Chapter 25
KORMAC
It took me a while to fall asleep with him resting where I’d let him. I barely felt his weight.
Gods, he was so cold. I pulled him closer, his breathing soft from sleep.
The prince sleeping there, my arm around him. It never failed to baffle me.
To excite me.
To scare the shit out of me.
Come morning, I woke before him, heading out to find breakfast. I stripped off to my underwear, the yellow a hindrance to hunting.
I wanted something that wasn’t berries or other plant life. I wanted blood. Meat. Something to really sink my teeth into. Bread would be better, my cravings spiking from my conversation with Valance. In lieu of a bready miracle, I headed out to hunt. Without weapons or a snare.
It didn’t matter.
There were rabbits nearby. I saw their droppings, their pawprints in the mud. My tools were light feet and heavy hands to take their life, as well as patience.
I crept through the damp forest, sunlight shimmering in the leaves above.
Tracking the rabbits, keeping at one with the cold, yet pleasant day.
The kind of days I often woke up to when I got to live and breathe in my own country.
One of dew drops on spider webs, of reds and golds in the trees, of cool air and no horrible heat.
A place of my friends, my home, and my dad.
About thirty miles northwest of here, my old life waited for me.
Riverleaf Village. Gods, did I want to make the ride there.
Sleep in my bed, bake bread, drink ale in the tavern.
Embrace my home, hug my father, see the river again.
See all of it. Never complain about anything ever again.
Live a quiet life. Go back to normality.
Impossible. Normality was dead. Anyway, what was normal about living under the threat of the seelie, pushed back to the north?
Because that’s all the living I’d done. Wanting to take down the enemy, planning, listening to Lasair’s speeches.
Getting riled up, ready to leave with Ren when the time came.
I’d always wanted to fight back, to help wrestle control from the fingers of the seelie court.
Show the Autumn lord what happened when a fucker like him spread his legs for the enemy.
So full of hate and surety. Right up until everything changed.
I couldn’t go home. There wasn’t a home left for me now. I wasn’t the man who’d left the village. Even if I did miss Dad and wanted to see his face again, I couldn’t do it. He’d remind me of the old me, along with everything else. And the old me was dead.
I stopped, hiding in a thicket. Angry again, longing for my past—as dead as it was. Maybe I could have a new life after this, a quieter one as a reward for helping the prince.
A dark caress didn’t sound great. What happened when we got up there? The soul bond ended. My protection and companionship no longer required. Death for me. Thanks for your service to the prince, but it’s all about him now.
The only way I’d find out would be up there in the frozen hell. There was no use trying to unpick this. I saw nothing. I knew nothing. Only that the option of turning back was as dead in the water as going home.
Is it so impossible to go home, though?
I focused on my hunting, keeping low and hidden. My adrenaline kept me warm, as did my focus. My control. It had to. A shivering, noisy hunter would fail. I could shiver later, warm up by the fire. There was plenty of kindling left for me to make another and to cook these creatures.
Meat…
Focus on the meat…
My goal was to get two rabbits to fill our bellies substantially. I’d find something to butcher them with. There were plenty of rocks and stones with sharp edges to perform a decent job.
I waited…
Waited…
Waited…
There. A few feet away. Hopping into range. Gray fur. Unaware of me lurking in the undergrowth. Brambles clawed at my exposed skin, leaves and mud sucked at my toes. Insects crawled over my feet, curious of my flesh. A tickle, then gone.
Wait…
Wait…
Wait…
It came closer. Fully within striking distance.
Wait…
Wait…
Wait…
Hop. Hop. Stop. Wiggle nose.
I lunged, caught it. Wrung its neck. Didn’t let it suffer any longer than it had to.
Another dashed away nearby, into the trees. That one wouldn’t be my second.
I moved deeper, keeping as low as before. Waited.
A new contender soon came skipping into range.
A sound scared it off. At first, I thought my stomach had rumbled too loud. It hadn’t.
Snapping twigs behind me.
I braced myself, hands curled into fists.
Always a fight.
Animal? There were bears and big cats prowling the forest, often much further inland than this. The forest spread from coast to coast, forming a belt dividing the north and south. Which worked in favor of a divided country.
Person out there?
I waited, not moving. Feeling watched.
Let it move first.
The maker of the sound burst out of hiding, dressed in black. A man, black cloth covering all his face but the eyes.
A bandit brandishing a knife.
I dropped the rabbit and charged to meet him.