The right half of King Draedor’s face, which was once picture perfect in its human-lion form, is now thick with scars that have clearly been created by claws. The vicious marks start at his forehead and stretch all the way down to the middle of his throat.
And the worst part about it?
His eye is missing—a gaping hole now in its place.
Chapter 28
“Well, that was rather dramatic.” Algar walks with me through the gates of Bernwood with Zephra curled around his shoulder.
With his weapons now returned, Thane inspects each one thoroughly as we pause to get our bearings.
“What do you think happened to his face?” I ask when I meet up with Rynthea. “What kind of creature could have done that?”
“I’m not sure,” she murmurs, stuffing a canteen into her rucksack. “But it clearly didn’t want visitors.”
“It had to be massive.” Algar shudders as Zephra clicks her teeth and shakes nervously.
Rynthea’s focus travels to where the trail up the mountain begins.
“How long is the walk to Frevella’s?” Rynthea asks as Kelrean saunters through the gates with two guards in eggplant-purple buffers trailing him.
Each guard carries a sword at their waist and a spear in hand. The prince nonchalantly totes a double-sided battle-ax with a thick wooden handle. In the center of the ax is the head of a snarling lion with a smooth mane made of gleaming silver. Kelrean also has a sword attached to his hip.
“Should be no longer than an hour,” he answers. The curved blade of the ax glimmers in the sunlight as he gives it a smooth swing and then rests the handle on his shoulder.
“Show-off,” Algar mumbles.
“Great,” Thane mutters sarcastically under his breath.
“What was that, my friend?” Kelrean flashes a cool smile as he turns his attention to Thane, who is tucking the last of his daggers away in the designated slots of his vest.
When his swords are sheathed on his back, he marches past Kelrean and says, “We need to get moving.”
Kelrean chuckles as Rynthea, Algar, and I follow suit.
“I agree,” says Kelrean. “Weshouldget moving, but you’re headed in the wrong direction, I’m afraid.”
Thane pauses, fists clenching. With a reluctant turn, he grimaces at Kelrean, who is already walking past the left gate.
“Just remember if you kill a prince, you’ll be beheaded,” Rynthea teases as she passes Thane. Algar side-eyes him with a slight frown before walking faster. I think he’s still angry about last night.
I sigh, glad my headache is passing because dealing with men whose egos are as large as the mountain we’re about to climb is going to require a lot of patience and effort.
When we round the wall built around Bernwood, we start up a rocky path. We aren’t even five minutes in, and my thighs are burning. The interiors of my boots are rubbing against my pinky toes, and my heels ache.
Blisters are bound to come, but I stick close to the group and suck on a hard lemon-and-honey candy to distract myself.
Algar slows his pace to match mine, and we look down at Bernwood, which now seems like a blotch in the distance.
“Did you have fun last night?” I ask.
“Oh,too muchfun,” Algar answers. “They were gambling in one of the tents. Let’s just say I may owe one of those beastials one hundred gold coins.”
“One hundred?That’s a lot of coin, Algar.” I laugh.
“Yeah. But I don’t plan on returning anytime soon so, in my mind, I’m debt free.”
An ache develops in my lower back. It would’ve been nice to ride up the mountain on horseback, but Kelrean warned us earlier that the mountain becomes very steep, plus to reach the other side, we have to cross a bridge that can’t bear the weight of a horse. So, to my disappointment, we left Pearl in Bernwood. I swear I’ll go back for her one day. I’ve already lost one pearl. I’m not about to lose another. Queen Jenia promised me that she would move Pearl into the royal stables so no one would steal her.
