“What is it that you want to do with your life now, Khala?” he asked.
“I don’t know,” I admitted. “When I ran away, I didn’t think about my future or even my life. I just wanted to get as far as possible, and I didn’t care if I lived or died. Now that I met you…” I raised my gaze to him, unsure how to word it and anxious about his reaction.
“What is it?” he urged.
I released a long breath.
“I just want peace, Grat. I want to do what I like and be with the people whose company I enjoy without fear or judgement. I want to live.”
“Do you enjoymycompany?” he asked.
I smiled, finding his hand on my thigh under water. “Yes I do. Very much so.”
He exhaled, looking relieved and pleased by my answer.
“Then stay with me,” he offered.
“How?”
“However you want.” He hugged my waist, turning me to face him completely. “If things go as well as they have been lately, I’ll stay here at the cabin for another week or two to get enough meat to win my bet.”
“What bet is it?”
“A stupid bet I made with Agor before coming here. I shouldn’t have even wasted my breath on it.” He waved a dismissive hand. “But now that it’s made, and I’m well on the way to win it, I may as well go for it. In a week or two, I can go back to the keep, and you’ll come with me.”
“You want me to live with you? For good?” I exhaled through a whole hurricane of feelings.
There was excitement and a little apprehension. But mostly, I just felt relieved that I didn’t have to part from him. Grat had become my main source of comfort and peace, so much that it’d crush me to leave him.
He wrapped a protective arm around my shoulders, bringing me closer.
“I’m not leaving you behind, sweetheart. You’re coming with me.” He nuzzled the top of my head. “You’ll fit right in at the keep. We have humans, too, a whole settlement of them at the edge of the woods. And they didn’t come from the kingdom you mentioned.”
That was a good thing. It meant there were fewer chances of anyone recognizing me. But I was so tired of living in constant fear.
“Grat,” I said. “It’s probably best if I stayed here until the army from Avilet Kingdom leaves. No need to risk it.”
“But I can’t leave you here on your own again. Look what happened the last time.”
He gestured at the place where the dead mud toad had lain less than an hour ago. It was empty now, as Grat and I had chopped off the toad’s legs, the only edible parts of the giant monster, then dragged the rest off and tossed it in the swamp, likely to the utter delight of all the other monsters that lived there.
“The toad is dead now,” I argued.
“There are plenty of other nasty creatures who’d love to have you for dinner. The woods are never safe for you to be on your own.”
“But I survived here for weeks on my own before,” I retorted.
“Barely.” He gave me a pointed look.
He was right, of course, considering the state he’d found me in.
“Alright,” I agreed. “But you do just fine on your own in the woods.”
“That’s different. I come here to hunt.”
“Then teach me how to hunt too. I already know how to set and check the traps. Teach me how to use weapons.”
He raised an eyebrow. “Have you never used any weapons at all?”
