“About that, how about you begin talking and spit out why the fuck you’re being hunted without trying to change the subject.”
His eyes harden, and I look at the bag he had managed to bring along. “I’ll tell you whilst I bandage that up for you.”
He doesn’t reply, and I walk over to the bag, unzipping it. If he wants me to stop, he’ll tell me.
“Sit down.” I motion towards one of the boulders on this high-up terrain that he’s brought us to. One of the perks of being a sky siren is that he has the entire sky at his mercy, but it’s still dangerous. We may be found.
“I don’t take orders, darling.”
“Please?” I add sarcastically, my voice poisonously sweet.
He looks away, but he strides over to the largest rock and, sitting down on it, he touches his hand to the wound, blood covering his fingers.
“I hope I didn’t leave a trail…” Kai murmurs.
“I don’t think so; we were too high up, and if any blood did manage to reach the ground, it would have been intercepted by the trees. I think we’re fine.”
He observes me for a moment as I take out the first aid kit and kneel before him.
“You said that with a lot of confidence. Do you have any experience with tracking?”
I’m silent before I nod truthfully. “A little.”
“Oh yeah? So how about you start spitting out the truth?”
I open the healing balm and scoop some out. What do I tell him? I reach for his flank with hesitation. I glance up at him, but he’s simply staring at me, his golden eyes unblinking.
I take a deep, shuddering breath, gently placing my hand on his side. He doesn’t even move, and I slowly smooth it over the wound. Luckily for him, it’s not too deep.
He’s waiting, and I’ve delayed long enough.
“I didn’t lie to you when I said my sisters slandered me; it’s the truth. I’m different, and everyone hates me. I’m the outcast, the lone one who doesn’t fit in with my people. They say I’m cursed, just like my mother was, because I look different. Iamdifferent and, apparently, I’m the harbinger of everything bad.” I smile humourlessly, remembering the beatings, the discrimination and the hatred I faced at the hands of my stepmother and sisters when I was younger. The physical abuse was more back then, but as I grew older, the things they did were hidden behind masks and carried out by others, so it couldn’t be traced back to them.
“I think that’s my title. But wouldn’t they be glad you’re gone?”
“I guess, but when I ran, I heard from his… men that he wanted me dead. I know my father is angry because I disobeyed him, but I don’t know what I might have done that triggered him so badly that he wants me dead.”
“So your father wants you dead… then what does Morcant have to do with this?” Kai’s voice is low.
I stiffen, fear erupting within me, and I shake my head.
“He’s a close friend of my father.”
“Hmm, so close that Morcant is helping him in retrieving you?”
“That’s why I’m so scared… I didn’t think he’d go to the King,” I lie again. I want to tell him the truth, but he’s a sky siren.
“Why is your father so desperate to get you back?”
I wipe my hands before picking up the bandage and unravelling it slowly.
“I’m not sure; something might have happened in my absence.”
“Running isn’t always the answer.”
“Yeah… but when you’re me, sometimes there’s no other option.”
“There’s always an option, darling, always.”
