CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE #2
Quite fortunately, Rummy’s stomach seemed to have settled, though I could still smell the animal of him, which I tried very much to ignore.
The silence of the wood was permeated only by fallen leaves rustling beneath the wind and Rummy’s low and steady exhale.
He made a curious, snuffling noise as he shifted his weight, causing a shiver to skitter down my arms.
“Will you please—”
“Stay bound to the cart, or ride with me,” she said finally.
“You want me to ride that thing?”
“Well now that’s just rude, but yes. If you’d prefer to be unbound from the cart, you and I will ride Rummy together. The wind is blowing in a favorable direction… you might avoid his gases entirely.”
“Fucking depths.”
That same annoying smirk that I somehow used to find appealing set my teeth on edge.
“What’s that look for?” I seethed.
“Not sure I’ve ever heard you curse.”
“If there were ever a time to start!” I adjusted myself on my elbows, still craning my neck uncomfortably to meet Vayen’s eyes. I doubted any of my features were immune from the scowl I shot her way. “I don’t see why any of this is necessary. It’s not as though I can outrun you.”
“This forest ain’t as docile as she seems, Princess. Either you remain hidden beneath the blanket, or you’re attached to me, whether I’m riding Rummy or taking a piss. The choice is yours.” Vayen sucked on her teeth crudely as my lips curled in disgust.
When Winnie dragged me into the wood, one of the first words out of my mouth had been why?
But there was no need to ask that question here.
Vayen had begged for me to consider her plea—she’d even wielded my growing affection for Milo against me.
It was clear that she intended to drag me to Sor, with or without my memories and whether or not I consented.
So what was I to do? I’d sooner sprout wings and fly away than physically best the woman who brought Berig to his knees.
It wouldn’t matter how tired, or how drunk, or how off-guard she was; in a battle of physicality, I would likely only enrage her to the point of keeping me permanently bound and gagged in this star-forsaken cart.
My only chance of survival would be to ready myself, stay ready, and pray that the stars would provide an opportunity for my escape, however fleeting or insignificant.
I already knew from my fruitless attempts to move that the knots she’d tied were foolproof—at least where this fool was concerned—so I would have to compel her to untie me if there was any hope of escaping before we reached the Threshold.
But could I do it? Could I climb atop that behemoth of a creature she affectionately called Rummy?
I hadn’t yet quelled my lifelong fear to become proficient at riding a standard horse, let alone whatever that was.
Then again, proficiency wasn’t a requirement; Vayen would be the one riding him, and I’d be a passenger.
I could close my eyes, rub soothing circles into my palm, breathe in the blissful scents of the wood and force my focus away from the animal’s rippling muscle as it heaved its massive hooves forward.
Hooves that could murder with a half-hearted kick or stomp.
Hooves that might rear up at any moment to send me tumbling to the ground, where I would no doubt land on my head and succumb to my injuries as it gleefully trampled me to death.
The very thought prompted my throat to ache with the tears I willed away.
Who was I trying to convince? There was no way I could do this.
I’d rather bask in the putrid perfume of Rummy’s butt than attempt to seat myself upon him, fall victim to the panic that would inevitably consume me, and end up back where I started with nothing more than an added helping of humiliation to keep me company.
I was mere moments from accepting my fate when Vayen gripped the edge of the cart and vaulted herself into it.
The sheer grace of the movement did little to mitigate the way I startled against my bindings.
I managed only an incredulous, wide-eyed stare before she ripped the blanket from me, inviting the chill to take its place.
I praised the stars to see that although Vayen had cleaned herself up, I was unchanged.
The same storm cloud dress with its long sleeves and wide neckline ineffectively repelled the creeping cold, so I was grateful that I remained securely enveloped by the jacket that she had all but forced on me.
When Vayen unsheathed a dagger from her belt, I found my voice. “And what do you think you’re doing?”
“I’m releasing you from the cart,” she offered simply. “You’re riding with me.”
“No,” I said, terror blooming in my throat. “Absolutely not.”
