Chapter 35
We’re on our final day of traveling. Day five.
The last couple of days were uneventful.
We rode most of the days on the dirt road, passing a few trade carriages or random riders who all gave us peculiar looks but continued on.
We practiced magic and basic defensive moves as we took breaks, stopping at more inns for the night.
We all ate dinner together, but they were quieter.
Everyone seemed a little more tense with our arrival looming.
After looking at the map on our first break of the morning, we determine that we most likely won’t make it by night, and we should stay at the closest inn so we can get a fresh start in the morning. We’ll be exploring caves all day, after all. We can’t begin to estimate how long it will take.
So we ride on. The foliage has begun to shift since yesterday.
Less open meadows and more mountains. Though it’s difficult to tell how tall some of them are.
Their peaks disappear into the veil. All we have is the map, which depicts the mountain ranges.
Around the mountains are many clusters of ashwood trees.
Not the black-barked trees like the ones near Ellyar, but instead a light shade of gray.
Almost white, with lighter veins that run down the trunks that almost seem to glow.
Their leaves look black as they dance in the wind, but upon closer inspection, they’re more of a dark blue.
They almost look dead, but they’re very much alive.
It's a beautiful sight.
As I look around I realize… I don’t really miss home. I’m enjoying being out here, seeing the rest of the continent, talking to different types of people at the inns.
And being with my present company.
Finally sharing this secret I’ve been carrying alone for years has made me feel strangely close to these people in a way I never imagined. Can I fully and completely trust any of them? Maybe not. But I’m choosing to anyway.
Daegan falls back beside me as we slow our horses for a stretch. I keep my gaze forward.
“I’m sorry, Elle” he says with a steady but low voice. We’re far enough back now that no one should be able to hear us at a normal volume.
I continue to avoid his gaze, looking at the lively trees instead, pretending that him using a nickname for me doesn’t have any effect. “What for? There’s nothing to be sorry about. I threw myself at you when you didn’t want it. Not your fault.”
His silence beside me feels like a dagger in the chest, and I’m annoyed with myself for still having hope when he’s made it clear where he stands.
Finally, he speaks, and it’s so low I barely hear him. “It’s complicated.”
“Okay.” I don’t care to argue about it again and make a fool of myself.
“I don’t want you to keep avoiding me…”
“I thought you were avoiding me.”
“I was giving you time to cool off…”
“Okay, well, I’m not,” I snap, still avoiding looking his way. I see him out of the corner of my eye watching me though.
“You let Rhydra train you yesterday…” It’s true. She showed me some moves to evade an enemy in hand-to-hand combat. She also showed me a few different ways to use my dagger. Daegan pretended not to watch too closely, but I knew the whole time he was.
“So?” I finally look at him, and his mouth tugs just a little. “She’s an excellent warrior.”
“She is.” He nods in agreement. An extended pause follows. “I just want you to have a clear head. I’m… worried about you.”
I release an exaggerated sigh. “My head is clear. I’m fine. I don’t know what you want from me, Daegan.” I avert my gaze again, and then I see the walls up ahead.
“There it is!” Gaethri announces, ending this pointless conversation.
As I speed up a little, I hear Daegan mumble something indecipherable behind me.
“This is adorable,” Meela says as we close in on the structure, which sits just on the edge of Dothron.
The two large gates in the wall surrounding it are wide open, so we can see a good chunk of the inn from here.
I guess they’re not all that worried about predators during the day.
There’s no one even guarding the entrance.
It’s a more whimsical style than I’ve seen on this journey so far. It looks cozy and inviting, with light wood and a crooked brown roof. I’m certain they made it from the same ashwood trees that surround it, but the veins streaking through the wood seem duller, lifeless.
“The Dothron Inn,” Gaethri announces as we stop in front of the stables. He looks up at it with conflicting emotions.
“Do your people run it?” I ask.
“Yes and no. There are two types of Dothronites. The mountain-dwelling kind, like me, and the wood-dwelling kind. They’re built a little smaller, nimbler. That’s likely who you’ll find inside. They’re usually more aloof, but not completely inaccessible. They have a few villages deep in the forest.”
“Maybe they’ll know more about the caves,” I say.
“Maybe.”
We all settle our things and make our way inside. There are fewer people lingering in this inn than others we’ve come across. Just a few bodies scattered around having a meal or a drink.
The six of us draw more attention than usual in the emptier room as we all step inside.
The two tall dragon shifters enter first, the two of us smaller elven females following them, followed by a half-Skeldaryn female with wild-untamed red curls, walking next to a yellow-haired mountain-dwelling Dothronite.
I don’t believe any of the patrons are what he described.
Only the one behind the counter, a female who’s slightly smaller than Gaethri, with braided dark hair and a much smaller build, seems to fit his description.
Daegan strides toward her, but she looks straight at Gaethri instead.
Daegan, not missing a beat, falls back to allow Gaethri to take the lead. “Afternoon,” he greets her with a small bow.
“Hello,” she says in a high-pitched voice.
“We’re looking for a few rooms and a couple meals.” He sets a bag with some coins on the counter.
“Are you coming from the mountain?” she asks in a soft, hushed tone.
“No. We’re just traveling through, in search of something. I haven’t been back to the mountain in some time…”
Her face falls, and her mouth pulls to the side. “Oh.”
“Has something happened?” I ask, unable to help myself.
She glances at me for a flash, her eyes tracing my ears, then looks back at Gaethri. “There have been more attacks,” she responds in a hushed tone. “The last one devastated them. A few months back.”
If Gaethri is surprised by the news, he doesn’t show it. He simply offers a reverent nod. The permanent despair that sits deep in his eyes is the same as before, steady… resolute.
We decide to settle in before grilling the poor innkeeper. She seems slightly intimidated by our presence and we figure it might be smarter to send Gaethri in alone first.
