Purple sparked at her fingertips. “Careful.”
“Or what?”
“Enough, both of you,” Zev growled, his eyes flashing yellow. “Your bickering is setting me on edge.”
“You’re the one setting me on edge,” Lucenna replied, her gaze flitting over his chest.
Zev stiffened. “Sorry to have offended you with the sight.”
“You misunderstand. I find nothing wrong with scars. They are a testament of our past.”
The look that crossed his face was anything but comforted. He headed for camp.
“Zev.” Dyna hurried after him.
“I need a moment,” he said, walking away.
“You should not speak of things you know nothing about,” Cassiel sharply said to Lucenna.
She grimaced. “I didn’t mean to offend him.”
At least she cared about that.
Dyna shook her head, rubbing her face. “I need to go for a walk.”
“I shall accompany you, my lady.”
“I will go,” Cassiel said as he put on his boots.
“I prefer to be alone.”
He tried to ignore how she wouldn’t look at him as he buckled on his sheathed sword. “You know you cannot be alone.”
Dyna sighed. Well, she clearly didn’t want to be around him anymore.
“Gods, I’ll accompany her.” Lucenna hooked her arm through Dyna’s, glaring at him. “You’re not welcome.” She held a hand out to stop him when he took a step to follow. “Unless you wish to hear us discuss the woes of our courses. I think my monthly bleed is about due.”
Cassiel stopped short, and his face heated. It shouldn’t have embarrassed him, but she caught him off guard.
“Yes, I should think not.” Lucenna led Dyna away into the woods with a satisfied snicker.
A curse left his tongue. He hesitated at the edge of the woods, his fists clenching. Leaving Dyna out of his sight didn’t sit well. Avoiding him shouldn’t take precedence over her safety.
“Osom’reh,”Rawn called Fair’s name in his native tongue.“Evy alanap’moca, Dynalya. Emasiva is asap ogla.”
Nickering in response, Fair trotted into the woods after Dyna.
“There, that will do,” he said. “Fair will notify me if there’s trouble.”
Cassiel snorted. Well, now she wasperfectlyguarded.
He followed the creek further downstream, but he didn’t go far. His tie to Dyna was too strong to leave her out of his reach. He sat on a boulder on a lower ridge of the bank and kneaded his forehead, letting his wings hang limp.
The stubborn part of him wanted to go after them, but Lucenna was a reminder of what he lost. She was right. He didn’t like her. He blamed her for what happened because it was easier. Whether she was there to put him on that path or not, Tarn would have come for Dyna. One way or another, Cassiel would’ve had to kill those Raiders.
Sometimes he could smell the ash of their charred corpses as though it were trapped under his fingernails or in the pores of his skin.
Humans had died at his hands.
