Chapter 5 #2
Cool forest air fills my lungs and clears the lingering haze of the Void’s influence from my subconscious.
I keep my focus straight ahead, landing on the broad expanse of Falcen’s back and the way his muscles shift and flex beneath his sweat-soaked tunic with each stride, his armor in a large sack thrown over his shoulder. Anything to distract from the carnage we left in our wake.
Questions burn on the tip of my tongue. I’d love to understand what had surged through me and the siren’s call of the Void that nearly dragged me under.
But I shove them to the back of my mind, knowing now is not the time.
Not when the threat of more Voidspawn lurks in the shadows of the trees while we keep to the sun-baked trail.
We walk in tense silence, the only sound the crunch of leaves and twigs beneath our feet and the labored rasp of my breathing.
As we crest a small rise, the glimmer of sunlight on the water catches my eye. The lake stretches out before us, its surface placid and mirror smooth, reflecting the cloudless blue sky above. The sight is jarring in its tranquility.
Falcen pauses at the water’s edge, his shoulders rising with a deep inhale through his nose. He turns to me, his eyes still holding a strange, feverish glint, the gold rim around his pupils resonating like molten metal.
“We’ll rest here for a moment,” he says, his voice rough with exhaustion. “Drink, clean yourself up.”
Kneeling on the lake’s shore, I cup my hands to bring the cool, clear water to my lips. It soothes my parched throat, washing away the bitter taste of fear and the metallic tang of rotten blood.
I splash more water on my face, scrubbing at the grime and dried gore that cakes my skin.
As I do, I catch sight of my reflection in the lake’s surface.
The black of my dilated pupils nearly swallows the green of my irises.
My sandy-blond hair is in a state. I look wild, feral, like some creature of the Void myself.
Falcen stands a comfortable distance away, hands on his hips and staring out at the horizon. His eyes glint in the sun’s rays, the melted gold yet to recede in his gaze.
I can’t help but admire him.
Did my eyes go that color when I fought the Void hounds? Am I becoming full Soulren so fast? I want to ask him, but the pensive tightness to his features communicates leave me the hell alone unless you want to die.
That is, until he strips off what remains of his tunic.
Falcen’s clothes hit the ground with a soft thud, baring the expanse of his back to my ever-widening eyes. Muscles ripple beneath his sweat-slicked skin as he reaches for the laces of his breeches. Saliva sticks to the back of my tongue, my throat bone-dry despite the water I just guzzled.
He shoves his breeches down lean hips and powerful thighs, revealing that he wears nothing underneath. The globes of his ass flex as he steps out of the fabric pooled at his feet.
I should look away and give him privacy, but I’m transfixed by Lux’s play of light on his sculpted form, making him glisten as if dusted with crushed diamonds.
Not a single trace of those magickal tattoos remains on his tanned skin. But scars, both old and new, crisscross his body, telling stories of countless battles fought and won.
I avert my eyes as he turns and gives me the full-frontal, then strides into the lake.
I’m pulled right back to him when the water parts around his waist as he wades deeper.
The muscles in his back and arms flex as he cups his hands and splashes water over his face and chest. Rivulets run down the valley of his spine, tracing the line, and when he stretches, they run down the bumps and ridges of his muscular chest, his nipples small and piqued from the cold.
Clearly, I must look away and give him privacy, but that is like asking a child to stay away from the sweets when the traveling merchant comes into town.
Falcen dips beneath the surface, the water swallowing him whole. I hold my breath, counting the seconds until he resurfaces, pushing his dark hair back from his face. Water sluices down, catching in the defined ridges of his abdomen.
I gulp.
He is magnificent. Like one of Nox’s statues come to life, all chiseled lines and corded muscle, power reluctantly leashed in a majestic human form.
Warmth stains my cheeks as I trace the lines of his body with my eyes, following the path of a lone droplet as it lingers on the dip of his clavicle before spilling over, traversing the defined lines of his torso with agonizing slowness, then joins the water lapping at his hips.
Falcen turns his head, catching my blatant ogling. Mortification burns for eternity when he angles his head with a knowing slant to his lips. He wades closer, cutting through the water.
“Aren’t you going to bathe?”
I tear my gaze away, fixing it on the pebbles around my bent knees. “I, well … I don’t find it necessary at the moment.”
“Unnecessary?” He arches a brow. “We’ve hiked for a day and a half through the forest, slept on packed dirt in a cave, and fought Void hounds until they were bloody and broken at our feet. All of that, and you don’t find the need to wash off?”
I run my hands down my thighs, grimacing at the dirt, blood, and Lux knows what else, caking the fabric. He’s right, of course. I’m filthy, and the grime feels like it’s seeped into my very pores.
