Orelia awoke feeling like she’d slept on rocks.
Every muscle ached as she sat up on her bedroll, squinting from the morning sun. She wouldn’t give Vade the satisfaction of knowing he was right and that she should have moved her bedding, so Orelia discreetly stretched out her incredibly sore back, stifling her groans.
She rubbed her eyes, able to see Vade pushing something around in a pot over the fire looking fresh-faced and well-rested.
Orelia threw off the threadbare blanket she’d brought. The crisp morning air was a welcome relief, but a thin layer of sweat had formed on her skin overnight, and her linen chemise had yet to soak it up.
Now that she was awake, the ache in her muscles subsided as her healing worked its magic, and her green eyes eventually adjusted to the light, allowing her to see the ward still floating around them like sea fog.
After checking herself over in the handheld mirror she’d brought, Orelia tugged her boots on over her socks and tied her chaotic hair in a knot high on her head, forgoing her comb and hair scarf. “Can you remove the ward so I can go relieve myself, please?” she asked, a bit embarrassed.
Vade stirred eggs in the pot, working them into white and yellow chunks. “For safety reasons, I’m not removing it until we leave. If you need to go, do it in here.”
“You must be joking.”
The spoon clanged against the metal siding as he focused on his work. “Do I look like I’m joking?”
The diameter of the ward was an effortless distance to be able to hear someone handling their business. “That’s preposterous. I’m not going in here where you can hear me.”
He spooned the eggs onto two giant leaves not belonging to any tree she knew of, each as long as his forearm. “Hurry up before breakfast gets cold.”
His tone could not have been more apathetic, so she blew out a breath and headed for the furthest tree at the edge of the ward. Orelia squeezed her eyes shut as she tended to her needs, praying he couldn’t hear anything.It’s just water in a babbling brook, she told herself, though it didn’t lessen the humiliating warmth blooming in her cheeks.
When she made it back to camp, Vade was on his last bite. He’d set her leaf on a rock beside him, and the eggs already looked cold.
“Do you have another fork?” she asked, taking a seat next to him.
It had to have only been a mark past sunrise. Far too early for him to be glaring so severely. “I didn’t exactly plan on gaining company when I went to your shitty village, so no, I don’t have an extra fork.”
Orelia glared back. “Are you always this grouchy in the morning?”
“Yes.”
The cold eggs went down easily enough as she fumbled them into her mouth with her fingers, surprised he had even made some for her.
Vade pulled a square piece of parchment from his pocket and unfolded it. She caught a glimpse of a hand drawn compass sitting in The Azurean Ocean east of the continent.
“Where was it you said we were stopping today?” she asked.
“Dallton.”
“How far is that?”
“A full day’s walk.”
Her muscles already ached. Orelia shoveled more eggs into her mouth, remembering something she’d thought of as she was falling asleep. “Why were you in Minro? Did you have another name before—”
“Before you struck me with your spell?”
Did he practice his sneer or did it just come naturally?Orelia nodded.
Vade scratched at his beard. “I had a name somewhere close by. After I was done, I headed into town to grab a meal. I saw your water pump as I passed and planned to top off my waterskin, not realizing you were hiding behind the bushes.”
“I wasn’t hiding. I was gardening.”
“You mean, you were failing to cast a spell correctly?” he said in a snarky tone.
She snapped. “How many times do you want me to apologize?”
