Chapter 12
Vera
It feels as if we journeyed into a painting where the artist’s palette consisted of only gray, black, and dark browns with a little watered-down green.
It smells of moist dirt and rot, and many of the plants, though living, look wilted and half-dead.
We walk through a particularly spindly copse of trees—their spidery, fragile leaves dangle loosely on their branches.
I imagine if I were to take a deep breath, I could blow all around me in a circle and the leaves would come spinning off.
It would be quite magical, but I don’t. We don’t need any extra attention drawn toward us.
I already feel as if we’re trespassers—lucent magic users crossing into the depths of gloam.
I catch a glimpse of a deer in the shadows who watches us pass with curious dark eyes. It appears even the animals know it.
The drizzle has begun again, but we’re partially protected from its chill by the forest that tangles and knots above us.
With no idea what to expect in these mountains, we stick close together.
The men appear relaxed, but I see the way their hands rest on their weapons, how alert and quiet they stay.
Every crack of dead forest debris beneath my boots is magnified compared to how quietly my companions tread; it seems I’m the loudest of the group, though I’m the lightest by far.
The sounds of a normal forest are there, the animals are there, the trees and plants are there; it’s just…
weak. Several different animals pause and watch us closely as we pass, most of them thin and appearing more tired than the faded leaves crunching beneath our boots.
Various birdcalls come from the trees above, paired with the whisper of dry vegetation when a soft breeze blows, but none of it is normal.
I spend much of my time in the forests of our kingdom traveling with hunters, and none of them feel so haunting.
I position myself strategically between Rhosse and Ikar, who are in the lead, and Darvy, who brings up the rear now.
“Anyone else feel like we’re being watched?” I ask.
Even with our kingdom’s best soldiers at my side, the eerie pressure of unseen eyes pressing into my back makes me want to run.
“There are a lot of curious animals out,” Rhosse says in as comforting a tone as a man as dangerous-looking as he can manage. As a person gifted magic that allows him to track and work with animals, he is especially intuitive, but this feeling doesn’t feel like animals.
“There’s also a lot of gloam, and with gloam comes creatures, and you better believe they’ll be watching for a moment of weakness,” Darvy warns from behind me. “Stay alert.”
An unnecessary reminder. I stuff all of my sarcastic responses down my throat and focus on visualizing the way Ikar showed me how to quickly pull my short sword in our training sessions, over and over.
But then I decide I should focus on keeping lucent at the ready, because it’s not likely I’ll be any sort of help with my sword.
I frown, thinking back across all the days that have passed with Ikar…
have I ever actually shared lucent with him?
Of course, when he was passed out from the bantha claw, he wasn’t aware when I healed him that my magic works in a much more comfortable fashion than normal healers, so that doesn’t count.
My mind spins as I search my memories. There was the time I powered the enchanted arrows when we battled the shifters, and he didn’t notice, but we were also battling high above the earth while riding foreign creatures.
Ikar is more watchful and aware than anyone I’ve met…
will he notice that my magic runs cooler than the originators he’s used to working and training with? What about Darvy and Rhosse?
I nibble at my lip. I’m always careful to control how much I send, and in all my years of assisting hunters, no one has commented on it, but can I limit the lucent enough here?
Or will the amount of gloam require lucent so strong that these warriors will question me?
The thoughts remind me that this is why I shouldn’t make snap decisions.
On top of that, I’ve only ever contracted for work with individuals, not groups.
I haven’t trained like the originators to lend lucent to groups of soldiers.
In fact, I’ve never attempted to send lucent to more than one person at a time.
I’d ask to practice with them, but that’s basically blurting out that I’m a complete amateur when I assume they believe they’ve hired an expert.
Except, Ikar knows my abilities quite well after our journey together.
Why exactly did he want to hire me? I warily eye each of the men around me. What have I done?
Darvy interrupts me with a friendly shoulder bump, pulling me from the downward spiral.
“You appeared so comfortable on the sharp flyer that I almost don’t believe Ikar’s story.
” His eyes are light with humor, and I know he’s trying to help me relax.
For a man who appears a somewhat lighthearted rogue, there’s an intuitive depth behind his green eyes that I can’t deny.
