Chapter 24
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
Adrenaline dried Aelia’s falling tears in a way nothing else could, her horses’ hooves pounding on the hard earth, matching the thundering of her heart. The wind tore at her, flinging her hair out behind her, and she laughed wildly.
This was exactly what she needed: the freedom, the joy, the excitement. It cleared her head, lending her the perspective she’d been searching for.
She didn’t know how long they’d galloped for, her horse coiling and springing beneath her in a tireless rhythm, the muscled athleticism of the beast unlike anything she’d ever known.
She felt a surge of affection towards him as she reined him up, smiling as he fought her, not ready to stop yet, but she kept a steady pressure on the ropes in her hands until he came back to her.
He worked hard all day, it wasn’t fair to push him hard at night, too.
He slowed to a stop, ribs pushing into her thighs as he blew hard, the gentle fluttering sound of his nostrils warming her heart. She ran her hand over his neck as she waited for his breathing to settle.
“Shall we take off, just you and me against the world?” she asked, smiling down at him as he looked wide-eyed into the darkness, the muscles of his back pushing into her as he craned his neck for a better view.
Aelia looked out over the grassland, sucking in a breath.
The moon had peeked out from behind the clouds, hitting the seeded heads of the grass and lending them a metallic sheen.
They rippled in the gentle wind, turning them to liquid silver.
Mesmerised, Aelia tried to take it in, trying to lodge this moment into her memory.
The moon slipped back behind the clouds, taking the magic of the moment with it. The euphoria of her flight waned, leaving her as grey and monotone as her surroundings. She puffed out her cheeks and dropped her head back, looking at the clouds overhead.
He was a fucking Dragon.
Out here, it didn’t seem like such a big deal. She’d already known he was different; having it confirmed shouldn’t have been such a huge surprise. But that revelation, combined with the fact that there was some predestined connection between them, had just been too much.
And it probably hadn’t helped that she’d found out just after he’d taken her body to the point of breaking, pushing her harder than she knew was even possible. It had been terrifying, overwhelming, cruel… and just the thought of it had her wanting to do it again.
Sex would never be the same. But that definitely wasn’t reason enough to stay, she reminded herself, firmly, but she couldn’t help but wonder what more would be like.
Ice water flooded her veins. There couldn’t be more, not without completing the pair bond.
From what Keeran said, if they had sex, that would be it.
There would be no escaping this insistent tugging in her chest, this feeling of unease that had her wanting to scuttle back to him with her tail between her legs.
Would he be cross with her for taking off?
What would that look like now that he didn’t need to hide his identity from her?
Aelia shook her head. He’d had plenty of opportunities to hurt her, but other than pushing her a bit hard when they’d fought, he’d never given her any real reason to fear him. Quite the opposite really.
Aelia was pulled from her reverie by her horse plunging its head violently into the grass, pulling her forwards with such force that her head snapped back and she nearly slipped down its neck.
“You’ll give yourself a tummy ache,” she ground out through gritted teeth as she tried to haul it back up, battling with it as it tore a few mouthfuls of the long grass. “Just wait a bit, will you?”
She reached forwards to pull some of the long stalks from its mouth, tutting to herself.
“If we walk home, you’ll be able to eat then, okay?” she scolded, guiding it round towards the camp.
A breeze danced over her skin, and her stomach rolled at the scent it carried.
There was a group of people, a large group, and close.
Her pulse ratcheted up, roaring in her ears with a mix of excitement and fear. They’d been chasing down the Astraea for days now. Could it be that they’d finally caught up with them?
Aelia looked back in the direction of the camp, torn between going to get Keeran and scouting out the group whilst she was here.
There was no point in dragging him out if it wasn’t the Astraea, and what was the harm in just looking?
It wasn’t like she was going to storm the place, even if Fenrir was there.
Her heart flipped at the thought of finally finding Fenrir. She raised her nose to the wind, but her senses weren’t strong enough to make out his scent amongst all the others. That decided it. There was no way she could wait to find out if Fenrir was with them; she had to know.
She hobbled her horse and slunk towards the scent, keeping low in the grass as she climbed a steep, rocky bank.
They were making no attempts to be quiet, and the wind carried the sound of raised voices to her, boisterous and masculine.
As she neared the top of the bank, she dropped to her stomach and crawled the rest of the way on her elbows, ignoring the sharp rocks digging into her skin.
She followed the longer grass where it interspersed the stonier ground, keeping herself hidden as she approached the camp.
The smell of cooking meat, unwashed bodies and testosterone met her, making her wrinkle her nose.
They were Astraea alright; the red insignia on their black uniforms had been burned into her memory like a brand.
There were dozens of them, most of them sat around various campfires, some milling around idly.
A few trees grew on the top of the hill, providing them a little shelter from the wind.
She peered around the camp, the light of the fires making it hard for her to see if anything hid in the shadows beneath the trees, but her hopes sank to her boots when it became clear there were no caged carts here, not a single one.
She’d assumed the band they’d interrupted earlier were on their way to rejoin this larger group, but perhaps they weren’t… perhaps they send those they capture on ahead. The realisation triggered a heavy weariness to crush down upon her.
Was this even the same group that had been in Callodosis?
She couldn’t see their faces from here, but she had to know.
Inch by careful inch, she crept slowly closer until their features came into focus.
She could even hear the conversation around the nearest fire but soon disregarded it as the inane drivel it was.
These were the people tearing their communities apart?
How had such morons got away with it for so long?
Aelia scanned their faces, praying her memory wouldn’t let her down, but none looked familiar.
A voice broke across the clearing, sending the camp into silence. It reverberated around her skull, like a nightmare come to life, and she lay frozen in place by the intensity of her hatred.
“Well, well, well, look what we have here,” Beserkir said, unfolding himself from the floor. His back was to her, facing the treeline, but she would have recognised him anywhere.
She was so absorbed by her hatred, she almost didn’t notice the figure that stepped out of the trees, but something made her drag her eyes off Beserkir. The tugging in her chest amplified at the sight of the faceless shadow.
A thousand spiders seemed to scuttle over her skin as the man stepped out of the darkness and into the light of the fire, walking towards Beserkir with the ease of familiarity.
“Beserkir,” Keeran said in greeting.