The Awen: Book One of the Sacred Oak Series (Part 2 of Chapter 1)

If you haven't read the synopsis, beginning prophesy, the prologue and part 1 of Chapter One, you will want to scroll down and read it first to have context for what you are about to partake of. The following is the rest of Chapter One, which I'm releasing for feedback. Next week... Chapter Two. I hope you enjoy ~ Rebecca

I give you: Part Two of Chapter One of The Awen: Book One of the Sacred Oak Series

   Ian needed a moment to collect his thoughts and face what he thought might be an unusually quiet dinner. He continued to meander away from where Reese could see him; out past the stables to the knoll where the two boys used to play “King of the Hill” when they were younger. At the top he stood and gazed at the panoramic view, taking a moment to remember how thankful he was for the life his parents worked so hard to give him.

     The estate really was fantastic. With sixty acres of sprawling grounds, horse stables, ornate fountains, lush gardens, streams, woods and a relatively short walk to the coast there was no end to the imaginative and troublesome things a boy could get himself into. In many ways it was a delicious way for the son of a servant to grow up. When Ian was prowling the grounds without Reese tagging alongside of him to keep him in his place he didn’t even remember his father’s low standing. 

     As he stood looking over the grounds, Ian knew one thing for sure: he would go out and make his own way in life someday, and though he was relatively gracious towards Reese now, he knew he would never spend the best years of his life trimming hedges and cleaning muck out of the fountains for one Reese Williams. He supposed he knew this from one of his dreams, but he did not know how it would all work out quite yet.

***

     Ian stood on the knoll for several moments feeling a little sorry for himself if he were honest and a bit lonely. With summer approaching he knew that Libby would soon be coming, as she always did, and normally the thought of her coming would have brightened his mood, but if his dreams about her were indeed true, things would not be as happy as last summer. 

     Ian had always enjoyed the fact that Libby was half-American and half-Welsh and happened to be Reese’s first cousin on his father’s side. It leveled the playing field a bit that Reese was related to a “commoner,” as the Williamses often snipped when they thought the children weren’t listening. Libby’s mom, Catherine, a former Williams herself, had married a middle-class American twelve years ago after meeting him while she was traveling to New York. It had been quite the scandal in the family and Ian loved that it gave him Libby--an ally against “Lord Reese” when he needed one and a girl to pester when he didn’t. It’s the little things in life, he thought to himself.

     Libby was eleven years old and half-decent as far as girls go, though Ian would never admit it. In fact, it always brought him and Reese great pleasure to torment her when she spent her summer holidays in her mother’s homeland. It was the only time when Reese treated Ian as almost an equal. Libby, you could say, almost brought them together.