Kade nodded, then began to gather the armor off a dead soldier; being awfully rough with the corpse, if you asked me.
My stomach lurched as I watched him tug at the man's limp arm. “What are you doing?”
“Playing dress up. And I suggest you all do the same.” Kade removed all the armor and secured the metal to the back of his saddle. He shoved a toe into the stirrup and climbed on his horse. “Hurry up. We should move. And we’re riding through the night tonight. We are way too close to Draemor’s borders, and it's not safe to set up camp. And while we ride, MissLiabilityhas some explaining to do.”
Chapter
Seven
“You should try and sleep,” Sebastian whispered into the shimmering night sky.
“How am I supposed to sleep up here?” My body bounced with our horse’s movement, rubbing against him in the process and creating feelings I really did not want to feel about him at the moment.
“We can talk some more about what happened this afternoon if you'd like?” He hadn’t said much on the matter yet, but I knew he was steaming inside over it.
My arms tightened around him, holding on for life as Kade’s horse picked up speed and ours knowingly matched his pace. “I’d rather not, but I’m sure you have more to say about it, so let it out.”
“Gladly.” He expended his breath. “You have been on my ass about hiding shit from you, and then you keep this from me?” Turns out, Kade knew about the hole in the arena and decided that the perfect time to bring it up was after my tree mishap.Asshole.
“Yes.” I didn’t even try to defend myself, because that was exactly what I did. If he was going to withhold the truth from me,then why shouldn’t I do the same? Not the best foundation to build a relationship on, but clearly the foundation we started on wasn't too swell, either.
“Alright then,” Sebastian scoffed, the sound having a lingering confusion to it. “At least you're self-aware.”
“But the difference, Prince Hawthorne, is that what I kept from you, was not aboutyou. And also, this isn’t really a surprise—I mean, did we really think I’d have perfect control over this right away anyway?”
His jaw clicked at the use of his most dreaded title. “No…But the same principle applies.”
“Eh.” I shrugged, my palms rolling up his chest a bit in the process. “Kinda, sorta, not really.”
“You’re just trying to tweak me, aren't you?”
“Is it working?”
He grumbled under his breath.
“Also to be fair, you didn’t ask,” I added with a hint of attitude and a shrug.
“I didn’t think I had to. I figured if you were having a hard time with something that you would’ve shared that information with me—withanyone.”
“I’m sure I would have told Sawyer or Pia eventually—once I was absolutely positive that I had the control level of a natural disaster.” Until the tree, therehadbeen some hope that I could control my new power.
With the lack of his name on that short list, we then welcomed the morning hours in vocal silence. My brain however, was louder than usual. How did things between him and me turn to shit so quickly? I never expected him of all people to be the one keeping secrets from me, and the more I thought about it, the more it made my heart ache.
My normal breathing turned to mostly yawns as I fought the will to fall asleep. Despite the blaring morning sun, I almost lostthe battle. That was until Kade and his horse came to a sudden halt, ours following in pursuit and startling my limp body upright.
“We are about to enter the borders of Draemor. The castle grounds are just a few miles from here.” Kade reached around in his saddle bag and pulled out a pair of elbow-length gloves, tossing them to me. “Put these on. The last thing we need is anyone catching a glimpse of your markings.”
He may have been a pompous ass, but Kade was smart.
“Put your Draemornian armor on, too. I know Archer said not to let you in the castle grounds, but I have a feeling you’ll be safer there with us than you would be out here,” he added.
“I was planning on going, anyway,” I replied, rolling the leather gloves onto my fingers.
“Shocking,” Sebastian spat out sardonically. “I tried to tell them, but no one listened…”
In the wake of rejecting Sebastian's offering to help me off of our horse, I put on the armor we’d stolen. The chest plate and helmet were fairly big on me, but they served their purpose, concealing my identity.
With our bodies properly camouflaged, we remounted our steeds and cautiously rode into the Kingdom of Draemor.