“Ha. Ha.” I roll my eyes. Ikar, unfortunately, did not leave out the fact that I almost sabotaged his rescue and escape attempt by refusing to board the creature until the shift king was almost upon us when he retold it at dinner the other night. “Ikar exaggerated, I’ll have you know.”
Darvy chuckles. “I’m sure.”
He doesn’t believe me one bit. Ikar isn’t prone to humorous dramatics like Darvy is, and we both know it.
“Cheer up, Vera. You’re going on a fantastical journey with three strapping soldiers,” he says, tossing his knife into the air and catching it with a bit too much swagger in his stride.
“None of you are merely soldiers,” I remind him blandly while eyeing Ikar’s broad shoulders, trim waist, and long legs with attempted disdain.
For a moment Darvy’s eyes widen in surprise, like I’ve learned something I shouldn’t have.
I quirk a brow. “What? You’re all officers, aren’t you?”
His quick smile is back. “Oh, right. Yes, of course. But that’s even better.” He raises his eyebrows twice in quick succession.
“No, it’s not.”
I see when his expression turns from teasing to genuinely curious. “What is it, then? I thought this is what you do. You’re a bounty hunter. Adventuress extraordinaire.”
I snort. “You do know I hardly know how to use this, right?” I pat my sword. I’m no delicate flower, but I’m also not going to pretend I can hold any sort of weight in a battle.
“Like I said, strapping soldiers.”
Darvy’s smile is infectious, and my lips can’t help but turn up. “My correct title is much closer to hunter assistant. And it’s what I’ve had to do, not always because I wanted to. All I’m saying is don’t depend on me to save you from a deathstalker.”
He cuts away some foliage to better clear our path and presses more of it aside while I step past a particularly thick section. I quietly thank him as I pass, hoping he’ll let the matter drop.
He smirks. “Lend us lucent and you won’t need to.” With another flip of his knife, it’s expertly sheathed. “Why did you contract for this job? It sounds like you don’t feel you’re qualified.”
I curse inwardly. I didn’t intend to sow doubt in my abilities. “I’m more than qualified to share lucent. I can send you as much as you want.”
He has no idea how true it is.
“The pendulum swung from under- to overconfident.” His eyes are still light with teasing, like he doesn’t believe me but knows I can do enough.
I shrug. That’s better anyway. “I’ll show you when I need to.”
He leans in a little and whispers. “Careful, or Ikar will want to hire you on permanently.”
We both know Ikar can hear it, but there’s no indication in his posture or stride that shows he intends to answer.
“You evaded my question,” Darvy reminds me.
“Which one?”
“Why’d you contract for this journey?”
“I want to be free, and to be free I need money.” I’m unable to keep a bit of weariness from coloring my tone.
“Free from what?”
I struggle to come up with a response. The conversation went from light to deep in half a second, and I’m kicking myself for my choice of words. I’ll have to be more careful around Darvy; it seems he has a way of tricking people into getting personal—fast.
“What I meant is that I want to retire.”
Darvy laughs. “You’re all of what… twenty years old?”
“Twenty-six.”
I frown at the smile he attempts to smother. “What will you do in your retirement?”
“I’ve always dreamt of having my own shop, selling things I’ve collected over the course of my travels.”
He nods. “Okay…” A slow smile turns his lips. “Do you want to know what else I’m really curious about?”
I almost audibly sigh in relief. “What?” I play along, more than happy to move on to a different topic.
He lowers his voice. “I’m wondering what happened between the two of you.” He arches a brow as he uses his chin to gesture toward Ikar ahead of us.
“Do you mean the fact that I arrested him under the assumption he was a Class A criminal and just a few short weeks later, he’s my contractor?” I smile sweetly. “We do have quite the history.”
He grins. Apparently, he thinks I’m funny.
I have no idea how he and Rhosse became friends.
Darvy is handsome in a boyish way, his honey-brown hair long on top, brushing his forehead and slightly mussed; the sides are short like those in the Moneyrean army keep it.
His green eyes are lit with humor almost constantly, he has a dimple to die for, and his smile is quick. Rhosse is almost the direct opposite.
I decide to turn the tables on him in a strategic sort of way. There’s a question I need answered. “Do you plan to ever retire?”
“When I can no longer do my duty to my king, yes.”
I press him further. “But can you retire early, if you choose?”