“So help me, Odeyssa, I swear to the Goddess I will throw you off and let you plummet to your death if you keep fucking suggesting that!” There’s a feeling I can’t shake. Although I find it odd that she won’t let it go, there’s another part of me that thinks she wants to separate Voraxis and me. After all, we did just establish that it is theoneplace in Siderium he can’t go.
“Do that and you’ll have a target on your head, punishable by the mark of banishment and sent to the forest for killing the princess of Nefarium.” It isn’t malicious, the way she says it, but like she thinks she outsmarted me, almost smug.
“Newsflash, in case you haven’t noticed, there’salreadya target on my head. And wherever they send me—whatever they do to me—it can’t be worse than what I’ve already endured.” I feel her body deflate behind me, and the rest of the flight is quiet.
As the night grows longer and the temperature drops, Voraxis makes the decision to stop for the night. None of us has uttered a word or so much as sneezed the rest of the flight.
Voraxis touches down on a patch of grass, and neither Odeyssa nor I wastes any time dismounting.
Where are we?The trees are different from the others I’ve seen since being here. They’re taller, skinnier, but the leaves arefuller, making them appear larger than they truly are.
Just outside the Kingdom of Vaiterra,Voraxis answers.
Do you have any clue how this is going to go?
Well, they don’t have a barrier. But like I said, I haven’t returned since the leadership changed.
Noted.
Voraxis skillfully gets the saddle off—how, I have no clue—but it’s nice to know I don’t have to do it every time. He lets me know he’s heading out to hunt, and honestly, I don’t blame him. It was a long flight, and he did haul all our crap the whole way.
Once he’s gone, it just leaves me and Odeyssa. She rummages through the pockets holding whatever Atticus put in there for us. I still find it odd he didn’t come, but maybe there’s a reason I’m not aware of.
All these secrets are giving me hives.
I wait until she’s done searching for whatever she needs, walks away, and disappears into the brush of the trees before going over there myself. My stomach rumbles with the festering hunger I’ve had since this morning, and the chill from the night is finally starting to set it. Inside the pockets, I find mounds of food, way more than we got in town. Different fruits and vegetables, meats and breads are all stacked and piled together.
This is way more than we could possibly use on this trip. Maybe he thought we were feeding Voraxis too. I grab an apple and the package of strawberries and then go in search of a blanket.
In the second pouch, I find blankets, coats, shirts, pants, socks…undergarments. Any and all clothing items we could ever need are all in here.
Maybe I’ve underestimated how long this trip is going to be.
Wrapping one of the blankets around my shoulders, I leave the saddle—not that I could move it if I wanted to—and decide against going after Odeyssa. She probably needs some time to cool off, and truth be told, so do I.
Sitting on the ground, I lean against a tree, making sure to keep the saddle and the direction Odeyssa went in my line of sight. Exhaustion begins to take hold, and I fight against it, focusing on putting one berry into my mouth at a time. But my eyelids start to droop, and it becomes increasingly more difficult to bring my hand to my mouth.
Then, before I know it, I snuggle deeper into the blanket, allowing the tree to bear all my weight. Just as I’m about to drift off, dreaming of a different time—a different life—where I wasn’t constantly running, or fighting, and could finally justbe…an unfamiliar voice snaps me back to the present.
“Look what we have here.”
FIFTEEN
Kallie
We have company.
Voraxis replies without hesitation,On my way.
“What’s a little thing like you doing all the way out here?” the man asks tauntingly. His face is concealed by the shadows offered by the trees, but the voice isn’t familiar. My eyes move past him, darting briefly to the tree line Odeyssa snuck off too. If he noticed, he didn’t acknowledge I might not be alone.
“Find something, Sergeant?” another person sounds to my right, but I keep my eyes on the stranger in front of me.
“Someone,” he clarifies. “But she’s not talking.” The leaves on the ground crunch under the weight of the other person as they walk closer, still keeping their faces obscure from the moonlight. I don’t move, staying pressed against the tree.
“Did you carry that thing?” the first man inquires, hiking a thumb over his shoulder at the saddle.
Wordlessly, I stand on shaky legs, letting the blanket fall frommy shoulders. “I don’t want any trouble, but I think you should be on your way.” My voice is calm, a razor-thin veil over the heat building beneath my skin. Every instinct in me screams to run, to fight, to scorch the realm and leave nothing but ash behind.
