He nodded to his horse. “Time to move.” The others were already in their saddles, horses snuffing impatiently.
Standing up was a lesson in pain management, the stiffness from my fingers extending to the rest of my body. “You shouldn’t have let me sleep in. I could have helped with the horses.” Even the wolf had woken before me, its vigilant stare on me as I forced my weak limbs to pull me into the saddle.
Harthon came up behind me. “I know you can help. But you don’t need to.”
Annoyance zinged through me. “And I don’t need you to take things easier on me.” I leaned on him enough. I needed to hold my own where I could.
“You think that just because we’ve laid together means I’ll take things easy on you?” Skies, how he got right to the point.
“Is that not true?”
“What we did in that bed changed nothing.”
I stiffened at the harsh phrasing. I mean, it’d changedsomethings.
He brought his head to my ear and clarified. “Because whether or not you let me inside of you,carella, I have always been determined to protect you, and I have always admired and respected your strength. None of those things have changed.”
My spine relaxed. “There’s abut.”
His lips brushed the shell of my ear as he said, “But protecting you sometimes means stopping you from running yourself into the ground just to prove your strength.”
All my tension ratcheted back up. “Some of us do not have a reputation to lean on.”
“But you do, with me. And you know I don’t give respect freely.”
No, he didn’t.
He lightly nipped my ear lobe. “I want you healthy and safe,carella.And I don’t mind battling you for that.”
“I think all your victories have made you over-confident.”
“Perhaps.” I could hear the grin in his voice as he said, “Or maybe it’s that I enjoy a good challenge, as I’ve told you before.” He drew away. “But we can battle another day. For now, we need silence.”
Cocky, arrogant man.
With the thread of frustration I still felt, it was easy to stay mute.
Descending the mountainside proved more difficult than yesterday’s climb. The thin layer of snow capping the ground hampered our speed and made steep drops more treacherous. The white also made us stand out against the slopes, which was why Aric kept us to the densest trees.
We’d just reached dry, snowless ground when he signaled to stop. “This is the last true rest we’ll have until we reach your path into the Domus,” he informed us quietly. “Enjoy it while it lasts.”
We packed away our heavy layers of clothes as Harthon distributed dried meat, cheese, and bread. In the context of travel, it was a feast, which meant he expected it to be our only meal for the foreseeable future.
Stefano, Joris, and I ate in silence while Aric spoke to Harthon and Conrad in hushed tones. He made his way over to us and lithely crouched down.
“From this moment forward, this is how it will go,” Aric started, tone implacable. “You will do everything I say. You will not act independently. You will not make your own decisions.” He leveled me with his gaze. “And you will not blatantly ignore a direct order, unless you want yourself or others here to die.”
I bristled at the pointed orders.
“This is not your Territory. It is not my Territory. It is a place that doesn’t play by any of our rules. If you want any hope of making it out of here in one whole piece, you will not deviate from my lead. I’m not dying for you, and I’m not puttingmyself at risk to save you because of some reckless decision. Understand?”
I allowed myself a final moment to brood before stiffly nodding. Aric was the expert here—or, as expert as one could be in such a wild place. Clearly, Harthon agreed. No amount of pride could make me argue with these facts.
Satisfied he’d made his point, he strode away. In his place, the wolf’s intelligent eyes remained fixated on me from a short distance away. Saliva dripped from its maw as I brought a piece of meat to my mouth.
I paused.
Then I smiled. Aric was going tohatethis.
