Chapter 5
Five
Vox
Despite water being one of my most comfortable elemental affinities, I was relieved when we rowed to the shores of the most elusive Barony of Ebrus.
Unlike the west, which was dry and almost barren, the south was heavily forested.
However, the land was rocky and unworkable for the most part.
Doend was two days’ travel inland, and it would be at least one day of rough hiking to even reach roads.
Fortunately for us, Zier had stocked the boat with everything we could possibly need: supplies, tents, non-perishable food, and water canteens. We’d spent the final evening of sailing condensing our bags down, until we could easily carry them across long miles.
Avalon had almost growled anytime someone suggested that they spread some of her supplies across the packs, and I could only respect her for that.
She was fiercely independent, even now. She was so unlike the women at Court back home, who wanted to be nothing more than a jewel to be admired, wrapped around my body like a chain when I went out in public.
Hayle had eventually managed to convince her to let him carry one of her bags so she could carry his raven in a sling across her chest. Now, as we trudged through the woods, the bird was nestling in the sling designed for an infant, with Avalon’s purple stolt wrapped around it like a living blanket.
Honestly, I was surprised the bird didn’t peck out the little rodent’s eyes, but it seemed weirdly tolerant of the oversized fluffball.
As much as I didn’t understand Avalon’s fascination with the creature, I had to begrudgingly respect its devotion. It had ridden across the ocean on the back of an eagle that probably would have liked to have had it as a road snack. That was some serious determination to return to your master.
I understood it, though. I was equally as enamored with Avalon Halhed. No matter where she went, I would do whatever it took to return to her.
Lierick gave me a small smirk, and I tried not to flush.
We had been purposefully ignoring what had happened after the Combat round of the tournament.
I tried not to think about the feel of his lips on mine, or what it could possibly mean.
Whether it was traitorous, not to my Line, but to my love for Avalon.
And sure, I tried not to think about what it meant for me.
Liking the same gender in the First Line was a death sentence, at least for the men.
For the women, it was ignored entirely. Shay was proof that it didn’t matter if you liked women or men—or neither—since you would still find yourself wedded and bedded to some political ally.
Individual wants and desires came second to the needs of the Line, or more specifically, the desires of my father.
The inappropriate attraction swirled with deep-seeded guilt and loathing, creating a cocktail of fucking neuroticism that was going to kill me, if I didn’t get it under control. I needed to have Avalon in my arms—only then did the world make sense and the way forward become clear.
I watched her stumble a little over a rock, which was a good enough excuse for me. Using bands of air, I caught her up and floated her back to me until we were chest to chest.
“Vox, put me down,” she scolded, but I ignored it. “I’m capable of walking. I don’t need you to carry me like an infant.”
“What if I need to carry you close?” I asked flippantly, but maybe not lightly enough, because she caught my eyes with her own.
“Are you okay?”
Nodding, I looked over her shoulder to ensure I could see where I was going. Well, that was as good an excuse as any to drop my eyes from hers. She saw too much, my sweet little dirt scrabbler. “I am. I just missed you.”
“You woke up spooning me less than four hours ago,” she teased, but rested her head on my shoulder, careful not to crush her own little package of passengers.
I kissed her temple. “Too long ago.” She felt so good in my arms.
We were all silent for a long time, just putting one foot in front of the other in unfamiliar territory.
I carried Avalon the whole time, and after about thirty minutes, I realized my steady gait had rocked her to sleep.
The fact that she felt comfortable enough to fall asleep in my arms, trusted me enough to protect her when she was vulnerable, did something to my chest that I’d never experienced.
Hayle’s hounds actually seemed to be enjoying themselves as they scouted the dense forests around us. The forests of Doend would have been their natural habitat, if they hadn’t hitched themselves to Hayle and the Third Line. They were clearly enjoying being in a place that spoke to their souls.
Lierick and Iker brought up the rear of our little group, and having them at my back was an exercise in trust. I knew they wouldn’t do anything while Avalon was here. I had to trust that they wouldn’t do anything at all, though I’d been wrong before.
“Braxus says there’s a good place to camp for the night about twenty minutes from here. We’ll stop there,” Hayle called back, his eyes lingering on the sleeping woman in my arms. “You doing okay?”
I nodded, holding Avalon to me tightly. I could carry her like this across all of Ebrus, if she’d let me.
Hayle had teased me once about being a pampered prince, and maybe he’d been right.
I had never camped in the woods like this.
If my family ever traveled through Ebrus, we were hosted in the finest homes in the Baronies, or in expansive hotels.
Never on a bed roll on the ground, with a hound on one side and Avalon on the other.
But I’d made sure the fire stayed lit and low, and put a dome of air over our group to keep out the howling wind. Hayle had slapped my back. “We won’t even need a tent, if you can hold this in your sleep.”
I could, but I would have to sleep lightly. Lying on my back in the dead of night, though, I doubted falling asleep would be a problem.
“Can’t sleep?” Avalon whispered, and I turned my head to look at her.
On her other side was Hayle, and just beyond him was Alucius the hound.
