Page 56 of This Is Not True Love’s Kiss

CHAPTER 29

Lor

My back ached, and my feet rubbed against my boots, blisters forming on my heels that I suspected were bleeding. Aoife and I had been walking all night, and she’d been true to her word. She hadn’t slowed down, hadn’t stopped, hadn’t even looked at me to check if I was keeping up. I’d heard the Fair Folk had better endurance, speed, strength, and for the first time since I’d met them two years ago, I was finally seeing it.

Aoife, it turned out, was an excellent tracker. She was following all the signs of footsteps and activity that I’d seen: broken leaves, a bent branch, smashed grass and pine cones. She was on the right trail, and that was what worried me. I had no idea what she was planning when we actually caught up to Ronan, and I couldn’t ask her because it would likely only anger her. Whatever progress it felt like we’d made in the last week had been erased, and I wasn’t sure why.

When she’d asked me why I wanted to come, I could’ve sworn I’d seen hope in her eyes, heard it in her voice. But then I’d given my answer and just as quickly, that glare I was so used to had returned. I had no idea how I’d upset her with my answer, but then again, I rarely understood my wife’s emotions.

The trees grew sparser, more spread out in this area of the mountain, and we’d been traveling at a steady decline, the ground rocky and uneven, full of roots that could break your ankle if you weren’t careful. I’d traversed these forests with the brotherhood and knew them well, but I still didn’t like the pace we traveled at. It seemed reckless to go this fast, to have no regard for our surroundings.

Sweat dripped down my back and matted my hair to my face. Surely Aoife must be getting tired or hungry or needed to relieve herself.

The sun peeked over the horizon as we continued down the rocky decline. I reached out to grab Aoife’s arm, and she stopped, turning to look at me for the first time in hours.

“We should take a break. We’ve been walking all night.”

“I told you⁠—”

“And I’ve kept up, but I’m also human and need food, rest, a bathroom break.”

Her gaze dipped to my crotch. “You can’t just do that on the go?”

My brain heard her words, but my body only felt her gaze on me, and my cock twitched in response to it. I wasn’t sure I’d ever caught her looking at me until recently. Once when we trained together and now . . . in such an odd circumstance.

“Forget it,” she said. “I’ll get you a portal now.”

She stumbled over a rock, and I caught her arm, wheeling her around to face me. “You need a break too.”

Her jaw set in that stubborn way I was used to from Aoife.

“You’re stubborn to a point of stupidity, you know.” The words were out before I could stop them, and I immediately braced myself for her anger.

But instead a laugh spilled from her. “Oraya used to say that.”

“The cook?” I asked, remembering that name from one of Aoife’s stories.

Her nose wrinkled. “How did you know that?”

Ah. I knew this because I’d overheard her telling Chef Elowyn about it. I cleared my throat, and her eyes widened, but she didn’t admonish me for eavesdropping.

“Yes,” she said. “Oraya. She’d watch all my antics with Fairwitch, the way I was so defiant with the godwitch. She’d tell me I was being reckless, and I’d argue, and she’d just shake her head and say I was stubborn just for the sake of being stubborn. Stubborn to the point of stupidity.”

It was the smallest amount of information, but it felt like a gift. “I’m glad I’m not the only one who thinks that.”

“No, you’re not the first, and you certainly won’t be the last.” She gestured to the rocks around us. “Fine. Let’s sit and have a break. But not too long. I believe we’re catching up to Ronan, and I don’t want to get too far behind.”

“Very well.” I gestured for her to sit, and she eyed me warily, like this was some trick and I was going to shove her down the hill.

But she sat, and I dropped next to her as she reached into her satchel and grabbed some cheese and bread. “I only packed enough for one.”

“Eat,” I said. “I can hunt later.”

She rolled her eyes. “Do you ever let anyone help you?”

The question surprised me. Aoife rarely directed questions toward me unless they were meant to irritate me. But this time she seemed genuinely curious. “All the things I do are for me.”

She let out a laugh of disbelief, her golden eyes swinging from the horizon in my direction. “You can’t mean that. You’re always worrying about your people, your family, me.”