He looked at Seda with her pleading eyes. “Please, Cahir. He was not trying to hurt me. He was helping me.”
“I don’t think he’s worried about mehurtingyou,” Kalon said loud enough for everyone to hear.
Cahir flew into a rage again. He pushed Seren off and lunged for the annoying prick, but the giant brute, Ojore, punched him across the face, hard. He fell back onto the ground with a loud grunt.
“Cahir!” Seda ran up to him and held onto his chest. “Why did you punch him like that?” She turned around and looked at Ojore with anger written across her face.
“He is acting like a jealous fool,” Ojore said with a shrug.
Cahir pushed himself up and marched over to Ojore. “I swear to fucking god if you punch me one more time…”
“You will what? Strangle me with magic?” Ojore provoked.
Cahir went deathly silent, his magic now simmering beneath his skin, attempting to break free and kill these fucking assholes. No one said anything for a long breath, as they all stared at Cahir and Ojore.
“What does that mean?” Seda broke the silence as she grasped Cahir’s arm and reached for his bruising face.
He looked down at her and said, “He is an asshole.”
He broke away from Seda and marched up to Roya, seething in frustration. “Have the Corvids check the area around here. We want to have lunch.” He walked away, needing to distance himself from the group.
The ten ofthem ate their meager lunch in awkward silence. Cahir and Kalon were at opposite sides of a long, shared log. Seda was not sitting next to either of them.
“So, uhhh… the weather is nicer here than in the dunes,” Askold stated, trying to start a conversation.
“Shut up, idiot,” Ojore said to him.
Everyone went back to eating silently, slowly munching on dried meats, and the nuts and berries Ojore gathered along the way. The sounds of their chewing and the soft chirping of finches nearby filled the quiet.
Roya slowly began to laugh. As everyone turned to look at her, her laughter grew louder. She wiped her eyes and said, “Pathetic men.”
Ferona chuckled, and they both looked over at Feich, who just shrugged.
“I’m so glad that my bruised face is of humor to you, Roya,” Cahir sneered from next to her.
Benny chuckled and then cleared his throat when Cahir glared at him. “Uhhh… that does look pretty gnarly. The last one just healed.”
Roya laughed again, slapping her knee, and Benny quickly hid his smile with his hand.
“Whatever.” Cahir stood up and stretched his legs, locking eyes with Kalon.
Kalon flipped him off and then licked his finger, sucking it into his mouth. Red-hot anger flooded Cahir’s face. He knew exactly whatthat meant, and he wasn’t about to let him get that close to her again. He wanted to rip his fucking finger off and repeatedly shove it into his eye sockets so he could never look at Seda again.
“Do you have a death wish?” Ferona asked Kalon from her position as she chewed on a cricket she found on the log.Kalon responded with a wiggle of his eyebrows.
Seda didn’t say anything, silently staring down at her hands. He needed to talk to her, to explain, to tell her how he felt. She must be confused.
No, he couldn’t do that. He couldn’t risk their friendship by confessing his feelings. He would control himself.
His warring emotions were causing a rift, and he wasn’t in a place to tell her anything, not yet. He needed to remain her friend, hergods-damned-friend,and he needed to remember that Seda always had a choice. If Seda chose to be with another man, that decision was hers and hers alone. He knew that. What has been going on with him lately? He sighed and looked at Kalon. “Truce?”
“Depends.”
“On?” His patience was already thin. If this bastard kept pushing it…
“Onyou. I was just being friendly and helping Seda. There was no need to attack me. She is barefoot and walking through these woods. Maybe if you weren’t trying to lead from the front today, like a commandeering asshole, you could have seen that. I promise you I had no intentions of hurting her.”
Cahir felt the burning sensation of shame. He had forgotten about her lack of shoes. He was so focused on trying to control his own emotions and lust that he asked her to walk today.
