“How much further?” she gasps out the words.
“A ways.”
Her head snaps to look at me, her eyes desperate. “Maybe you could carry me the rest of the way?”
“That would require me to touch you, which I loathe to do.”
“But I’m exhausted, and you’re supposed to take care of us.”
“And I did. I delivered you from the greater forest, have I not?”
“But…” Her voice trails off as she searches for words to convince me to carry her.
How had I ever thought that she was of the strongest among the Penticari?
“You’re cruel,” she sobs, her face pinched, looking like she might cry.
“You would not be alive if not for me, and I would not be so burdened if not for you.”
She stomps her stupid, frail foot on the earth. “We’re not made for walking days on end.”
“Then perhaps you should have not been so unruly as to get yourself exiled.”
She spins away from me in a rush, but slowly turns back.
“Those men…who were they?”
“That is not for me to say.”
“How do you know we weren’t followed?”
“The island is large, and they would not dare come within a three-days’ walk of our village.”
Her eyes draw to the forest floor, and she wraps her arms around her body.
During her time away from her tribe, her spirit has withered, making her a shell of her once proud self. Not that any of the other Penticari would fare much better. Some would not have survived.
Still, I see their weaknesses more clearly now. How they are lacking in ways that should have been obvious sooner.
“I can’t go on much longer,” Amber huffs, as though to prove my point.
To think I had once wanted to mate her, thinking she was the strongest of the Penticari. Her fleeing from her people only strengthened that notion, and I volunteered to bring her back to the village, hoping I could practice my courtship skills.
I traveled with her for many days, toward areas I knew would not be heavy with beasts, and taught her how to use my weapons while she chattered on about her life.
It did not take long for me to realize courting Amber was folly.
At first, she was receptive to my advances, but instead of getting to know each other, as I had hoped, she wanted to discuss the politics of our tribes, what my place was in my own, and how much support I could garner.
As if I would ever try to overthrow Grixis.
Admittedly, I said a few careless things when I thought him soft, but it was never power I hungered for. It was honor and strength.
Perhaps it was her sharp tongue that had me thinking Amber might possess these qualities, but when her chatter turned to schemes, I saw her for what she really was, and whatever charm she had in my eyes disappeared.
Unfortunately, by the time I realized my mistake, we had already traveled too far, into unknown danger.
“If we hurry, we can make it to my village before midday.”
