Chapter 10
JESSAMINE
“When you finish eating, I’ll bring you to Sorka. She can watch out for you on the journey to Ghasta Vale.”
Swallowing my last bite of soft bread covered in berry butter—I’d eaten half a loaf by myself already—I stood and brushed the crumbs away.
“What do you mean?” I asked Tessa who lifted the rolled and tied fur she’d used to sleep on. “You’re going as well, aren’t you?”
I’d slept on my own fur in Redvyr’s tent at his command with Wolf stretched out at my side.
Redvyr had said that I was his responsibility, so I must sleep near him.
I’d actually fallen asleep before he’d returned from making plans with his warriors for the move, so I didn’t have to worry about any awkwardness.
And he was already gone when I woke up this morning, so I came to help Tessa.
“To Ghasta Vale? Of course, we all are. But I’m not heading straight there,” she answered, carrying her fur to their brown Meer-wolf named Mishka. “I’ll be traveling with Bezaliel, Lord Redvyr, and a few others to Hellamir first.”
Wolf nudged my hip. He’d been following me around since I woke up. I patted him on his shoulder.
“Why are you going to Hellamir?”
“We must trade for grains and such.” She finished tightening the strap, then straightened and smiled at me. “Otherwise we can’t bake that delicious bread you devoured this morning.”
“I see.”
“Don’t worry. We’ll only be gone a few days then we’ll meet you at the Vale.”
“I wasn’t aware that the light fae traded with dark fae there.”
“Oh, they don’t all trade with us. That’s why I go. I can go into town and let our contact know we’ve arrived. Then he meets the others in the woods nearby. We have a routine.”
Everyone in the camp was doing their final preparations, and Redvyr wasn’t far away with Bezaliel and a few other warriors I didn’t know.
“I’d like to go with you,” I admitted.
While Sorka and her daughter were kind, it was obvious that many of the rest of the clan didn’t like me or want me there. I wouldn’t feel comfortable traveling for days with them.
“That will be up to Lord Redvyr.”
Of course, it would. I turned and marched across the camp where I saw him gathered with other beast fae males, Wolf trotting alongside me.
His gaze caught on me before I was halfway to him, one of the other males gesturing and talking on until he realized Redvyr might not be listening. I shouldn’t like the way he was looking at me.
Just like I shouldn’t have liked the way he’d made me feel when he admitted his own needs so vulgarly to me yesterday afternoon.
In that moment of time where he traced his knuckles along my throat, his voice velvety deep, speaking of cunts and cocks as if it were nothing, I thought he’d broken my brain.
In Morodon, or at least in the palace where I was raised, no one spoke of their own bodies or desires in such a way.
My mother and governesses taught me and my siblings to be demure and modest and chaste.
Both of my parents ensured that their daughters were always the perfect pictures of royal innocence and purity.
When my body began to form deeper curves and larger breasts than my sisters, my mother had frowned at me, as if it were my fault my body was becoming too feminine for her liking.
And when we discovered that I was a syrenskyn, she’d muttered, “I should have known. Your body has always been too curvaceous. Too buxom.”
I’d been taught that my body was bad, that my beauty was distasteful, and that my ability as a syrenskyn was an embarrassment to the family.
My father had made it clear that that was why I was being married off to Lord Gael who lived far away from Morodon, and the Nemian Sea, and the rest of the family.
I was a shameful secret that they wanted to get rid of.
So I took care of it myself. I disappeared and found myself a place where for the first time, no one seemed to give a damn what I looked like or that I didn’t look the way I ought to.
The Borderlands were full of fae kind from across the kingdoms. And while I’d certainly had men look at me with lust in their eyes, it wasn’t the same way Redvyr looked at me, the way he was watching me now.
Desire was there, yes, but something more.
If I didn’t know him better, I would call it admiration.
But I’d done nothing for him to admire. I’d fled into the woods and nearly frozen to death, then I fell into his lap and became his responsibility.
Then I’d nearly gotten myself killed by a maddened dryad stag and was now his burden for the rest of winter.
Still, that golden gaze flared brighter as I drew nearer, and it gave me more confidence for what I was about to demand.
The talking stopped altogether, the four males watching as I came to a stop in front of Lord Redvyr.
I knew Bezaliel. The other two males were two of the three I’d met on my first day in the clan’s camp—Leifkyn and Dayn.
Both were well-built like their chief, though not as big as Redvyr.
One had red eyes with lighter bronzed skin.
The other had piercing orange eyes, the tip of one of his four horns chipped.
He wore his long hair in a leather tie down his back.
“Good morning, Jessamine,” Redvyr greeted me casually, and yet it sent a tingling thrill down my spine.
“Morning. I would like to go with you all to Hellamir.”
One of his dark brows rose. “It is best that you travel on with the clan to the Vale.”
“I could help Tessa with the babe, and I could go into the town with her.”
We were both light fae and could blend with the townsfolk with ease.
“It would be safer as well for her to have another pair of eyes with her,” I added.
“Hellamir is a safe village,” said Bezaliel, his brow furrowed into a frown. “Otherwise I would not let her go.”
“When was the last time you traded in Hellamir?” I asked pointedly.
Redvyr scowled at me now. “Early spring.”
“Before King Gollaya joined with Queen Una as monarchs over Northgall and Lumeria.” I scoffed. “You must understand that not all of the light fae cities and towns in Lumeria are happy about this merge.”
