“Oh, youdidhave a fun night.” Petunia cackles. “I’ll be back in—should take me an hour to get dressed, so I’ll have the horses for you in an hour and a half.” Her lips tighten. “And Rakos?”
“Yes, my lady?”
Petunia shakes her finger at him. “I’ll give you three days before I report what I know to the drasgard.”
Of course. She has to protect her own skin.
“Thank you,” Rakos says, and means it.
***
Petunia delivers the horses in forty-five minutes. Rakos isn’t sure how she’s done it so quickly, but they’re exactly what he wanted. Not flashy, but sturdy, with steady temperaments. Rakos doesn’t mind a challenge, but he wants to keep things easy for Bell.
Rakos can’t suppress his smirk as Bell approaches the horses with a wince. “Are you sure you can ride?”
“No,” Bell retorts with a scowl. “And it is entirely your fault.”
“What? Could you elaborate?”
“You’ve said things before about not feeding your ego. So, I’m going to hold my tongue on that account.”
“But I like your tongue, sweetheart.”
Bell rolls his eyes. “Ridiculous.”
Rakos hands him the bottle Petunia procured for him. “Definitely ridiculous, but don’t let it be said I’m not attentive, caring, and compassionate. That should help with your, um, injuries.”
“I’m notinjured,” Bell protests, opening the bottle. “There’s a bit of magic in these.”
“Pain pills.” Rakos frowns. “Come on, Silaisan. It hardly counts as blood magic.”
“No, that’s fine. I was just checking.” Bell pops one of the pills and swallows it dry. “We have them in Silaise too these days, and my mother has had me try basically everything available to fix my headaches. Even some things not actually available. Magic doesn’t really work on them, and some chemicals help a bit.”
“Well, hopefully this works on your—”
“Shut up.”
Bell mounts his horse without Rakos’s help.
***
An hour later, the Friendly Forest blooms all around them. The forest is a brilliant red and gold, untouched by human intrusion for centuries. The only outward sign of the magic within is the strange purple hue to the tree trunks, like veins of scalestone winding through the bark.
It appears benign enough, but when Rakos stretches out his Tem magic, corruptive energy resists him. He’ll need to nullify the path in front of them for the entire journey.
Rakos calls the horses to a halt as Bell looks wonderingly at the forest surrounding them. Excitement suffuses his handsome features. Rakos likes Bell like this. He likes him all the time, but especially like this, enthralled with the world around him.
“There’s so much magic,” Bell says.
“Tell me if it’s too much. We can always take a break.”
“I don’t want to look away. This is incredible.” Bellamy glances at Rakos. “Your magic is really handy, though. I can see you canceling the flares around us.”
“I’m cool, aren’t I? Tell me I’m cool.”
“Ridiculous.” Bell grins. “But also pretty cool.”
They nudge their horses deeper into the forest, which quickly closes around them. They’ll have to rely on animal tracks and Rakos’s sense of direction. The roads that once ran through this forest are long disused.
