“All right, all right.” Andrian gave Kodie a soft pat. His ears flicked back at the contact.
“I don’t have a saddle,” Andrian said. “So please, don’t buck me off, and I promise you all the carrots you could ever want once we get somewhere safe.”
Kodie snorted, and Andrian hoped it was an acknowledgment.
With a grunt, he muscled his way onto Kodie’s back, settling himself behind the gelding’s withers.
He may not be able to go to Mariah, but he swore on whatever forces would listen that he would keep her horse safe. That would have to be enough, though he could never convince himself it was.
The eagle gave a final impatient trill and took off from the branch, feathers refracting the soft light of the approaching dawn. Andrian clicked his tongue and pressed his heels into Kodie’s flank.
Northward they continued.
They’d been travelingfor two days. The eagle kept them moving at a brisk pace, only allowing them to rest in short, two-hour bursts.
Weariness tugged deep in Andrian’s bones, but even when given the opportunity to rest, he couldn’t. Every small crackle in the woods had him shooting awake, every tiny sound that might mean his luck had finally run out.
When he did manage to fall asleep, the nightmares of Kol’s burning eyes, a shadowed presence in his mind, and a blade sinking into soft flesh drove him back to consciousness.
He wasn’t sure he had processed what he’d done. That Julian Laurent, the man who’d raised him, tormented him, destroyedhim, was gone. It was so foreign, so strange, that such a presence in Andrian’s life could simply end like that.
And that it had been Andrian’s hand to do it.
What sort of monster did that make him? No better than the ones who’d raised him. Perhaps even worse.
The stain of that blood was the reason he could never go back to Mariah. If he lost control again, if Kol found his way back in, every moment she spent in his presence would be a risk. A risk he simply would not take.
Gabriel had packed him enough dry provisions and water to last three days, and Andrian did what he could to consume it sparingly. His hunger snarled angrily beside his exhaustion, but he had to ration it.
He didn’t have a bow, and he couldn’t hunt with a sword. He’d rather be uncomfortable now than run out of food before reaching a town in Leuxrith.
Kodie’s pace was steady as they followed the small game trail winding through the forest. A northern chill had settled in the air despite the deepening of summer. Even through the trees, a cool breeze rustled Andrian’s hair and grazed his cheek. He swore they were also goingup, the elevation rising as they approached the foothills of the Everheim Mountains.
They must be nearing Onita’s northern border, where his mother’s kingdom of Leuxrith waited beyond. Andrian didn’t know what it would look like or what to expect, but he figured a piece of him would know when he made it.
It was in his blood, right? At least, the only side he had any interest in acknowledging.
Never mind that his mother had all but betrayed the world to bring him into existence. That knowledge still didn’t fit with the image of the kind, gentle, and compassionate woman he carried close to his heart.
The fact that he harbored no ill will toward her, even knowing what she’d done, was something he wasn’t quite sure how to process. Wasn’t sure he evenwantedto.
Because in truth, what did it matter? She would still be his mother, the first person who ever showed him kindness, and he would always love her.
The eagle flashed her wings, letting out a piercing whistle and darting into the clouds. Andrian straightened. She’d been good at keeping in his sight, never flying too high or too far ahead.
Until now.
“That’s what you get for following a fucking bird, you idiot,” he grumbled, hands fisting in Kodie’s mane.
The horse’s ears pricked. He tensed beneath Andrian just before he surged forward into an animated trot, tail swishing behind him.
“Gods—Kodie, easy—” Andrian ducked to narrowly avoid a branch that easily would’ve unseated him.
Kodie didn’t listen. Only kept moving forward in the direction the eagle had vanished.
The sunlight through the trees grew brighter ahead of them—a break in the tree line. Kodie nearly pranced out of the woods, tossing his head before finally coming to a halt and nickering.
Andrian blinked away the sunlight as the clearing opened before him.
