Chapter 35
Chapter Thirty-Five
Curiosity burned through Fedra, but she didn’t press Marcus for more. Though it was hard. He sounded so secretive. And determined. Much like she must have sounded to him. Perhaps he was just messing with her. Or maybe he wasn’t. It was so difficult to tell with him.
She decided it was best to refrain from talking for a while.
There was too much to take in while walking through the forest, and she was missing it by conversing with him.
Instead, she gave herself up to the sounds.
From the crunch of leaves and twigs beneath their feet to the brush of wind across her cheeks that brought the scent of evergreen needles, pine resin, and cold, damp earth, winter was everywhere.
Crisp, clean air filled her lungs, breathing new life into her body.
Her hearing became so sharp that she heard the distant gurgle of water. She picked up different animal noises, some deep, others soft. It was difficult to determine which were dangerous, since she knew nothing about the forest or what might call it home.
And through it all, Marcus’s hand remained on her elbow.
His steady presence allowed her to walk securely through what was likely a treacherous place.
Several times, he steered her around things simply by applying pressure with his fingers.
It seemed he wasn’t in the mood to talk either.
Yet something about the silence between them was comforting.
A snapped twig jolted her out of her thoughts.
“Someone’s behind us,” she whispered.
Marcus suddenly changed directions. “I know.”
“How many?”
“Three.”
They were outnumbered, which wasn’t good. “Leave me and get some distance. I don’t know what kind of magic you have, but you’ll be able to use it if I’m not there.”
“You think I can no’ protect you?”
“That’s not what I meant.”
He tugged her to a stop before turning her slightly. “There’s a fallen tree behind you. Sit. It’s nearing noon anyway. Might as well stop so I can deal with whoever this is.”
Marcus didn’t remove his hand until she had lowered herself onto the log.
She laid her hands upon the bark and attempted to stay calm.
A soft poof sounded near her, followed by two heavier thuds.
Something leaned against her left side. She reached down and felt coarse fabric, then leather next to it.
“Stay here,” he ordered.
Fedra listened as his footsteps grew distant.
She lifted a trembling hand and loosened the bandage around her head.
It fluttered to her lap. Slowly, she opened her eyes.
Bright light blinded her, and she lifted her hand to shield her face.
She chanced another look, but at the ground this time. All she saw was fuzzy shades of brown.
She blinked several times, waiting for her vision to clear. Her eyesight sharpened gradually until she could make out dead leaves, dark, wet ground, and clumps of snow shaded by the fallen tree. Excitement bubbled up inside her as a smile pulled at her lips. Sian’s medicine had really worked.
Fedra looked around, taking in the dense forest filled with a mix of evergreens and other trees. She kept raising her eyes until she was able to see the bright, cloudless blue sky through the branches. A grunt had her searching the forest until she located the source of the sound.
A man stood with his back to her and his feet braced apart, his short, dark hair rumpled by the wind.
Marcus. Even without hearing his voice, she knew it was him.
He stood solitary without any weapons, and far too close to her to be able to use magic.
For all of that, his stance was that of someone who wasn’t afraid.
She let her gaze roam over his broad shoulders, making it impossible to miss the way the leather vest and tan shirt conformed to his powerful body.
Matching leather braces covered his forearms, and even his brown trousers showed off his muscular legs.
A man writhed on the ground in front of Marcus while two more attempted to pull their friend to his feet.
“We’re no’ going to have any trouble now, are we?” Marcus asked calmly.
The two standing hastily shook their heads.
“Then you’d best get going while I’m still in the mood to allow it.”
When the third had trouble standing, the other two dragged him away.
Marcus remained there until they were out of sight.
Only then did he turn. He halted mid-step when his gaze met hers.
For several seconds, he didn’t move. She longed to call him closer so she could see his face in better detail, but she couldn’t find the words.
They had shared many conversations. He had held her, and she had even touched his face.
But it felt as if they were meeting for the first time.
She had thought it might feel awkward finally getting to see him.
After all, he had known her face from the beginning, while she had only known his voice and the feel of his presence.
He looked away and inhaled before he headed to her.
It bothered her that he wouldn’t meet her gaze, but it gave her a chance to observe him at her leisure.
He walked like a man who had seen it all and lived to talk about it.
It was an assertive stride, confident and imposing, one that announced to all that he wasn’t afraid of anything.
Her heart began to beat faster the nearer he got—and not in fear. In exhilaration. She had never witnessed a man like him before. There was a savage side to him that he kept tightly controlled. She wondered what he would look like if he let that control slip.
Finally, she saw his face. The sharp chin and jaw, the straight nose, the thick brows. And his mouth. Her hand trembled as she recalled brushing her thumb along his full, lower lip. She didn’t know a mouth could be both seductive and irresistible.
