Chapter Ten
River
Iwokeup during the night because Sean had been restless and woke Ethan up. Since Ethan was right next to Octavia, I did not want her to bedisrupted.
“Sean,” Ethan whispered over his shoulder, trying to alerthim.
I nudged Sean in the side, and his hand locked down on mine quicker than I could blink. Impressive. Sean gained speed and incredible vision atnight.
“Sean, wake up,” Iwhispered.
He sat up and looked around the room as he rubbed his eyes. Sean looked pale, and Ethan began to roll over to face us. I held my hand up, hoping it would halt Ethan from moving toomuch.
“Stay still, Ethan. You do not want to move too much. The Queen needs to rest,” Imurmured.
Sean started to get up and out from under the blanket when I stilled himagain.
“I need to get up and piss,” Sean said and wrangled away fromme.
I watched him quietly walk to the door. The iron hinge creaked as he opened it just far enough for him to slide through the opening. Ethan had been looking at the door, and then he turned his gaze to meetmine.
“He had a night terror last night too,” Ethanwhispered.
My eyebrows shot up, and I made as little movements as possible when I slid out from under theblanket.
“Go back to sleep, Ethan,” I quietly toldhim.
I pulled my shirt on before grabbing Sean’s and heading outside. I found him sitting on a wooden bench next to the inn. I sat down beside him, and pointedly asked him about his dream. He took his shirt from my outstretched hands and pulled iton.
“It was a crazy dream,” he began. “I dreamed I smashed some lady in the face with a slab of stone. Blood went everywhere. I just kept smashing her face uncontrollably. It wasweird.”
I stared at him as my heart pounded. I had had this dream many times before. It was the sin of the woman from my first sin eatingexperience.
“Do you happen to remember where you were at? Do you remember your surroundings at all?” I cautiouslyasked.
“No,” Sean shrugged and glanced at me. “I cannot remember much of the surroundings other than that we were in an alley,” headmitted.
Perhaps, acoincidence.
“Ethan said you had a bad dream last night too. Do you remember anything about that one?” I calmlyasked.
“I was a thief in the dream. I was running from someone and hid behind a building. When he came around the corner, I stabbed him with a blade I had on me. I kept stabbing him. Blood was everywhere in this dream, too,” Seanexplained.
This was not a coincidence. I thought back to the young man in Sean’s dream. I had taken his sins when he was an older man. It was exactly as Sean described it. The man had stolen something and then ran. He hid in an alley against a building, and then stabbed a man to death. It was very gruesome. I had quickly put together that when I bit Sean, I may have transferred the sins I have absorbed during my life toSean.
“Those sound like terrible dreams. Hopefully, you will not have anymore. Do you know if the others had bad dreams last nighttoo?”
“I do not think so,” Seansaid.
I nodded and suggested that we go back inside. I felt that sitting out there in the open like we were, made us susceptible to prying eyes. I trusted no one in WesterLea.
* * *
As we ate breakfast,I kept my eye on a group of people that had gathered outside and a short distance away from the pub. I knew that Octavia was watching me, but she did not draw any attention to what I waswatching.
I had no reason to believe the small group outside was up to anything heinous. Nor did I have a reason to believe that they were not up to something as well. I was grateful that I had not noticed any of them looking over at the pub. Was I paranoid? Perhaps, but I had precious cargo with me. It would not be wise for me to not think carefully about mycompany.
When the crowd eventually dispersed, I gave it a little more time before suggesting that we begin our journey to Derwin’s. There was a main path through the woods to Stonewald, but it was a monitored route. It was a path that we had no business being on. I led us to the eastern edge of town, and we walked quietly until we reached the edge of theforest.