Lierick was taking his turn at keeping watch, and I probably should have relieved him of his duty so he could rest while I couldn’t, but I didn’t want to move from where Avalon’s body was pressed against mine.
Shaking my head, I told her softly, “The stars look so bright out here, without the lights from Boellium and Boemouthe.”
She rolled onto her back and stared up at the stars too for a moment, before pointing at the different constellations. “Godesh Major, colloquially named the Archer.” Then she pointed to another. “The Hunter, uh, Billes Minor?”
I smiled. “You were listening.”
Looking back at me, she returned the smile. “You’re a good teacher. And you’re hot. It’s easy to listen to someone when you’re mesmerized by their lips.”
I chuckled softly. “You’re a very distracting student.”
“Kinky,” she whispered, lifting my hand to kiss my knuckles with such an easy affection, it made me freeze.
One day, I’d be able to accept it without waiting for the lash of pain to follow, but it would take a while.
Avalon either didn’t notice or ignored the jolt as I forced my system to relax once more.
She pointed to the western side of the sky.
“Ebretha. And her heart.” She chewed her lip.
“I want to curse and thank her in equal measures. Without her interference, I might’ve had a happy childhood, but then I would never have met you, or Hayle, and definitely not Lierick.
I’d be an entirely different person. Maybe even a better person.
“But I wouldn’t have known the face you make when you find something amusing, but you’re hiding it.
Or the one when I draw back just a little too soon from a kiss, and your eyes are scrunched closed.
” She let out a soft laugh. “I’m not sure I wouldn’t go through it all again just to have this.
I can’t regret it.” Her words were slurring slightly at the edges, and I knew she was succumbing to sleep.
I shook my head. “I’d give just about anything for you to have grown up without pain. I’d take my own twofold. But I’m selfish, and I don’t regret it either,” I murmured into her hair as I slowly drifted off to sleep in her arms.
We woke as dawn lit the sky and packed down the camp quickly. According to Iker, if we made good time today, we could be in Doend just after dark.
I wasn’t sure everyone had gotten the message.
Hayle treated the woods like a playground, and just like his hounds, he looked almost relieved to be beneath the dense canopy.
He kept dragging Avalon off to see a bird’s nest, or a patch of berries, or any one of the other wonders of the forest. Then he’d scoop her up and run her back to us, never losing time.
Different animals followed along beside us for a while, from stolts like Avalon’s pet, to wolves, foxes, deer, and other creatures. They seemed interested in our party, but mostly in Hayle and Avalon. I felt like I was in the middle of a children’s fairytale.
Despite Hayle and Avalon’s obvious joy at being in the wilderness, I was glad to finally see the lights of a city. “Wait,” Lierick murmured, and my feet stilled. I searched the surrounding woods for threats, but there were none. “You can’t go in there looking like the Heir to the First Line.”
I raised an eyebrow. “Then how are we getting in to see Baron Marlee? Your good looks? Hayle’s winning personality?”
Hayle huffed, and Avalon chuckled softly.
Lierick pulled some of his own clothes from his pack and handed them to me.
“You need to be dirtied up a little; you can’t walk in there wearing clothes that’d cost as much as a year’s wages.
It’s a pity you weren’t blond. Changing that hair would be the easiest disguise.
” He eyed me with a mischievous glint in his eye. “Actually…”
Twenty minutes later, I’d rolled in the dirt, and my head had been shaved to barely more than a light stubble across my skull. My scalp was freezing.
Avalon was staring at me like I was an entirely different person.
“You look like you start bar fights,” Hayle said, his eyes laughing.
“You look like I want you to bend me over a bar,” Avalon groaned. “But those eyes are still recognizable. Trust me, it’d only take one horny girl to make the connection between those portraits she’s swooned over for years and his eyes, and the whole disguise is ruined.”
Lierick dug back into the bag and pulled out a pair of thick-rimmed glasses. “Don’t worry. The Second Line has a solution for that too. My eye color is a common trait among our Line, and they aren’t exactly subtle. Try these.” He tapped the corner of his nearly black eyes.
I slipped the glasses on, and Avalon let out a soft little gasp. “Your eyes are brown.” Reaching out, she tipped my glasses down and sighed with relief. “They’re still blue beneath them, though.”
“Worried I wouldn’t be as pretty anymore?
” I teased her, pulling her into my arms, because even though I wouldn’t admit it, what if she only liked me because I was attractive?
If I looked like I rolled in a pigsty for fun and had none of my power or good looks, would she realize I had no personality to speak of?
She kissed my lips, despite the faint streaks of dirt. “If you think it’s the outside package I love, you don’t know me at all, Vox Vylan.”
Someone cleared their throat. “Let’s go.
It’s getting dark, and we still have a ways to go,” Iker grumbled.
He was probably really tired of the amount of sexual tension sparking between us and his cousin.
“You can make kissy faces at each other when I’m in front of a fire with a large glass of ale in my hand. ”
Laughing softly, I picked up my pace. I was more than ready for a warm bed, a roaring fire, and my girl in my arms. Or on my cock.
Probably both.