
"There are traps in here."
Hearing that, Ella blinked away the tears and rubbed at the corner of her eyes vigorously.
Adrian held her wrist, preventing her from doing that.
"Traps?" She looked at him.
Just as he opened his mouth to speak, she grabbed his hand, "Wait. Co here first..."
Adrian looked at the comparatively small and delicate fingers that had firmly wrapped around his palm.
And then he glanced at the girl who was pulling him with her. For a brief mont, his gaze turned hazy.
He seed to be looking at a distant mory, not just the present.
"Here!" Ella stopped near a huge tree and released his hand.
She swatted away the dust on the rock at its root before pillowing the rock with dried leaves.
The haze in Adrian’s eyes slowly cleared and he looked at the place she was pointing at.
"Sit here first..." Ella paused when he did not budge from his spot, "Don’t worry. I have cleaned it sowhat but—"
She had not finished speaking when the man took a seat there.
Ella quickly turned to look at both the horses before she glanced at Adrian again.
But her face worsened when she saw the wound that was still bleeding. The sky had darkened and moonlight was spilling through the gap between the trees.
Ella looked around and all she could see was a vast stretch of trees. The training ground was not even visible from where they were.
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