“At least buy me dinner first!” she shouted back, making Lephas laugh.
Now Lori was more secure, the commander continued tracking ahead. The wind whipped at him, and he wished he had his thick fur snood, but couldn't bring himself to feel too bad for lending it to the faerie. Besides, it smelt great, apparently. Lephas grinned to himself.
Gradually, the slope started to even out And, though it was still slippery underfoot, the gradient became easier to traverse.
“Do you know where the track we were following yesterday is? I'm having a hard time seeing anything I recognise in this damn weather,” Haros shouted.
“We'll have to work it out when we get to the bottom and take it a bit at a time. “The snow will have covered a lot of our tracks from yesterday, which is good from an ambush point of view, but not so great for my navigation,” Lephas replied breathlessly. Though Lori wasn't heavy, carrying her was putting extra strain on his muscles.
“Surely any men Lazuli has sent for her won't be out in this?”
“I wouldn't have thought so, but you can't be too careful.”
They continued on in silence, Lephas paying close attention to every footfall. As they journeyed, his thoughts turned to the woman he had draped over his shoulder yet again.
It was unusual how quickly she had adapted to being their prisoner. Though he didn't doubt that she was wary of his men and himself, she didn't seem to be too concerned about being captured.
He supposed maybe they hadn't given her much reason to be fearful of them. He was sure sleeping curled up next to a warm fire, being healed and given food, wasn't what she had been expecting.
Which was good. It was the way Zelrus had instructed it and was the way they were with all prisoners of war, if they were able to be.
It helped that Lori was – how had Haros put it? – a 'good looking piece'. It definitely made it easier to be kind to her.
All in all, Lephas had been pleased with the way things had gone so far. He had made good time, caught his mark and developed a rapport with her. Zelrus would be pleased.
He was sure his king would be less pleased if he knew how Lephas was feeling towards said mark. He fought to keep his mind off the princess's shapely behind, which was no easy feat when it was right next to his face.
Lephas wondered what was happening back in Awrelwood. Was Lazuli distraught to find one of his daughters had run away? Did he even care? The king was so heartless, Lephas doubted he had the ability to care about anything.
He would never understand the thinking of men like Lazuli. The king’s hatred for demons was unfathomable – what had his kind done to deserve such treatment?
Lazuli, on the other hand, had done plenty to inspire hatred from the demon people. Families that had once been farmers, until King Lazuli had taken their crops and their land. Men and women that’d had jobs – blacksmiths, tailors, medicine men – until King Lazuli had burnt their villages down.
Demons had more than enough cause to hate faeries and want their revenge, and yet whenever Lephas spent time with innocent civilians, they rarely spoke of it. Alltheycared about was returning to their land, watching their children grow up and being able to provide for their families.
He himself led a relatively comfortable life in Banesteppe – thoughnot comfortable by Lori's standards, he was certain – Lephas knew many that were very under-privileged.
Lephas could not abide by such mindless greed... He simply did not understand it. It was the main reason he had enlisted under King Zelrus when the young man had first made his presence known ten years ago.
When he was a boy, Lephas's father had often told him tales around the hearth of King Tennul's kindness and how highly respected he was. He had been in awe.
Then, of course, Oriel had come into his life. Though three years Lephas’s junior, he had been grateful and honoured to be befriended by him. The demon people did not recognise Oriel as a royal, but Lephas had – despite the man's faerie traits.
When Zelrus had first taken back leadership of Banesteppe, Oriel had been called to support him, andhe had invited Lephas to join him. The moment a chance to serve and protect Tennul's sons had arisen, he had taken it. Thus far, he had not been disappointed.
Zelrus embodied all the same honourable traits his father before him had. Lephas was proud to serve him, even if it was indirectly through Oriel.
Lephas shook himself. That was why he needed to remain focussed. Zelrus and Oriel were relying on him; he couldn't get distracted now.
Who knew – maybe when they got Lori back to Banesteppe and Zelrus had finished interrogating her, Lephas would have a chance to get to know her better.
Though no doubt the princess would probably choose Oriel or Haros over him. Lephas supposed he shouldn't be surprised that Haros's silver tongue was already working its magic on Lori.
Lephas was significantly less charming than his friends. He had only managed to bed four women in his adult life, and three of those had been thanks to Oriel in their younger years, when he had been a little keener and less ashamed to let his best friend help him. Now he was well into his thirties, he was embarrassed to let Oriel charm women on his behalf.
He was much more the 'strong and silent' type, which tended to translate to 'boring' with most women he met. They wanted wild, spontaneous and fun-loving – Oriel and Haros's main method of operation.
He didn't think he was bad in bed (at least he hoped he wasn't) and had never received any complaints from the women he had spent the night with, but he was under no illusion that he was any kind of expert.
