Was he one of those people who sent every sentence as a separate message?
Typing my answer, I pressed enter, smiling as I envisioned his flustered reaction. It would make him overthink the way he always forced me to.
K.
‘You look really proud of yourself there,’ Anya’s voice rumbled in my mind, snatching my attention back to her.
I smiled, admiring her beautiful beady eyes. ‘That will show him.’
‘Yeah.’ My beast snorted. ‘That you can’t spell. Or type. Don’t know which is more disturbing.’
‘Shouldn’t you be happy that I am making him pay for betraying me?’ I asked.
‘By losing letters? Gods have mercy, I bonded a moron,’ she roared, throwing her head back and howling like a wolf. ‘I told you to scorch his hair, at least set his shit aflame.’
Tugging on the bond to make her face me, I was pleasantly surprised the land recognised and allowed it.
‘Why does everything have to be so violent with you? Maybe I want to make him pay without physically injuring him?’
‘You thinkthese fangs bejewel my mouth for wallowing or action? Seriously, are you that whipped?’
My jaw slackened. ‘Whipped? Where are you getting these words?’
‘I’ve spent some time with Isla when you were away.’ She huffed, and a puff of smoke sent my hair flying.
‘The sweet little girl uses words like “whipped”?’
‘Well, she overheard a family friend telling her father that Emily whipped him,’ Anya explained. ‘Children pick up on more than you’d think.’
Oh.
‘I believe there is a part to that phrase that she didn’t pick up on, and thank Gods for that. That would be disturbing.’
She lowered herself to keep our eyes level. ‘What’s the full phrase then?’
‘Pu—no, I’m not telling you,’ I refused, snickering.
‘You can be insufferable, you know.’
I rubbed her nose the way she loathed. ‘I’m well aware.’
Cutting the corner around the porch, I hurried to the front door, the image of my bed so tempting I could almost feel the cool silk of the sheets against my skin as I drifted off.
Almost two days had passed since we arrived in Fogoya, and my body demanded sleep. For the last hour my eyes were starting to take longer to open after every blink. They burned and struggled to focus, as did my brain. At some point—soon—I would just collapse.
Hopefully, not outside.
But even exhausted and not thinking clearly, I couldn’t get the images of what happened in Ortensia out of my head.
I tried hard not to think about it. Not about the sight. Not about the smell. Not about what it meant for thefuture, either.
But the more I tried to focus on anything else, the quicker they rushed back. My mind rarely obeyed my preferences. I should be used to this.
The door pushed open, nearly smacking into my face. A different nightmare stepped into view, stopping me in my tracks. I couldn't believe it.
‘You?’ Willow screeched, holding on to the handle for dear life. Her hair looked matted, and her skin had lost its spark. My eyes roamed around her body as she seethed, ‘Where the hell are we?’
Just my luck.
