It was Henry who woke me, trying to slip out of my hold. I tightened my grip on him, dragging him against my chest again, and smirked to myself when he laughed and wriggled in my arms.
“Garrun! I’m hungry!” he complained, though he was smiling. I could hear it in his voice without opening my eyes.
I feigned sleep, wrapping myself tighter around him every time he tried to move away until he was laughing so hard, his whole body shook, and I couldn’t help but join him. I eventually allowed him to sit up, moving with him and scrubbing a hand over my face as I looked around. From the sounds I heard outside my tent, I assumed my clan brothers were already awake and moving for the day. This did not surprise me. What surprised me was that Henry got me to sleep through the night. The sun was already risen as we stepped out of my tent. Even on my nights not on duty, I tended to stay up late and sleep in. I still slept in, but it wasn’t that late when we crawled into bed the night prior. Which meant I slept a lot more than I normally would, and without nightmares to disturb me either.
Henry stretched his arms over his head with a groan. “I don’t know about you, but it's been years since I slept that well. Sleeping between the two of you was so warm and comforting, I didn’t want to get out of bed.”
Smiling softly at him, I pressed a kiss to his cheek, taking his hand to guide him to the cooking tent for our meal while his other hand rested on Ekkar’s back. Even Ekkar had slept the whole night, which was unusual for him. I would have thoughthe’d have snuck out at some point when he got bored. Perhaps Henry really was magic.
“I would have stayed had you not complained about being hungry,” I pointed out, smirking at him when he pushed my shoulder playfully.
“I worked up an appetite last night,” he quipped, shooting me one of those sultry looks that made me breathless and ache for him. “I need to eat so we can do it again.”
A cackle made my head whip around, but realized quickly that the laughter wasn’t cruel teasing. Simon looked delighted by the conversation he’d overheard, leering at us from his perch in his bondmate’s lap around the community fire.
“Is that right? Did you have a good night then, Henry?” he called out.
Henry’s cheeks turned a light shade of pink, but he didn’t let Simon’s comment get to him, turning in the direction of Simon’s voice before asking, “Wouldn’t you like to know?”
“I would, actually,” Simon replied, still smirking. “I need to know if my lessons are working. So… How’d it go?”
“It was perfect,” Henry replied quietly enough that only I heard him. And I had to agree. Every moment with him was perfect.
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
HENRY
“You are ready,” Yngvar insisted.
“What if I get lost?” I protested, still clinging tightly to Ekkar’s fur, Garrun hovering at my back. They both knew I was uncomfortable. They wouldn’t leave until I told them it was okay.
“Then you get lost,” Yngvar said blandly. “You know how to find your way again. I have taught you how. Go, Henry. Gain back the freedom your family took from you.”
Swallowing hard, I forced myself to let go of Ekkar, using the staff Yngvar had taught me to use to ensure I didn’t trip and end up on my face somewhere. I’d gotten as far as going from his tent to the village center without any help, but that was as far as I was comfortable going on my own. Ekkar always found me before I went too far anyway. This time, Garrun would be holding him back, ensuring he didn’t approach me unless I called. I had to do this on my own.
I wasn’t just finding my way through the village this time. Yngvar wanted me to find my way to the spot Garrun and Ishared, the spot that felt more like home to me than anywhere I’d ever been before. Garrun promised he’d find me another spot every time we moved, and we’d come back to this one when the clan wanted to settle for a time, but today was the last day I got to enjoy it before the clan moved on, returning to their nomadic ways and exploring their new homeland to the fullest.
Taking an uneasy step forward, I put my hands out automatically, forgetting for a moment all the lessons Yngvar had taught me. I had to stop myself, taking a deep breath and centering my focus, listening for the direction I wanted to go. I heard the murmured voices of the clan, the rustle of tent flaps in the breeze made from lighter fabric now that better allowed the wind to pass through even when the sun was hot. To my right, I heard a tinkle of the little bell the clan potter had made to direct me toward the cooking tent. The forest wasn’t in that direction. I needed to go the opposite way.
Using the staff to check my surroundings, I took a steady step forward, Yngvar’s words flashing through my head whenever anxiety popped up.
“What if I fall?”
“Then you feel foolish for a moment, get back up, and try again.”
“What if I go the wrong way?”
“There is never just one way to find your way home. We are nomads, Henry. The journey is part of the adventure.”
“I’m… afraid.”
“So be afraid,” he encouraged. “Let the fear make itself known and keep going. Fear is not physical. It cannot stop your steps.”
Taking deep breaths, I listened to my surroundings, reaching out to touch tents when I bumped a stake or brushed past them. Like Yngvar’s Clan, the Velgraz Clan had added markers to each tent, decorating the sides in ways that I could recognize by touchto show me which way to go. Alice’s tent, with the feathers, would expand soon, once she was formally bonded to Vaddarr. Dras’s tent had a simple braided belt, my fingers following the bumps as I continued forward. I eased myself away from the line of tents toward where I knew in my heart Garrun’s and my tent lay, the marker he made for us not only on the sides but wrapped around the ropes holding the tent up and along the entrance so I didn’t have to feel to find my way in. I walked around it, a smile pulling at my lips as the dangling leather danced over my palms, and continued forward behind our tent, passing the line of tents at it’s back and toward the sound of the trees.
Rustling leaves guided me forward, and when the staff bumped against a tree, I felt in front of me for the markers Garrun had made me so I could find my way. When I came up empty, I frowned, worried I’d gone too far in one direction. Fear threatened to make me turn back, to head back to our home and give up, but I let the feeling brush over me and kept going, turning to the left in search of the nearest tree next to the one I’d found first.
Two trees to the left were incorrect, so I turned around and went back the way I came, counting the trees until I went one past the one I’d started at. The marker brushed over my hand and I huffed out a strained laugh, silently berating myself. I’d gone the wrong way.