But still, I hesitate.
“You slept,” I say primly, grasping at the only truth I can. “I did not, so I think I’ll use this time to take a nap.”
My face burns hotter than Lux’s sun beating down on us. I pick at a loose thread on my stained apron, suddenly finding it the most fascinating material in the region.
Falcen’s eyes narrow. He wades closer, the water caressing his hips like silk.
“You need to clean up, Verily. We can’t risk drawing more attention with the stench of death clinging to us.”
“I’m not some delicate flower that will wilt at the first hint of dirt,” I snap, lifting my chin.
A muscle in his jaw ticks, his patience clearly wearing thin. “No, you’re a Soulren novice who just faced down a pack of Void hounds and nearly lost herself to the temptation of their corrupted souls. You need to wash off more than just the grime.”
His bluntness knocks the air from my lungs. The memory of that seductive power, the whispers promising influence and invincibility, sends a fresh wave of shame and revulsion crashing over me.
Falcen studies my expression. With a sigh, he says, “The Void’s taint lingers, and trust me, you don’t want that filth on you any longer than necessary.”
I risk a glance up at him, at the hard set of his jaw, the tightness around his eyes. There’s a story there, I think, a pain buried deep. But I know better than to pry. Not now, at least.
“I’ll wash at the shore here,” I relent, my voice small. “Just … turn around. Please.”
A muscle under his eye twitches, but he complies, turning his back to me.
Unfortunately, it doesn’t stop his lecture. “There is nothing quite like the purity of a natural lake after dealing with those creatures. It does more than just wash off your skin. It refreshes the soul.”
Exhaling through my nose, I rise to my feet, keeping my attention fixed on his broad back. Steeling myself, I reach for the ties of my apron with trembling fingers.
It, along with my plain dress, slips from my shoulders and pools at my feet in a grimy heap. I stand there in just my thin shift, the breeze raising goose bumps on my exposed skin. Bracing myself, I wade into the shallows, the cool water swallowing up my ankles, then my calves.
This is far enough, my frightened thoughts bleat.
“You call that bathing?” Falcen’s voice cracks like a whip, making me flinch. He still faces away, but I can hear the sneer in his tone. “Submerge yourself. Scrub until your skin is raw if you must. But get clean.”
Indignation flares hot in my chest, temporarily smothering my embarrassment. “I am washing up just fine, thank you very much.”
“Barely getting your feet wet won’t do the trick.” He turns his head slightly, the sharp angles of his profile catching the sunlight glistening off the water. “Do all villagers enjoy being as filthy as you?”
My temper flares hotter than a forge’s flames. “I am not filthy, you insufferable brute! Just because I don’t prance about in the nude like some wild animal doesn’t mean I’m averse.”
I stomp farther into the water, ignoring the way the cold liquid seeps through my thin shift, plastering the cotton to my skin. My heart is desperate to beat out of my chest.
Falcen lets out a harsh bark of laughter. He turns fully to face me now, his eyes raking over my form in a way that makes me acutely aware of how my wet shift clings to every curve. I resist the instinct to duck until I’m neck-deep in the water. Propriety isn’t worth the risk.
“Could have fooled me. From the way you’re acting, one would think water does to you what my soul-sword does to Voidspawn.”
I grit my teeth, my hands clenching into fists beneath the surface. “Forgive me for not being eager to strip down in front of a man I barely know. Some of us have a sense of decency.”
His brows lift, a smirk playing at one corner of his mouth.
“You watched me decapitate a hound without making one peep of horror, yet you won’t put your head underwater?
I don’t have time to cajole you into getting the dirt off your face like a recalcitrant babe.
The less time I am on the road with a barely formed Soulren, the better. Get. The bloody hells. In.”
I jerk my chin back, a scathing insult forming on my tongue, but before I can voice it, Falcen is moving.
“Stay away from me!” I splash at him, my feet slipping on the silt-covered lake bottom, but he’s too fast.
Falcen’s hands close around my waist, his fingers digging into the sheer fabric of my shift, the chill of his damp skin scorching against mine. I let out a startled yelp as he lifts me as if I weigh no more than a sack of feathers.
“You’re right,” he murmurs. “You’re not a child. You are a Soulren, and I am your Elite, and you will obey me.”
“Falcen, no! You don’t understand—”
My confession cuts off with a shriek as he tosses me. I flail through the air, my stomach swooping as the water rushes up to meet me and swallows me whole with a mighty splash.
I thrash, kicking my legs, but the water drags at my limbs like leaden weights. Panic rakes up my throat as I try to find the surface, but I don’t know how.
Because I can’t swim.