“Is that what that was for? Satisfy the thicket to get us out of here?” I gestured to the teeming abundance of life around us. That now included Noth’s salamander quietly munching on some dragonflies.
“I already knew I liked sex.” I hadn’t known it was the key to my magic. Hurt welled up that he just used me.
“If that’s what you want to think.” His shrug drove me insane.
“Then I’m leaving.” I put my head through my shirt. I would brood about how he seemed right and sex seemed to fill my power betterthan any witchcraft practice ever had.
“It's the middle of the night and we have food, fire and a fine bed. My mount has returned. Trust me, we can resume our battle tomorrow when I send you home.”
I gritted my teeth. Why did he have to make sense? What if the wood didn’t release me without him?
I crawled back into the bower fully clothed, the mess we made already wiped clean. A large cattail-fluff blanket appeared in the bower's corner.
“No pillows?” I said to the thicket, still mad I remained no closer to my revenge than when I started. I fell for yet another foolish man trick.
Noth smothered a laugh and made us some pillows out of his extra silk shirts in his saddlebags. I scooted to the furthest end of the bower with my homemade pillow and left him, still naked, outside my tightly wrapped blanket.
“Fuck off over there.” I pointed to the other end of the admittedly small space. I didn’t just falter at revenge; I slept with my worst enemy. Embarrassment tinged the tips of my ears. I wanted to kill something. Preferably him. My anger warred with the kernel of hope that Rue would be proud of me in this fucked-up situation. I unlocked my power somehow, which had been a greater quest than any revenge, even if it spent into the thicket.
“Now you're just being silly.” Noth picked me up, blanket and all, like a caterpillar in a cocoon, and spread me across his chest as he fell on his back.
I pushed on his sharp jaw, afraid I’d cut myself. “I don't cuddle.”
“Who said anything about cuddling?” His low voice grazed my ear. “I want your hands where I can feel them so I don't end up with a knife in my ribs again.”
I squirmed on principle against his iron grip. Pleased he took me seriously. After a few fruitless pushes, I settled the best I could. Who would have guessed a murder attempt, a near trampling, a never-ending maze, two mind-rending orgasms and a full stomach would wear a girl out?
Noth’s soft snores didn't seem to relax his hold on me but his warmth finally liquified my bones. With a final shudder, my muscles gave out.
I would definitely try another murder… tomorrow.
Chapter 5
Noth
Imissed Gertrude. She was much simpler to deal with and might have stopped last night’s terrors that my Nightmare generously replayed over and over. I pretended they didn’t wake me in a cold sweat, but it was tougher when I had a deadly companion watching my every move. Lucky me, Maggie slept through my twitching and my too-tight grip on her.
The fact she hadn’t killed me in my sleep meant I had to watch her do a dizzying morning routine that put her ankles around her ears. I doubt my legs would do that. But when she started the fighting bits of her workout, I had to smother my laugh in my silk pillow. Yaya’s instructions, corrections and cane strikes ran through my head.
When she finished, I closed my eyes again and arranged myself in a particularly tempting sprawl. Too bad all I got was a boot toe in my side.
“Get up, Your Highness. Since the thicket seems to love you. You get to tell it we’ve given it all we can.”
I peeked out of the bower, watching Maggie’s eyes dilate as the blanket slipped down my front. As mad as she acted last night, she looked resigned to needing my help this morning. The thicket showed off its new growth–the bower verdant. Itshouldlet us go. Breathing deeply, I took in the scent of crushed grass and her poppy. Best get to it. The lush landscape made it a bright start to the day which had me dressing, packing the salamander and tossing Maggie on it sideways.
She pushed up. “I’m not a sack of grain. I can ride like a normal person.”
With a step into the stirrup, I mounted up behind her, pressing her down into my lap. “The worst your busy hands can do down there is shine my boots. When you stop acting like a little killer, you can ride like a normal person.”
I balanced her with one hand between her shoulder blades and one on her ass. The hand on her cheeks didn’t thrill her if her death stare was any indication, but she was soon too busy trying to stay on the salamander and off its slime to complain.
A kick and the salamander took off. I didn’t miss the way the branches combed through my hair as we left, but a saucy wink to the humming forest and the thicket obliged our exit, opening up right onto the road.
The previous day churned in my mind. I didn’t exactlymean for things to go that far with Maggie. Her determination and unreasonable assurance of her own skill were a siren song. Should I have kept more of my clothes on and still shown her how her magic worked? Where would the fun be in that?
It ate up the time I was supposed to be winning the Calix. Godd objects didn’t grow on trees. Elven Godd objects even rarer. When all the Godds died, the objects they left behind became invaluable. Some of the Elden races, like mine, just kept them in a closet somewhere out of habit from when they used to worship those Godds. Some of the Godd objects proved practically useless. Who wanted a vessel that poured out an endless amount of acid? Or an amulet that made pigs sleep? Some had more obvious uses, like the Calix, which bestowed prosperity, fertility, and magical ability. Those were King-makers. So much power that all of the Harrowland’s ‘might makes right’ hierarchy would bow to it and the wielder. I had more magic than most Elves, with my mixed heritage, but even I couldn’t bestow fertility on my people.
I understood why they would follow anyone who might even potentially mend that. Beyond the way to reclaim my rightful place, I owed it to my territory to at least attempt to restore their children to them. Nothing in my first reign had worked.