“Of course they aren’t.” His tail twitched behind him. “But Tessa is a wood fae. There will be no trouble for her.”
“Look, I know I don’t know much about the ways here in Meerland,” I said to all of them, “but I’ve traveled all the way across Lumeria from Morodon and have been to many cities and villages in between.
Trust me when I tell you that the war might be over, but many of the light fae are hostile and volatile.
The target of their anger isn’t always the enemy, there is a great deal of unrest and violence within the lands. ”
Redvyr turned to look over his shoulder at his men. “Leave us.”
I could tell that I’d upset Bezaliel, but they must know that the war had changed things. I readied myself to be chastised for raising such fears. What I wasn’t ready for was Redvyr’s angry concern when he wrapped a hand around my upper arm.
“Who hurt you?” he demanded to know.
“What?”
“On your travels,” he pointed out coolly, “who hurt you?”
“Oh.” I hadn’t thought he would read into it. And now I couldn’t think of a reason not tell him. “It was nothing.”
“I’ll be the judge of that.” He dipped his head lower toward mine, golden gaze fierce. “Tell me when and where and who.”
Blinking quickly at the rush of memory, I told him.
“It was in a small village on the edge of the Myrkovir Forest called Wyngolsen. I’d been running for a few days.
Anyway, I found an inn that seemed safe.
” I huffed a laugh. “But I was still dressed in a gown of my own. And I carried a purse attached to my belt. There were a few men in the tavern I was worried about, so I bolted the door and put a chair beneath the knob for protection.”
“But they got in anyway.” Redvyr’s voice was low and menacing, though I knew it wasn’t for me.
“One of them did. Came through the second story window somehow. I awoke to him taking the pouch sitting on my bedside. I should’ve just let him take it, but I was terrified. Without that money, I had nothing and no way to continue on. So I jumped out of bed and fought the brute.”
I touched my cheek where he’d slapped me across the face, remembering the sharp pain. It had stunned me. No one had ever hit me before, least of all a grown male twice my size.
“What did he do to you?” Redvyr’s timbre had gone soft, gentler, though there was a touch of steel beneath it, as if he knew he needed to be calm if I was going to tell the rest.
“I was sleeping in my shift, and apparently he changed his mind about just taking the money and running. He attacked me on the bed, but my brother, Draydyn, he’d taught me the best way to get away from a man. I kneed him hard between the legs.”
“I like your brother.”
I nodded, smiling at the bittersweet memory of him.
“It worked and gave me enough time to grab my dress, my purse and run from the room. The innkeeper and his wife heard the noise and found me in the hall. Thankfully, the innkeeper’s wife took pity on me. She sat with me in her parlor with a hot pot of tea until the sun came up.”
“Did they catch the bastard who did this?”
“He got away. The innkeeper found a wood fae male I could trust to hire and protect me until I reached the next town. I became wiser after that. Before I left, I bought a dress from the innkeeper and gave her my gown. That way, I didn’t stand out as much.”
He snorted and eased his hand down to my elbow before releasing me. “That is not possible. You could wear a grain sack, and still, you’d draw the attention of every male near you.”
He gulped hard and looked away, frowning.
“Let me go with you to Hellamir,” I begged him.
“Now that you’ve told me there is danger in the towns, it would be best if you went with the clan.”
“I’m aware of these dangers. It will be better for Tessa if she has me with her.”
“I know you’ve become quick friends with Tessa, but Sorka and Bes are fond of you. They’d keep you company until we return.”
That wasn’t why I wanted to go with them, and after telling him that story, I realized the true reason was one I didn’t want to admit. Not even to myself.
“It’s not that.”
“Then what is it?”
I snapped my head away. A group of females sauntered by, giggling when they saw me. One of them was Velga, her sneer telling me exactly what she thought of me. Then I felt Redvyr’s claw beneath my chin, guiding me to face him again.
“Tell me, Jessamine.”
“Is Velga one of your lovers?”
Changing the subject was always the best way of evading something I didn’t want to discuss.
His expression turned amused. “What?”
“Velga. The pretty one who obviously hates me. Is she one of your lovers?”
He chuckled, and I had never wanted to punch a beast fae in the face so much until that moment.
“No. She is not.”
“Has she ever been?” I demanded to know.
He shook his head, grinning, his male ego proudly on display in his smug expression. “Though she may have made it known once or twice that she wanted to be.”
“Oh.” I stared at the group of females as they disappeared among the other clan members packing their belongings. “She doesn’t like me.”
“No, she doesn’t. You are a beautiful female and have been in my company alone in the woods. And I have spent a great deal of time with you since we returned to camp.”
“She believes we are lovers?” I couldn’t help the surprise in my voice.
“Most likely. Or that we will be.”
“Well, that’s just ridiculous.” I forced a laugh up my throat, catching his gaze.
While he continued to smile, he wasn’t laughing. Not at all.
“Velga is not the reason you don’t want to travel with the clan. You are too fearless for that.”
He was right.
“Now that you’ve tried to distract me from my cause, tell me why you don’t want to go with them to the Vale.”
Lifting my chin higher, proving that I was indeed fearless, I admitted, “Because I feel safer when I’m with you.”
He went silent. His smile slipped entirely. A chilly wind gusted by, blowing a lock of my hair across my face. He gave a soft grunt and pushed the stray hair away.
“Go get your bed bundle you slept on last night. You’re coming with me.”