Chapter 29
Lor
My back ached, and my feet rubbed against my boots, blisters forming on my heels that I suspected were bleeding.
Aoife and I had been walking all night, and she’d been true to her word.
She hadn’t slowed down, hadn’t stopped, hadn’t even looked at me to check if I was keeping up.
I’d heard the Fair Folk had better endurance, speed, strength, and for the first time since I’d met them two years ago, I was finally seeing it.
Aoife, it turned out, was an excellent tracker.
She was following all the signs of footsteps and activity that I’d seen: broken leaves, a bent branch, smashed grass and pine cones.
She was on the right trail, and that was what worried me.
I had no idea what she was planning when we actually caught up to Ronan, and I couldn’t ask her because it would likely only anger her.
Whatever progress it felt like we’d made in the last week had been erased, and I wasn’t sure why.
When she’d asked me why I wanted to come, I could’ve sworn I’d seen hope in her eyes, heard it in her voice.
But then I’d given my answer and just as quickly, that glare I was so used to had returned.
I had no idea how I’d upset her with my answer, but then again, I rarely understood my wife’s emotions.
The trees grew sparser, more spread out in this area of the mountain, and we’d been traveling at a steady decline, the ground rocky and uneven, full of roots that could break your ankle if you weren’t careful.
I’d traversed these forests with the brotherhood and knew them well, but I still didn’t like the pace we traveled at.
It seemed reckless to go this fast, to have no regard for our surroundings.
Sweat dripped down my back and matted my hair to my face. Surely Aoife must be getting tired or hungry or needed to relieve herself.
The sun peeked over the horizon as we continued down the rocky decline. I reached out to grab Aoife’s arm, and she stopped, turning to look at me for the first time in hours.
“We should take a break. We’ve been walking all night.”
“I told you—”
“And I’ve kept up, but I’m also human and need food, rest, a bathroom break.”
Her gaze dipped to my crotch. “You can’t just do that on the go?”
My brain heard her words, but my body only felt her gaze on me, and my cock twitched in response to it. I wasn’t sure I’d ever caught her looking at me until recently. Once when we trained together and now . . . in such an odd circumstance.
“Forget it,” she said. “I’ll get you a portal now.”
She stumbled over a rock, and I caught her arm, wheeling her around to face me. “You need a break too.”
Her jaw set in that stubborn way I was used to from Aoife.
“You’re stubborn to a point of stupidity, you know.” The words were out before I could stop them, and I immediately braced myself for her anger.
But instead a laugh spilled from her. “Oraya used to say that.”
“The cook?” I asked, remembering that name from one of Aoife’s stories.
Her nose wrinkled. “How did you know that?”
Ah. I knew this because I’d overheard her telling Chef Elowyn about it. I cleared my throat, and her eyes widened, but she didn’t admonish me for eavesdropping.
“Yes,” she said. “Oraya. She’d watch all my antics with Fairwitch, the way I was so defiant with the godwitch. She’d tell me I was being reckless, and I’d argue, and she’d just shake her head and say I was stubborn just for the sake of being stubborn. Stubborn to the point of stupidity.”
It was the smallest amount of information, but it felt like a gift. “I’m glad I’m not the only one who thinks that.”
“No, you’re not the first, and you certainly won’t be the last.” She gestured to the rocks around us. “Fine. Let’s sit and have a break. But not too long. I believe we’re catching up to Ronan, and I don’t want to get too far behind.”
“Very well.” I gestured for her to sit, and she eyed me warily, like this was some trick and I was going to shove her down the hill.
But she sat, and I dropped next to her as she reached into her satchel and grabbed some cheese and bread. “I only packed enough for one.”
“Eat,” I said. “I can hunt later.”
She rolled her eyes. “Do you ever let anyone help you?”
The question surprised me. Aoife rarely directed questions toward me unless they were meant to irritate me. But this time she seemed genuinely curious. “All the things I do are for me.”
She let out a laugh of disbelief, her golden eyes swinging from the horizon in my direction. “You can’t mean that. You’re always worrying about your people, your family, me.”
“I like it,” I said simply. “I do all those things for others and for me, I suppose. I like working. I like achieving and accomplishing. It makes me feel good, and in turn, it makes me want to do more. It’s like Fairwitch Isle gives me purpose.”
“And what if you didn’t have Fairwitch Isle?” Aoife asked. “What if your kingdom falls? What then? What did you do before you ruled Fairwitch Isle?”
“The brotherhood gave me purpose,” I said. “The rebel group I led in secret gave me purpose. It drove me to be the best I could every single day. To work hard to overthrow them.”
