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.”“Well, since you’re up,” Rayne said, holding up his elbow cheerfully in my direction.“How about some pancakes?”“Sounds good to me,” I said.I took Rayne’s outstretched arm and followed him back inside the house.In the Kitchen, Rayne rummaged around the room collecting ingredients and baking utensils so he could make breakfast for me.He even put on an apron.It had to be one of the most adorable things I had ever seen.When Rayne was playful and fun and doing thoughtful things for other people without even realizing it, that was when I knew he was truly being himself.But, as usual, it didn’t take long for him to feel the need to do his duty and get back to business; back to protecting me.“I thought it would be best if we stayed behind,” he explained to me while flipping half-cooked circles of pancake batter over on the griddle.“We should think about heading into the city to see if we can get a hold of your father.Most likely, he’s the only person who can get you back through the Threshold border without any complications.”“Okay,” I said.“I trust you; whatever you think is best.” Rayne glanced up from the griddle and smiled at me appreciatively for a brief moment, then went back to explaining.“As you know,” he said, “your father is the Ambassador around here, so we can’t just walk up to him on the street and have a private conversation.But don’t worry; I have a way to contact him under the radar.”“Okay,” I said again.Then, out of nowhere, Rayne thrust his spatula under a pancake and flipped it into the air, making me jump in surprise as it landed right in front of me on my plate.He grinned.“Breakfast is served.”“Show-off,” I teased.Rayne set a few more pancakes on my plate and kissed me on the cheek.“Honestly,” he said, “I’m just glad your food didn’t end up on the floor.” Then he plunked down in the chair next to me, successfully taking down a huge stack of pancakes like he hadn’t eaten in years.After we finished eating, Rayne sent me back to his grandmother’s house to get showered and dressed.I was surprised when Andella greeted me from her armchair in the front room where she sipped a cup of tea.“Good morning, child,” she said with a smile.It was the first thing she had said directly to me since I first arrived.“Uh, morning,” I replied, trying not to show my surprise.She seemed like a nice old lady, and I didn’t want to be rude, but Rayne had mentioned there was something he wanted to show me before we left for Banya, so I was kind of excited to hurry and get ready for the day.“Um, is it okay if I take a shower?” I asked her.Andella dropped her cup with a clank to the saucer in her hand.“You mean, you haven’t bathed yet, dear?” she said, sounding alarmed.“Well…no…”Suddenly, Andella rose to her feet and moved toward me.“Then, come along, child.You mustn’t dawdle or you’ll be late for school.”My eyes shifted to the side, wondering if she was confusing me with somebody else.But, then again, Rayne warned me that the woman was losing some of her grasp on reality, and I really did want to get going with that shower, so I decided just to go with it.“No, I don’t want to be late,” I agreed.“Can you show me where the towels are?”Andella nudged me toward the hallway.“You know where the towels are, dear; same place they’ve always been.Now, hurry along.”Luckily, it only took a minute to find a stack of towels folded neatly in the hall closet, but I did feel a little bad when I was all dressed and ready to leave and Andella handed me a basket full of food, saying she had taken the time to prepare a lunch for me to carry to school.I wasn’t sure if it would hurt her feelings if I refused the lovely meal, so I accepted it graciously and hurried out the door.“Hungry already?” Rayne teased, noticing the basket when he met up with me outside.I tried not to laugh.“Um, actually, your grandma packed a lunch for me to take to school today.”“Poor old thing,” Rayne said with a chuckle.“Sometimes I think she can’t remember her own name.” Rayne took the basket from my hand.“But, that doesn’t mean we can’t enjoy a nice picnic later, right? We wouldn’t want her hard work to go to waste.”“No, we certainly wouldn’t want that,” I said.Several yards away behind the house, Rayne guided me into a large barn and made his way over to one of the four-wheelers parked in the corner.After he loaded our picnic in a small storage box attached to the back, he motioned for me to join him.I jumped into the seat behind him, more than happy for an excuse to wrap my hands around him and hold on tight.Rayne took me on a little romantic tour of the orchard, to the parts I hadn’t seen yet.After we circled around the property for a few minutes, enjoying the breeze on our faces and the pleasant scenery, Rayne stopped at one of the Lizzy fields where the trees were covered in bright pink fruits the size of cherries.We hopped off the small vehicle and Rayne took a moment to explain that this field was in the young phase and wouldn’t be ripe and ready to pick for another month or so, all the while holding my hand and then pulling me in close to sneak one more kiss.It was amazing how, even in the daylight, the trees and fruit, and even the grass, had this shimmery quality to them, like they had all been glazed over with liquid pearls and fairy dust.And just being here with Rayne, without having to hold anything back, was like a fairytale, too.There was no having to fight off our feelings for each other because we thought they weren’t real, like we did for a grueling five months before Rayne found out the truth about the bonding effect from the Healing Water.There was no monitoring of every word we said because we were being spied on by Ash Hastings or his terrible, escaped-convict of a father, Voss, either.We didn’t even have to bother with watches or wristbands to conceal our Watermarks.It was just us; the real us [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]