A collar. A crown. Possession itself.
“That,” I bragged, bowing low, “is how you move unseen.”
When I straightened, he was already eye level with me, too damn close as his lips pressed into a thin line.
“Mock me again, Verena.”
The snake uncoiled with a lazy, satisfied hiss and slid back to my wrist.
“I’ll be fine, truly.” My fingers traced the onyx stone now warm against my skin. “Go watch Rook and Ford. They need supervision more than I do.”
His eyes flitted from my face to the vast reach of the trees beyond, a tug of worry knotted in them.
He wanted to believe me, wanted to hand me the lie and walk away with it. But he was always the guardian. Alwaysmyguardian.
At last, he let out a resigned sound, half sigh, half surrender. “We’ll be at the forest’s edge. I’m here,” he pointed to his head, “if you need us.”
I grinned, blowing him a careless kiss that landed somewhere between promise and provocation. Then I turned, each step more pompous than the last, boots striking with rhythm.
“Try not to miss me,” I called over my shoulder, striding away until shadows devoured me.
Every few minutes my head tilted, eyes thinning over my shoulder. Nothing was ever there, only trees crowding together, only branches swaying in the breeze.
I wasn’t afraid, fear was for prey, and I refused to be that.
But as the snake shifted around my wrist, whispering against my skin, my fingers brushed it, steadying.
Like we were keeping each other honest.
I pressed on, weaving between the trunks, letting the forest live around me.
Luamis rarely knew darkness.
The Kingdom of Light liked its skies bright and its shadows trimmed.
So, when dusk finally came, it felt stolen, sacred even. At least to me.
I checked behind me again. Still nothing.
And yet the hairs along my arms rose, a warning crawled beneath my skin.
When I reached the clearing where the fight had ensued, the moon lent its elusive light in judgment.
Silver beams fell upon blood streaking through the grass, blackened in patches where it had already dried. The stench of ash clung to the air, burnt flesh still dense enough to choke.
No bodies remained. Callum had made sure of that.
I crouched low where a neat row of weapons glimmered, exactly where they’d been left. Three swords and two daggers. They were pristine and defined, the blades shining like they were newly forged, untouched from battle.
I lifted one, its walnut hilt smooth, polished too carefully for common steel. The blade itself curved into a near half circle, grooves etched along its edge. Not at all the kind of dagger I expected Obrann’s hidden soldiers to wield.
Resting it across my bent knee, I tested its balance, a trick someone once taught me, a memory flashing at the edge of thought.
The steel held steady, until it tilted when my body jerked at the call of a distant whistle.
My pulse spiked.
The sound drifted from beyond the Indra Mountain. That was the wrong direction, opposite where Callum and the others waited. And it hadn’t been an animal.
