“There’s n-no way. I’m a w-witch. I left no trail. You c-couldn’t have been tracking me this w-whole time, not unless you have heightened senses, and the only people who have that are witches with the G-gift of—”
“Venator.”
“You k-know about the Gift ofvenator?”
“I have the Gift ofvenator.”
“W-what? No, no, no. Your Power isfuror. You t-told me.” Ena was feeling slightly hysterical now, her entire plan having blown up in her face. She was shaking and shivering, feeling more delirious on her feet by the minute.
“I have both.”
“Both?! How is that p-possible?”
“Do we have to discuss this now? You’re fucking freezing and so am I. We need to get under that shelter.”
“Yes! Answer the d-damn question.”
“Fine!” he yelled, looking completely exasperated. “I’m half witch. On my mother’s side. Happy?”
“What?!” Ena had to sit down. She was actually feeling lightheaded. This was way too much information to absorb when only minutes ago, she’d been about to contact Greya and had finally been on her way to getting out of this nightmare.
She swayed and stumbled backwards to a tree, but Ty caught her arm, steadying her.
“As much as I’d love to stand here in the freezing rain while you descend into hysterics, I’m cold as shit, so let’s get under that overhang before you completely lose it, okay?” Ty said pedantically.
Ena jerkily nodded her head, and followed him around the pool to the overhang.
She felt instant relief as she stepped under it, the rain finally ceasing its incessant pounding onto her hood and shoulders. She swayed again slightly as she made her way to the rock wall,and proceeded to slide down it until her ass hit the ground. She cradled her face in her hands and tried to hold back the sorrow that threatened to overwhelm her.
“While you do… whatever it is you’re doing, I’m going to start a fire so we can dry off a bit,” she heard Ty say. But she didn’t look up. She didn’t even move.
Ena vaguely heard him puttering around, gathering sticks and breaking them, as she shivered in her corner. Her mind had ceased working for the most part, too overwhelmed by the cold and the new information to function properly. By the time she dragged her head out of her hands, she saw that he’d arranged a nice pile of small and medium-sized sticks with some dry leaves from just inside the cave. He proceeded to strike his knife on a piece of flint he pulled from his pocket, and the sight of it got Ena’s brain slowly functioning again.
“S-stop with that. Let me,” she said, her teeth still chattering incessantly. She still didn’t quite know what the fuck was going on, but she knew she needed to get warm.
She approached Ty’s pile of sticks and leaves and spoke her spellword.
{Ignis}
The leaves caught fire instantly, but it took longer for the soaked-through branches to catch. Ena had to start the fire again with more dry leaves from the cave entrance before they held any sort of flame, and then Ty fed the fire slowly, grabbing progressively larger pieces of wood until a nice, consistent blaze burned before them.
Ena was enraptured with it and didn’t move a muscle as she held her hands as close as she could possibly get to it without burning them. The numbness slowly left them, but was quickly replaced with a painful, stinging sensation.
She finally looked up at the sound of movement to see Ty taking off his shirt and coat. She couldn’t help but notice that hisarms and shoulders were covered in more tattoos, like the ones that were on his head, and they rippled as he proceeded to wring as much water out of his clothes as possible before laying them down on the ground next to the fire. Next, he moved to take off his pants.
Ena averted her eyes. On top of everything else that was making her hyperventilate, the last thing she needed was a glimpse of his perfectly chiseled ass.
By the time she looked up again, he’d put on a spare shirt from his leather saddlebag. The shirt was long and ended at his mid-thigh, making him semi-decent again.
He walked over to her, holding out another spare shirt. “You can have this if you want to get out of your wet clothes.”
She looked up at him. His face was hard and businesslike, with no hint of kindness or concern. Although she hated the idea of taking favors from him, she took the shirt anyway, knowing it was best for her.
He turned his back to her as she removed her shoes and cloak, putting them as close as she dared to the fire. Then she removed her soaked socks and, thank Gaia, her sodden black party dress. Lastly, she pulled her shift over her head and, before the chill could take her, she shrugged into the spare shirt. It was big and soft, albeit slightly damp from being in Ty’s soaked leather saddlebag, but significantly drier than the clothes she’d been wearing. Her shorter limbs swam in the excess fabric, so she rolled up the sleeves. But it smelled like Ty, and she didn’t like that.
As the fire warmed the small indent of their cave, she wrung out her hair and began to feel slightly more human. She could feel and move her fingers and toes again, but they stung and throbbed painfully. She knew from her experiences healing others that frostbite like this would pass in time, and as long asblisters didn’t develop on her fingers or toes, she likely wouldn’t lose any.
Questions began whirling in her mind once more, and she knew she needed to breach the silence with Ty to get some answers, but the first one that came out surprised her.
