“Yes, it’s a stupid idea,” Tor agreed with Mathos, also ignoring her. “But since we can’t kidnap her and she won’t come willingly, what else do you suggest? Leave her here until she dies of starvation?”
Lucilla let her rage flow and stamped her foot, something she didn’t think she’d done since she was eight. It was strangely exhilarating. “I’m standing right here!”
Mathos glared at them both until he finally sighed loudly. And then gave another even longer and more pained sigh just to prove his point. “This is a bad idea.”
Lucilla looked between the two men. They looked deadly serious, which was putting a real dampener on her plans. She turned to Tor. “Would it really be dangerous?”
“Yes!” both men replied with equal levels of exasperation.
Damn.
“Okay, fine. We don’t have to go to the village.” She cut off their sighs of relief by saying, “But then you need to tell me how I can get a map and some supplies.”
Mathos ran his hands through his hair, pulling it into spikes. “What do you need a map for?”
“I need to know the way to Kaerlud.” Actually, she needed to know how to go in the opposite direction to Kaerlud, but they didn’t need to know that. With a bit of luck, the map would show her the way to the sea; that was where she really wanted to start. She’d read about the ocean, and she wanted to see it for herself.
Mathos tilted his head back and stared up at the sky, muttering to himself under his breath. She could have sworn he was counting to ten.
Eventually, he looked back at her, his voice strained as he replied, “There won’t be a map shop in any of these villages.”
Lucilla blinked. She had never been to a village, and she’d never been to a shop. She’d somehow assumed that the villages around them would have shops that sold what she needed. Which, now that she thought about it, was a pretty massive assumption—one that showed that Mathos was right about how little she knew about how most people lived, as well as being damn depressing, all at the same time. It also made her feel stupid, and she hated feeling stupid.
Mathos gave her a look that she imagined was meant to be reassuring. “How about we all go north together and you meet with Alanna to start with. Afterward, if you still want to leave, then I will personally give you my map and even take you wherever you want to go.”
She dipped her chin slowly. She really needed a map, and, if she was being brutally honest, she needed help. This might make sense. She could go along with the plan to go north and learn a bit more about how to look after herself and get the things she needed. Then, when they got to a big enough town, she could take off. “Okay.”
“Good.” Tor clapped Mathos heavily on the back. “I told you that you could have a reasonable discussion.”
Mathos merely grunted in reply.
Tor grinned as he turned toward Lucilla. “We don’t have any tack for you. And the destriers’ saddles will be too wide for your mare. The best we can come up with is for you to ride Mathos’s stallion, Heracles, and he can ride your mare, if that works for you?”
“No.” She shook her head firmly. She was not going to be separated from her mare, not even for the chance of a comfortable seat. “Thank you, but I would rather ride Penelope. I’ve been riding bareback all this time. It’ll be fine.”
“Fine,” Mathos repeated from right behind her, startling her into a flinch again. The reassuring look faded from Mathos’s face, and he glared at her in irritation. “That’s it, enough of this time wasting. We need to go.”
He led her to Penelope and then lowered his hands, fingers linked together like a step. Lucilla glared back at him, but she put her foot into his hands anyway, all while thinking of sarcastic replies about how Mathos was the only real waste of time.
Soon they were on their way—Mathos first, her in the middle, and Tor following behind—at a steady, ground-eating trot. Occasionally Mathos would turn back, as if to check on her, and she glared back at him every time. Grumpy ass. Speaking to her like that. Telling Tor that they should just lie to her to make her go where they wanted. Damn him to the Abyss.
Anyway, she far preferred the view when he faced the front. His breeches were tight enough to wrap around his powerful thighs, but even better than that, his sleeves were still rolled up, so she kept getting glimpses of his arm muscles flexing as he held his reins. The glitter of scales over tanned skin as he moved was almost mesmerizing. Gods. What was it about his arms? She had never had such a ridiculous problem before. Not even with….
She shook her head and forced her eyes away.
The morning stayed cool and gray as they followed Mathos. By her judgment, they were traveling north and slightly west, angling away from the manor house she’d lived in for all her life.
“How long will it take to get there?” she asked his back after about an hour of riding in silence.
He didn’t even turn around as he replied. “A couple of days.”
“A couple, like two, or a couple meaning a few?”
“I don’t know. Two or three.” Mathos grunted. “Depends on how fast we can go.”
“And will we see anything interesting?” she asked, determined to make the most of this enforced detour. “Do you think we could—”
“No. We’re going straight there. But you can see the temple of the Nephilim at Eshcol; that’s interesting,” Mathos interrupted, sounding distracted.