Then their eyes tangled. Heart-stopping, soft green orbs that seemed to hold their own light were framed with thick lashes. He wasn’t handsome. He was striking. Arresting. The kind of stunning that stopped people in their tracks.
“You can see,” he stated.
She nodded, unable to look away from his mesmerizing eyes.
“Good. That will make travel easier.”
That’s when it dawned on her that he would no longer have to keep his hand on her. He must be relieved. She looked down at the strip of fabric Sian had used to bandage her eyes and started to roll it up, regret in every movement. She could see, but in regaining her sight, she had lost his touch.
For the first time, she noticed her attire.
There hadn’t been much time when Sian was helping her dress earlier to pay attention.
She took in the black pants stuffed into knee-high, black boots.
A long, gray tunic with side slits was belted at her waist and covered a thick, long-sleeved, charcoal gray undershirt.
Over all of that was a black cloak with gray fur at the collar.
She clutched her hands together in her lap since she didn’t know what else to do. She shouldn’t be nervous around him simply because she could see now, but that’s exactly what was happening. The more she tried to ignore it, the worse it became.
Fedra tensed when Marcus leaned over and grasped one of the sacks at her feet.
She berated herself for acting so foolishly, but thankfully, he hadn’t noticed.
He suddenly held out a waterskin to her.
She took it and drank deeply while he dug out food.
She was too wrapped up in her own thoughts to pay attention to what she was eating.
The fact that Marcus didn’t speak only ratcheted up her anxiety.
By the time they finished eating, she regretted taking off the bandage.
“Let’s get moving,” he said, getting to his feet.
She watched as he swung his cloak around his shoulders and fastened the chain that held it in place. “Already?”
His pale green gaze slid to her. “Are you so tired that you can no’ walk?”
“It isn’t that.”
“Then what is it?”
She swallowed, hating that she couldn’t seem to say the right thing lately. “It just sounds as if you’re in a hurry.”
“You could say that.”
It was on the tip of her tongue to ask why, but she swallowed the words when he settled three of the bags over his shoulders. She reached for the last two at the same time he did. They froze the instant their hands touched.
“You don’t have to carry everything,” she told him.
He withdrew his hand then. She grasped the handles and looped them over her shoulders before grabbing the walking stick again. It might come in handy later. This time, when they set out, Marcus walked in front of her.
“You have a destination in mind, don’t you?” she asked.
He kept a steady pace ahead of her. “No’ particularly.”
“But we’re in a hurry.”
“No’ particularly.”
She rolled her eyes at his tone. “Then why are you walking so fast?”
“This is my regular pace. We lost time this morning, and I’d rather no’ be in the woods at night.”
“Wouldn’t the trees as cover be better than being out in the open?”
“Depends on who you ask.”
Fedra glared at his back. “I’m asking you.”
“I just said I doona want to be in the woods at night.”
Her eyes narrowed on him, wondering if he had always been like this and she had just missed it, or if this was something new. “I can tell you don’t want to be here with me. I can see now. You don’t have to stay.”
He whirled around and took a step toward her, making her jump back.
“You have the potential to kill others just by walking into a village. You have no idea what kind of magic someone has or how your presence will affect them. How can I no’ stay?
And we both know you’ll head to the dragons as soon as you can. ”
The words were so familiar that for a moment she forgot she was no longer on her home world.
She looked away as anger and bitterness churned inside her chest. How had he known that she had caused the death of others before?
It didn’t seem to matter what she did or where she went.
The sentiment would always be the same. The only way she could live normally was on a world without magic.
There had to be one out there somewhere. If only she could find it.
Marcus sighed. “I can no’—and willna—let you harm anyone, whether it’s on purpose or no’.”
He was referring to what she had done to his wounds. She hadn’t even known he was injured, nor was she fully conscious, but it was still her crime to bear. When he continued to stand in front of her, she looked into his eyes. A long, tense minute passed before he turned and continued walking.
She might be out of stasis, but her life was the same. Isolated. Lonely.
Empty.
Resentment festered, but it didn’t change the fact that she had a mission to get to the dragons.
She had been told that all she needed was to get near them to end them.
Marcus could attempt to stop her, but in the end, he wouldn’t be able to.
She was his weakness, after all. The sooner she got away from him, the better.
They were headed north. That meant the land of the dragons was to the east. She didn’t know how far east, but in the end, it really didn’t matter.
She would just keep going until she found the dragons.
Once she crossed onto their land, everything would fall into place.
She looked at Marcus’s back. How far would he go to stop her?
She was about to find out.