Except the next morning, Ellina accidentally skimmed her fingers against his as she reached for her canteen. She met his eye. She smiled a little.
Later when they were practicing elven gestures, she cupped his hands in hers, showing him how to move his wrists, what it meant.
He brushed her with his shoulder as they walked. She didn’t pull away.
He told himself it was wrong. If she didn’t fear him, she should. Reeking gods,heshould fearher.
But he didn’t. She fascinated him. The way she moved. Her bright golden eyes. How she insisted he learn elvish, insisted he at least try. Venick felt a stab of guilt at his lie, hastily shoved away. He instead pretended to learn in order to please her. He chuckled at the words she chose to teach him,feignandclosedandblue. He watched the way she enunciated the vowels, how her lips curled around them, and he mimicked her movements, leaning in close. He found excuses to push into her space. Found himself wondering what would happen if he pushed a little farther. If he closed the distance between her body and his.
The vision brought him up short. The warmth fizzled out of him.
No.
No.
He wasn’t thinking that. He was thinking about reaching the border, and finding a worthy redemption sacrifice to absolve him of his crimes, and returning to Irek. He was thinking about his homeland, and survival, and ending his banishment.
He wasn’t thinking about how Ellina was softening, opening, warming.
He wasn’t thinking about the first time he’d heard her laugh, or how it brought the world into color. What it would be like to pull her under him, to dent the earth with their bodies, to explore her with his mouth. He could never think that, because he had been here before, hadn’t he? He had fallen in love with an elf, and broken her laws, selfishly,selfishly, and she had loved him back, and she was dead because of it.
Venick reminded himself that he would be home soon. Once they reached Tarrith-Mour, he could cross back into the mainlands. He would never see Ellina again.
He told himself it was for the better.
???
“That,” Dourin said as Venick approached the fire, eyeing the dead rabbit on his belt, “is repulsive.”
Venick ignored him. He moved across the elf’s line of sight, sitting heavily on the forest floor. They were ten days out of Kenath and gods knew how many leagues from anywhere else. Ellina had promised another day’s walk before they reached Tarrith-Mour and the southern edge of the border where he would be safe to return to the mainlands. She promised nothing beyond that, and gave him deliberate silence when he asked.
Venick wouldn’t complain. His foot was nearly healed thanks to the medicinal leaves—They are called isphnal, Venick. Say it back to me—Ellina had found and the nightly salve she used to wrap it. The walking wasn’t so bad now, not like before. And the path was clear, the weather warm and dry. He didn’t mind sleeping under the open sky. He wouldn’t mind the traveling so much, either, if it were just him and Ellina.
Venick studied Dourin. After that first night, the other elf had started walking and camping with them again. But he was still unhappy, still wary. He glanced at Venick now, his gaze settling on the new weave of bandages poking from Venick’s boot. His eyes spoke of his displeasure.
Venick turned his concentration back to the dead rabbit. His stomach grumbled hungrily and gods, it had been too long since he’d had a real meal. He’d been living off moss and berries and whatever else elves ate, andthatexplained why they were all so slender.
He unwound the rabbit from its snare, then began skinning the thing. Had he been back home he might have worked slowly, careful not to nick the pelt, which he would use to line hats or boots. Not now. Now he cared only about the meat underneath, plump from easy summer living. He slid his knife under the skin, then worked his fingers through andpulledto reveal shining muscle. He cut off the head and legs with asnap, then into the belly to remove the guts.
“That isrepulsive,” Dourin repeated.
“It’s good meat,” Venick replied. “Where’s Ellina?”
“I thought she was with you. As usual.”
“She wasn’t.” Venick inched closer to the fire, which was almost too small for cooking, but could not be any larger less they risk unwanted attention. He began separating his catch into parts. “She told me she was going to help you build the fire.”
“She toldmeshe was going to help you hunt.” Dourin’s mouth thinned in disapproval. “She lied to us both.”
Which would not have been possible had she and Dourin been speaking in elvish, but elves were careful about the way they used their language. They spoke to each other in mainlander when the conversation was casual. It was a way to trade trust—which Ellina had now broken.
“Maybe she wants us to spend quality time together,” Venick said. That would be like her, lying to get her way. But stupid, utterly stupid, given the tension that had grown between Venick and Dourin these past days.
“I assure you, human, I have no interest in sharing quality time.”
“Huh. And here I thought we were bonding.”
Venick yanked hard at the rabbit’s insides, hard enough to splatter blood. Dourin leapt to his feet, hissing.
