A/N: Thank you to all of my wonderful reviewers! I plan to have individual responses to each of you at the end of the chapter.
Disclaimer: Tortall and its residents do not belong to me, they are the property of Ms Tamora Pierce (although I really wouldn't mind if she let meborrow Dom, perhaps she'deven let me have my wicked way with him….)
Chapter 2: Hurt Feelings
"Whoa Kel, please don't kill me." Dom stepped out from the tree line and walked warily over to the knight, she still had her glaive raised and trained on his movements.
With a sigh she lowered the weapon, no matter how wet and miserable she was, it wasn't worth maiming Dom. Well, maybe it was worth hurting the sergeant, but it wasn't worth the explanations she'd have to give later. "What do you want Dom, to gloat over your nice, dry tent?"
The moment the words left her mouth she regretted them. He recoiled away from her as if slapped and a hurt expression crossed over his handsome features. He looked away from her for a second and when his gaze returned to her face his eyes were cold. It was a look that she would associate with the late Joren of Stone Mountain, not the fun loving Dom. "Well Milady, I was going to offer you the use of that nice, dry tent, but I can tell when my presence and help is not required, so I'll just leave you to your soggy bedroll."
She watched as he walked away from her and felt an odd pang in her chest. Why had she said something so cruel to him? Not only had it lost her a dry place to sleep for the night, it had distanced Dom from her. She turned and sat dejectedly on the soaked ground. She didn't really notice when tears started creeping out of her eyes, mixing with the rain water that had already soaked her skin.
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Dom stood in the shadows of the trees and watched the woman he loved. It had hurt terribly when she accused him of coming to gloat over her circumstances, especially since it was his fault that she was sleeping in the rain. It pulled at his heart when he saw her sit down; she looked so lost and alone.
He wanted to go to her, gather her muscular but beautiful body in his arms and make sure she was never alone again. He wanted to kiss her moist lips and feel her skin against his, feel her heat surrounding him.
He knew he wouldn't be able to sleep tonight, not without smoothing this over with Kel. So once again he stepped out into the clearing and approached the lady knight. This time she didn't hear him or if she did, she didn't react. When he was finally standing next to her he realized something was wrong. She was shivering and it wasn't really that cold and although the rain had stopped there was still a steady drip of water running down her cheeks. With shock he realized she was crying. Had his words really hurt her that much, had he brought his beloved Kel to tears?
With a smothered curse he crouched down next to hear and gently grasped her chin in his fingers. Although she let him reposition her head so that she was facing him, she refused to raise her eyelids and look at him. Releasing her chin he brought both hands up to her cheeks and began carefully wiping away her tears. "Shhh Kel, don't cry. I'm sorry for snapping at you. I shouldn't have done that. Please Kel, don't cry."
Finally she raised her eyelids and looked at him, but instead of ceasing her tears they only began to fall faster. He didn't know what to do, he'd never seen her cry before. With any other lady he'd hold them in his arms until they were all cried out, but he wasn't sure that would be the best course of action with Kel, he didn't know if he would be able to control himself if she was that close.
It turned out that his agonizing was moot, because she managed to snake her arms around his neck and bury her face on his chest. Before he was knocked off balance by her unexpected weight he wrapped his arms around her back and carefully eased himself down into a sitting position with her sprawled over him.
He wasn't sure how long they sat there. All he knew was that she had stopped crying after about fifteen minutes, but when she had neither of them wanted to move. They had just sat there, taking comfort from each other. Now the rain was starting again and it was late. They both would have to get up early would be riding all day, they would both need their sleep.
He opened his mouth to tell Kel that they really needed to get some sleep only to see that she already was. He didn't have to heart to wake so he gently scooped her up in his arms and carried her back to his tent. Not caring what the others would say or think if they caught Kel in his tent, he set her down in his bed roll and crawled in next to her.
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Pussin Boots: Sorry you don't like the title, it was the only thing I could think of.
Pinky: :-p
Problem Cows of the world: Don't we all love Dom?
Fantasizing-Lady-Knight: Sorry about the repetitiveness, I know I used the word smirk three times in two or three sentences. I had planned to go back and change that before I posted the story, but then I completely forgot to. Oh and please don't sue me!
Salma-sol: I did have Dom asking Kel to share his tent at first, but things started to get awkward so I had to go back and change it, I hope you like the new way Dom gets her there.
Bbllgirl4ever: don't worry I will.
Soccerchick-08: I thought the same thing about Raoul as I wrote it, but then I thought: Hey he's been on a horse all day, its dusty and hot and he's tired. Why wouldn't he be angry about a tent full of ants when all he wants to do is lie down and go to sleep (I know I would have been furious).
Dom's Angel: Glad you see it that way!
Queenofdakittys: I had Raoul take Kel's tent simply because (I would imagine) her's is the bigger tent. After all Kel is a knight and Dom's a soldier (a very yummy soldier, but just a soldier none the less).
FanFictionFantom: Every time I see your name the song The Phantom of the Opera pops into my head. Glad you like the first chapter!
Jamie Lynn: So happy you liked it, I hope this update is soon enough.
A/N: UGH! You wouldn't believe how hard it was to write this chapter. The first time I tried It went traveling on its own and started getting really dark and horrible, not fluffy in the least. I'm keep what I wrote though……….hm I predict another story in my future. Then when I went to write it again, this time with fluff and happiness the darn thing still didn't want to go along the roads I had planned. Well, anywho I hope you liked it. Please review!
Wind to thy Wings!
Oh yeah, I almost forgot to ask this, does anybody know what color fire Daine sees in the Gods? I need to know this for another story I'm writing and don't have my books with me at college so I can't really look it up. Your help is much appreciated!
