“Do you know how to get there?” Lex asked.
Aydra yawned audibly and shook her head. “I don’t. Hoping you could use your instincts to take us there,” she said as she smiled sleepily at her Second.
An amused huff left Lex’s lips. “You should get some sleep if we’ll be rising so early,” she told her.
“Not yet,” Aydra groaned. “Have to send off the Dreamer captain first. Where is he?”
Lex gave an upwards nod towards the other side of the fire. “His bags are packed. He was just waiting on you to come back.”
Aydra sighed heavily and stood again. “I suppose I should get rid of him then.”
Lex smirked at her. “Have fun.”
Aydra made her way across the field to where Ash was standing. He greeted her with a full hug, obvious that he’d been drinking with some of the Venari who she was sure were simply making fun of him.
He wrapped his arm around her shoulders, the slur of his eyes gazing down at her. “You’re as beautiful in this forest as you are in your own kingdom, your majesty,” he cooed in her ear.
Aydra’s jaw set. “Come, Ash. I’ll escort you out.”
She tugged on his hand and led him away from the clearing. In silence, they walked through the darkened trees, all the way to where his horse had been taken and left. The cold of the forest circled them, and she eyed the Venari who were above them in silence in the trees.
“You fought well today,” Ash told her as they reached his horse.
Aydra ignored him. “You’ll go to the Village and then I will meet you back in Magnice in seven days. We must report to my brother what went on here.”
Ash frowned, his balance only wavering a second as he stared at her. “You’re staying here another day?”
“I have some things to take care of with the Venari and Honest commanders. Myself and my Second will leave in two sunrises and go straight back to the castle. I expect you there when I arrive.”
“Wait—” he grabbed her arm as she started to turn, and he pulled her closer. “Is that how you would leave me? After going into battle today, slaughtering men at my side… and you would let me leave with as cold of an attitude as the winter frost?”
The prickled facade on her face didn’t fade. “What would you like, Ash? A private fuck here on the forest floor?”
He smirked at her, and then leaned forward to whisper, “I’ll save it for when we’re back in your bed,” in her ear.
The kiss he pressed to her lips then, she didn’t savor. She pushed just slightly on his chest as he started to deepen their embrace. His eyes narrowed down at her, and she pulled her faux facade from the bottom of her core to the surface.
“Don’t get too hasty, Captain…” Her hand grazed the front of his pants, and she felt him quiver in her arms. “You’ll never make it to your Village in such a state.”
He smiled and took a wobbled step back, kissing her hands before letting her go. “I’ll see you in a week, my Lady.”
Once Ash’s shadow disappeared into the forest, Aydra pulled her cloak tighter around her shoulders. She closed her eyes and allowed the noises of the forest to fill her core.
Crickets. Birds. Wind rustling the leaves on the ground. There was a peace to it that her being craved. Different from the peace of the kingdom that she so despised. This was an urgent peace, one that both calmed her and filled her with adrenaline.
Ash being in the forest that day and on the battlefield had made her uncomfortable. It were as though she were on the field with someone scrutinizing her every move, trying to shield her from the dangers that she knew how to handle. The last thing she ever wanted was for someone to think she needed help as he’d treated her that day.
She honestly wished she’d accidentally sliced his throat.
Maybe then the mess of it would be over.
The Venari and Honest would never had said anything different, and none would have been the wiser. Her brother would have perhaps listened to her then, but then again… he also may have thought the Venari to have done it on purpose, and sent an army to the south.
She groaned inwardly at the thought of having to go back to him.
—“He treats you as a possession.”
Aydra’s eyes opened, and she turned just slightly as Draven came walking up around her side, stepping over the fallen trees and limbs on the forest floor, hands shoved in his pockets.
