“Nothing, nothing.” I tried to mask how humorous I found it, but clearly failed.
He did one of those huffy laughs. “Well?”
Weighing my options, I couldn’t find a downside to telling him. Sure, he could still kill me, or his friends could. Either way, knowing my name wouldn’t stop that from happening, so I didn’t see the harm.
“Ro.”
There was silence for a beat before he said, “And you made fun ofmyname.”
“Hey!” I gently nudged his ribs with my shoulder.
How he managed a laugh in his condition, I couldn’t fathom. The velvety depth of it caressed my skin. The scent of him hit me at that same moment—notes of saffron mingled with musk.
I was in unknown territory, in a litany of ways. The roles I played usually revolved around me being unseen, unknown. Swift and silent, in and out before anyone was the wiser. Or, blending in so well, I became nearly invisible, like a guest at the castle.
This was so dangerously out of my depths. “What will happen once we reach your outpost?” I asked, squashing the lighthearted mood.
“I’ve been trying to figure that out.” His voice sounded weighed down. How had he thought this upcoming interaction would go? Had he changed his mind about it during our time together?
He continued, “I’ll have to try and convince them that your friend is a liability. We were sent to retrieve food, and she is certainly not that. I don’t hold much faith that they’ll listen, though, if they found out she wields. My guess is they’ll want to use her as a bargaining chip.”
“For what?”
“To lessen their punishment for failing to bring back game. They should know that their fates are already sealed. From the moment my team was sent after they didn’t return, their graves were already marked. I assume they thought she’d traveled this far north to join The Order, but in her weakened condition they spotted an opportunity.”
“Why would it matter if she wields?” A heavy sense of dread settled over me.
“So they can drain her magic and give it to another.”
Drain. Not replicate, not share, drain. I recalled a time Mira explained that’d nearly happened to her, when we’d been sitting by a campfire and she’d recanted the events that unfolded after we’d run into each other at the castle—literally.
Suddenly, it clicked. This was the group responsible for stealing magic wielders. The Order, he’d called it. Had we notstopped that ship, it would have happened to Melody, too. I suddenly felt queasy. “What happens to someone when they’re drained?”
“They die.”
“Gods, what kind of people are you running with?! Why are they so brutal?!”
“I told you. Power.”
It was hard to fathom that anyone would value magic over life. Not only were they slaughtering people for power, but they murdered their own. For “failing”. It was sick and twisted and—realization hit me. “You haven’t retrieved any game either.”
“Nope,” he stated all too casually.
“Areyougoing to be killed?” The thought had my heart picking up its pace.
“If I don’t return within the next three days with food, yes.”
I scanned the empty forest, not even a chirp among the trees. “You said it yourself, the animals have fled. Why go back at all, then?” He shouldn’t.
“It’s not totally barren, just mostly. I have a few days to figure something out.” We swayed in rhythm together, my support compensating for his limp.
“And if you can’t?”
“Don’t worry about me. You might have just sped up the process.” He gestured to his leg. “Probably the more humane way to go, anyway.”
I grimaced, guilt destroying me with every reference to what I’d done, every wince of pain.
“Hey, I’m only joking. There’s ointment at the outpost that’ll help stave off infection. I’ll survive the discomfort.”