“I demand you untie me at once,” Vayen echoed my earlier words mockingly. Without ceasing her movements, she mumbled, “Princesses. Always the most difficult to please.”
My hands may have been secured to the cart by way of a metal ring, but my feet were not. I pulled my knees to my chest and readied my boots in her direction.
“Don’t come any closer!” I screamed. “I… I will kick you off this cart!”
“Do you really think that’s a good—”
I launched my legs with every ounce of strength available to me, only for her to catch my boots easily.
While her stony expression remained unmoved, my lips parted with the shock of how solid her muscles felt as she held my calves with one arm and used the other to slice through the thick rope that had bound my lower half.
As though my legs were weightless, which they most certainly were not, Vayen cast them aside and kneeled. Uncaring of my protest, she reached for the bit of rope that tethered my knotted hands to the cart.
The glinting silver came near, and I did the only thing I could think to do—I threw my side into her, securing my chest over the ring she sought to release me from.
My lungs heaved as I brought my arms beneath me, ensuring that there was no way she could reach the section of rope that kept me in place.
A deep, throaty sound emanated from Vayen’s chest. Had she just…
growled? The guttural noise prompted reactions from both myself and Rummy: while I reflexively froze as though the slightest movement might enrage her, he did the opposite.
The cart shifted as he tossed his head with an anxious whinny and stomped the ground beneath his hooves.
I gritted my teeth together against the sensation.
“Easy,” Vayen called to him softly. I hated how the affection she injected into that single word served to relax my own tension. “That was very dangerous, Alyssum. I nearly cut you.”
“I… I don’t care. Just leave me here,” I pleaded. “I’m quite comfortable now that I’ve adjusted. If you could just return the blanket—”
“I’m going to release you from the cart, but your hands will still be tied.”
“No.” My voice had reached a rather pathetic register. “I’m not getting on that… that thing. I can’t.”
Vayen stilled beside me, the damp air’s silence folding in on itself as she considered her next words.
I imagined her staring down at my pitiful form hunched over the ring that imprisoned me.
I must have looked every bit as pathetic as I felt.
Embarrassment grew too large for my chest as I recalled cowering in the treetops while Anise unsuccessfully tried to calm me, oftentimes having to climb up herself to help me down.
As if the stars were intent on revealing my shortcomings, I was once again a princess failing to conquer her own unfounded fears.
I had hoped to grow used to this particular breed of shame, but it stung worse now than it had with Anise, though I couldn’t fathom why.
A pretend Sentinel who can’t even ride a damn horse when her life hangs in the balance… what could be more pathetic?
I was in the middle of contemplating whether or not I was at risk of asphyxiation should Rummy’s stomach once again unsettle when Vayen coaxed my attention away from the beast entirely.
“You’re not as incapable as you think you are.”
I dropped my forehead on the scratchy pillow, attempting to grasp the words she offered me. But they remained just out of reach.
“Except that I am.” It came out low and partially muffled. A simple, pathetic resignation. “I’d sooner succumb to his stench than ride him. I think that might be the very definition of incapable.”
I could hear Vayen adjusting her stance, and when she did not lay hands on me to pry me from the cart against my will, I fought the urge to ease my posture.
I would not move until she left the cart entirely, I decided.
I wasn’t sure what sort of game she was playing—hadn’t kidnapping me been entertainment enough?
—but I refused to lose more than I already had.
I would find another way to free myself that didn’t involve relinquishing one of the very last choices I might remember making.
“You escaped,” Vayen began, but it was her near-reverent tone that furrowed my brow.
“You relinquished the only life you’d ever known to save yourself.
You did that. A Treaty Princess whose fate has been sealed since birth.
A young woman with nothing more than a satchel of supplies and the cloak on her back.
You stepped into the Threshold despite a lifetime of carefully formulated fear that had been imposed upon you. ”
I turned my neck so that I no longer faced away from her. I did not lift my head from the pillow—that might compromise my formidable positioning—but I did flit my eyes in her direction so that I could look at her as she looked at me.