“You know who I am?”
“Aye. As does every man here.”
“Then do yourself a favor and release me,” she hissed, leaning forward with a mulish mien, hoping her wrath would intimidate him.
The man had the nerve to chuck her beneath her chin!
“You’re adorable when your color’s up, lady, even in this darkness.”
“Release me! Now!”
“Alas, I cannot,” the annoying soldier replied with a sigh as he rose to his full height. Sonah hated having to crane her neck back to glare up at him. “I need to keep you safe, lady. So many are after you just now. It’d be a shame to leave you at the mercy of men with ill intentions.”
Sonah’s brows rose to her hairline as she gaped at him. “You wretch!Youhave ill intentions! Release me at once or I will?—”
“Aye?”
Sonah fumed, her eyes narrowing to slits. “I will tell my friends how poorly I’ve been treated, and they’ll gut you like a fish.”
The man crouched down so fast, Sonah jerked back.
“Your friends?” the oaf, Leander, whispered. Glancing over his shoulder, he leaned closer, his sour breath fanning her face. Thank gods he had awful breath. It made her disgust more believable. “You are fully capable of gutting me yourself, are you not?”
Sonah’s scalp prickled. “What do you mean?”
He regarded her in silence. As it stretched, Sonah felt as if the man was looking into her mind and reading her thoughts.
You are ugly. You are a disgusting human being. There is absolutely nothing redeemable about you.
There. Let him read those thoughts.
The buffoon smiled at her as if he had, in fact, read her thoughts.
And saw the lie in them.
Shifting uncomfortably, Sonah groaned. Her stomach decided it wanted to be heard, letting out an undignified growl loud enough to wake every soldier within ten miles.
“Eat, lady.”
“I’m not hungry.”
Her stomach denied her lie angrily.
“Are you not?” he asked, his voice rough like he’d been smoking a donderis pipe the nobles at the White Palace enjoyed after dinner.
“Nowyou’re concerned about my welfare?” Sonah snorted and turned her head, dismissing him.
“Eat, please. You’ll need your strength.”
Sonah scoffed, watching him from corner of her eye. He was as filthy as the rest of them, as if he constantly slept on the ground. His uniform was torn, either from the fighting earlier or some other scrap he and his men got into.
The Rivermen were Heylisia’s river guard, patrolling the major rivers and tributaries throughout the empire. She’d never actually seen a Riverman in person, but the firstborns loved to share stories of them at the palace.
The only thing remotely resembling Heylisian about this soldier was his clean-shaven face. Pity he didn’t splash some of the water he shaved with on the rest of him. Sonah scrunched her nose.
“I don’t plan on being here that long,” Sonah muttered.
To her surprise, the man laughed. She turned, blinking up at the transformation of his face as he grinned back at her.
