I laughed, collapsing at the edge of the Grandmother’s skirts.
And banished one Caledonian Captain of Special Forces frommylands.
Chapter 20
That I had returned before anyone noticed my absence went without saying, for with the Grandmother at my back, I no longer suffered exhaustion. No longer hungered of felt the ache of muscles growing tired from endless marching. Any minor scrapes or bruises were swept away before the pain could be felt. Any emotional hurts fed into the soil beneath my bare feet, exchanged for the whispers of ancient, wild power.
And the blackest of urges—the ones that begged for me to take just a little more, to taste the pure ki of aPriestessand indulge the starving monster wearing my skin—became bearable.
Through the Grandmother, I saw everything.Felteverything.
And if the wood reflected that reciprocity with the black and silver petals of my Truth, none seemed to notice but me.
“Miss Tannovic?” Josh asked, startling me. Pulling my attention away from the Grandmother. “Alright lass? I havena had a chance to ask since—”
I gagged, for there, dangling from a leather cord at his hip, hung three squirrels. Dead and broken. “I’m fine.”
“Well, you see,” he said, reaching for me with bloodstained fingers, “you keep sayin’ that, but you’re pale as death and I can see you shaking from here.”
“Just tired.” I dodged his touch. “That’s all.”
He scrubbed at the back of his neck. Confusion whipping at me through the air. “Right. I know. Come on then. Let’s get a bit t’eat and drink.”
My lip curled. “Not hungry.”
He cleared his throat. “You have to eat, lass.”
“I’m not hungry. But—” I backpedaled, cursing when my foot landed on a spherical green fruit with a sharp pit. “Thank you for your concern.”
“Mila, what—” his gaze drifted down, eyes widening. “What happened t’your shoes?”
I kicked the strange fruit aside and glanced at my filthy, bare feet, spreading my toes in the dirt. “Took them off.”
“Why would you do such a thing—”
“Blisters.” I slipped my hand behind my back and tugged my sandals forward, showing him the cord from which they now hung.
“I suppose,” he said with a tiny frown, then shook his head. “Come now, lass. I know the wee forest creatures aren’t your first choice, but—”
“I’mfine,” I snapped, and slipped into the shadows. Filling him with a sense of foreboding that warned him not to follow. It was nothing to disappear into a brush that parted for me alone. Nothing to let the forest swallow me whole and take me to a place of compromise. With every bare footfall, I bathed in the magnificent beauty of everlasting power thrumming around me, pouring my excess ki into the soil and flora through the soles of my feet. The forest took it all and asked for more, stretching greedy fingers toward me as I wandered, content to be nothing more than a conduit of this ancient being.
Conduit or not, however, the hollow space forming between my ribs was proof enough that I couldn’t feast on the ki of the forest forever. Josh was right, Goddess take him. Whether I felt so mundane a hunger or not, it was clear that if I didn’t find something I could stomach—and soon—I wouldn’t be able to fight off a squirrel, let alone an army of Caledonian Elites led by one Captain Asher Rawlings wieldingmypendant.
I’d need my strength for his next assault.
With a sigh, I sank to the forest floor and crossed my legs, back pressed against a tree as I watched the animals go about their daily business. Where I could scarcely take a step without blundering it in some way or another, the wildlife around me thrived. Eating some plants and avoiding others, the squirrels stored various nuts and berries in the hearts of the trees, fattening themselves on the bounty of the forest in preparation for the coming winter months.
A saucy red squirrel chattered above me, angling for a cluster of the same green fruit responsible for bruising my heel. I watched as it shimmied to the end of a branch, hung on with dexterous hind feet, and reached with its forepaws. Curiosity piqued, I touched the furry little acrobat with a delicate tendril of ki as it selected the fattest fruit—and knocked the other two out of the sky. They hit the earth before me with a thump, green husk exploding to reveal an ovular black pit.
Eyebrows pinched, I moved for closer inspection.
A walnut! A tiny, nutrient dense gift from the Grandmother herself. I peeled away the remainder of the husk, frowning at the dark-brown stains left by the juice in the peel. Mere vanity, however, was not enough to stop me from gleefully bashing the shell to smithereens between two rocks. I plucked the edible pieces from the broken shell, licking my fingers clean before I stooped, and tore a strip of fabric from the hem of my filthy shift. Collecting as many as I could carry.
“Are those walnuts?”
I jumped, whirling to face the intruder with flushed, guilty cheeks. “Goddess, Josh.” I laughed, trying not to feel the concern that lanced through my heart. That it waseasyfor all but the captain to sneak up on me. To catch me unaware and apparently ignore my command for privacy. “You startled me.”
“Sorry,” he said, then took my stained, scarred fingers before I could think to lurch away. He made a sound at the back of his throat. “Walnut stain, lassy. Nothin’ but scrubbing will get those stains off your hands, I’m afraid. My brothers an’ I used to—”
