Chapter Eight
River
With my armsfull of bread rolls, fruit, and three canteens of water, I followed some of the castle hands to the foyer. I wanted to assist the castle hands with prepping our supplies. I knew they were more than capable and trustworthy, but I felt as though I needed to have my hand in thispart.
I glanced out the windows to check on where we were time-wise as Octavia came down the stairs. The sky was just starting to turn a shade of orange and light blue. After counting out the food, I was confident that we had enough to get us to WesterLea.
“We can get a couple satchels from the stable,” one of the castle hands said and headed towards the doors that ledoutside.
“I will go get them,” Ioffered.
I hurried to catch the castle hand before he walked outside. I wanted to go check on the boys. I felt that they bravely made huge decisions last night to alter their lives in order to help save Klyn. And in a way, these four brave guys were a lot more like me now. This would be new and somewhat scary for them. I owed it to them to check onthem.
The moment I got outside, I took off in a mad sprint. I ran past the stable and into the woods. Liam, Michan, Ethan, and Sean were still resting against thetrees.
“Miss us?” Ethan asked as Iapproached.
“We are getting ready to leave. I came outside to get some satchels from the stable. I wanted to check on you guys. You all doing okay? Do you needanything?”
I moved from each of them, crouching down in front of them and checked their eyes. I put my hand on each of their shoulders as I looked in their eyes, mainly so I could see how they reacted to being touched. None of them were jittery or jumpy, which was good. I smiled as I noticed that their once brown or green eyes had transformed into deep ocean blue eyes. Just likemine.
“I think we are doing okay,” Michan spokeup.
“Good. Alright, guys, see you in a few days. Travel safe and together,” I remindedthem.
As I glanced each of them over one more time, I felt a deeper connection forming. Or maybe, it already had formed. My initial thought was “brothers,” but it did not feel quite right. I shook it from my head for the timebeing.
I raced back to the stable and ducked in through the back door that is used to pull the carriage into. I found two satchels and ran back to the castle. When I got back into the foyer, Octavia was waiting for me. The food was already wrapped in linen cloths, and a few castle hands stood nearby in case we neededanything.
“Took you long enough,” Octaviascowled.
“Apologies, my Queen. It took me a moment to locate them,” Ilied.
“Is that not quite a shame?” she sarcasticallyasked.
“Why? Why is that a shame?” I asked, playingalong.
“Well, I simply thought that a vampire who most likely has advanced sense, such as, oh, say, sight, might not have had such a problem. After all, it was quite an easy task,” Octaviasmirked.
“They turned out to be behind the stable doors. When I opened the doors, they were hanging on a hook. The door obstructed myvision.”
“Tell me, River, do you have heightened senses?” she jabbed the question pointedly atme.
“I do. Sight, hearing, energy, and touch. Though, you are already fully aware of my advanced touch, are you not, my Queen?” I returned herjab.
Octavia took a satchel from my outstretched hand and hoisted it over her shoulder. I did the same with the satchel that I had just filled with food andwater.
“Shall we,River?”
I nodded, and then we were off. We walked in silence toward the bridge, but I could not prevent myself from looking over to the woods just to the right. The boys were in there still. As our footfalls echoed off the bridge, I looked down at her footwear. Even in drab clogs, I still found Octavia to be one of the sexiest women I had ever been with. Since she is so conscious of what she wears and always looks incredible, I had to make a sarcastic remark about her shoes. My hope was that it would break our awkwardsilence.
“I like your shoes, myQueen.”
“Are you having a go at my attire, River?” shechuckled.
Good, she was able to joke alittle.
“No, ma’am. They are very nice shoes…for tending to things in thestable.”