Not that it had worked.
“And before the brotherhood?” she asked.
I tried to remember all the way back to my youth, my teenage years and early twenties before that fateful day the brotherhood had kidnapped me.
“I’ve always just wanted to make a difference.
Before the brotherhood it was training with Wolfe, training to be in the royal guard and protect Fairwitch Isle. ”
She stared at me, no judgment in her eyes. “You truly always have been this good, this selfless.”
“I wouldn’t say that. I just know that I don’t want to fail Fairwitch Isle. I want to be the best ruler I can be for our people.”
“And why is it only about you?” she asked.
I cocked my head as she handed me her canteen, and I took a long drink, the cool water sliding down my throat. “What do you mean by that?”
“You talk as if it’s all up to you. As if the success or failure of the brotherhood fell on your shoulders. As if the success of our people fell on your shoulders.”
The observation took me aback. It was true, but it was something Arthon had drilled into me. You have to hold yourself to a higher standard. You have to do better, be better, than everyone else around you. Otherwise you have failed.. “I guess I don’t always trust others to do what’s right.”
“What you think is right,” she said. “But you are not the arbitrator of justice. You have a queen, a council, a whole community of people working to do good for Fairwitch Isle, and I’d wager that you need to learn it’s not all on your shoulders.”
“Maybe,” I said, her words hitting a nerve, like I was yet again failing everyone somehow, but she hadn’t said the words unkindly.
I glanced over at her as she tucked her hair behind her ears, and I instinctively reached out and ran my finger over the top of her rounded ear.
She froze, and I snatched my hand away. “Sorry,” I said quickly. “Your ears—I’m used to seeing them pointed. But it’s smart, changing them in case anyone gets a look at you.”
She nodded and finished tucking the strand away.
“I like your pointed ears,” I murmured, staring at her with the rising yellow sun and pink horizon behind her.
Her mouth opened and closed quickly, and I realized what I’d just said out loud. Godwitches, I needed to get a hold of myself. Aoife couldn’t stand me—something she’d made abundantly clear many times.
Just because we’d been getting along the last week didn’t mean anything was growing between us. We’d never have a traditional marriage, but we could have respect, a partnership. That was what I hoped for. Nothing more.
Aoife stood abruptly. “We should get moving,” she said as she stuffed the remaining bread and cheese back into her satchel.
“Right.” I stood as Aoife rushed to sweep her hood back over her head.
“Slow down,” I said. “You’re going to fall.”
She didn’t listen, snatching up her satchel and stepping forward, but her foot caught on a small rock, and she started tipping forward.
I reached to grab her arm, and we both went down, tumbling together, a tangle of limbs, hair, and curses as we both swore. Rocks, stones, and tree branches swiped at me, poked me, and pinpricks of pain rippled across my skin.
We both finally landed together in a clearing, except unlike when we’d fallen out of the portal together, Aoife landed on top of me.
We both breathed heavy, staring at each other as our bodies pressed together in a way that shouldn’t have felt so intimate given what had just happened.
“Are you okay?” I managed.
She nodded, her eyes searching my face. “Just my back,” she said, and my hands automatically came to the small of her back. Her golden eyes widened.
“There?” I asked, pressing gently into her skin.
“A little higher,” she said, her voice so uncharacteristically uncertain, timid almost.
I skimmed my hands up her back and reveled in the shudder that rippled through her.
Her long dark hair curtained our faces, blotting out the sun and the forest. From this close, I could see the flecks of green in her eyes, could see the actual shimmer of her skin, like little pieces of glitter sparkling.
Her mouth parted, and this sudden desperate need to kiss her overtook me. “We should . . .”
“Yeah,” I said, knowing we needed to get up, to move, but neither of us did.
I splayed my hands over her back, and she arched into me, her head dipping down, the movement barely imperceptible, except that it brought her lips closer to mine.
“Aoife,” I said, voice low. I lifted my head, hoping she knew that if she wanted this, then I would give it to her.
I’d give this woman whatever she wanted.
Her eyes were ablaze now, and she moved her lips toward mine. My breath caught in my throat at the possibility of what might happen between us, that maybe Aoife wanted me, too, that maybe she’d felt the shift between us this last week. That maybe we could be more than just partners.
A branch cracked nearby, and we both jumped apart, scrambling to our feet as my gaze snapped in the direction of the noise.
I stepped in front of Aoife, trying to usher her behind my back, but of course, she swatted my hand away and stepped forward, a slight bend to her knees as she readied herself for a fight.
My hand went to the sword strapped to my side right as members of the brotherhood emerged from the trees, surrounding us.