When Meela and I get to our room and unload our things, she turns and faces me with a look that lets me know she’s about to scold or interrogate me. One of the two.
“Okay, what’s going on with the two of you? You’re avoiding each other, and there’s tension any time you’re near one another.”
I shrug one shoulder. I wish I knew. I tell her everything that happened the other night, hoping that unloading it will help me feel a little better.
It does. Slightly.
“Fuck him, then,” Meela says.
I glance at her, not knowing what to say.
“But, also… maybe you guys can just put it aside for now,” her voice softens. “He looks out for you, you know. I’ve seen it, and I’m honestly grateful for it. And we need to have clear heads tomorrow. I don’t want to die in a damn cave.”
I know she’s right, and I really am trying to clear my head. “What do you mean, ‘you’ve seen it?’”
“I mean… he’s always aware of where you are. He’s always making sure you’re okay. When you’re upset, he’s there.”
When she looks at me and I don’t answer, she continues with more sternness. “I don’t know what his reasons are for holding back, but it’s not because he’s not into you. I’ve seen it happening for a while now. He looks at you like you’re the only person he sees in a crowded room.”
“This isn’t making me feel better,” I shoot back, turning away to mindlessly arrange some bags that don’t need further arranging.
“Okay, well. How about a drink?”
“We shouldn’t… tomorrow is a big day.”
“All the more reason.” She smiles.
But after she tries to coax me downstairs a few more times, I still don’t go. I insist she goes and unwinds a little though, which she does after several protests, leaving me alone in this unfamiliar, deathly quiet room.
While she’s gone, I take a bath. I’m starting to realize it’s the most amazing thing to do after a long day of travel. Lying still with my head back and eyes closed, having a break from the bumpy horse, and getting all the dirt off me from the day—it’s pure bliss.
When I’m done, I put on a casual deep blue dress that’s flowy and comfortable, but dips incredibly low at my chest, with sleeves that cut off at the shoulders. Just in case I change my mind and decide to join them. I don’t think I will though.
I look myself over in the small mirror in our cramped room, thinking how the color reminds me of the leaves on the trees outside. I like it.
I begin to tie my hair in a simple braid, when a gentle knock sounds.
After a moment of hesitation, I say, “Come in.”
I watch the door through the mirror as it opens slowly, almost hesitantly, and then a pair of all too familiar eyes meets mine in the mirror.
My hands freeze, holding the braid over my shoulder incomplete.
Something in his face makes my heart feel like it’s in my throat.
“Can I come in?” Daegan asks.
“Yes.”
“You didn’t want to come downstairs tonight?”
“No,” I answer, finally looking back at my reflection.
He comes up close behind me and I resist the urge to look again. I can feel him there now. Like something I would know is there even if my eyes were closed. Even if I were trapped outside at night under the darkness of the veil. I’d know.
“Is it because of me?”
“What?” I continue trying to braid my hair, but I’m struggling to make my mind and hands coordinate.
“You, distancing yourself from everyone.”
I pause for a moment, then my eyes flick to him with a fire in them, and I drop my hands. “Not everything is about you, you know that? I’m tired, and I simply didn’t want to.”
The bastard smirks.
“Why are you making that face?” I spit out with more fire.
“Sorry.” He shakes his head and looks down. “I like it when you get fiery.”
I scowl at him. “This is funny to you?”
“No.” His light expression disappears. “It’s not funny.”
But as he looks down and I glance at him in the mirror, I swear his lip twitches again.
“I know not everything is about me,” he says gently. “I just… wanted to check on you. Looks like I came just when you needed me.” He eyes my incomplete braid in the mirror.
I scowl again.
“May I?” he asks, stepping closer.
I flip the half-twisted chunk over my shoulder, making sure to do it dramatically and hoping to whip his hand with it a little.
It does, and it makes him smirk.
That annoying, beautiful asshole.
I take a deep breath, trying to calm myself as his first touch against my neck sends shivers down my spine.
His large frame extends past me on all sides in the reflection, and his head is well-above mine.
This isn’t the first time he’s done this, but it’s the first time I’ve seen how his brow furrows in concentration as he gently twists my hair.
Thoughts of our mouths colliding while he grinds himself into me overtake me, causing my body to react unwillingly. I ignore the blood rushing down, and I shift my stance, pushing my legs together.
In the time I’ve known him he’s gone from a scary, feral, untamed beast to… whatever this is. Still a large, beastly creature, but one that’s capable of gentle moments.
“Can I ask you something?”
“Yes.”
“Did Maethrel say something to you? When you went back in the cottage…”
His eyes shift to mine, and his hands stop as surprise crosses his face. He looks down again and continues braiding, not answering at first. He finishes and reaches for the ribbon on the table, then ties the end.
“It was just a bunch of bullshit. Nonsense.”
“Really?”
“Really.”
I study his face, my eyes traveling from the slope of his straight, sculpted nose to the sharp line of his jaw
“Do you trust me?” he asks, still standing behind me and meeting my gaze in the mirror.
“Yes,” I say softly. Maybe it’s stupid, but I still do. “Despite this hot and cold game you’ve been playing with me.”
A muscle tenses in his sharp jaw. “I’m not trying to play any games with you, Elysande.” He looks down and runs a hand down my braid, his eyes traveling the length of it. “I only want what’s best for you.” He says it delicately, as if I need to be handled with care.
“I don’t need you to treat me like a delicate flower,” I tell him, my voice rising.
“That’s not what I meant.”
“No? Then please, enlighten me.”
He looks away, and I keep my eyes on him, waiting. His throat bobs before he returns his gaze to me. “It’s complicated,” he says with a tone of finality, like he’s come to some conclusion about a problem I know nothing about.
“You know what? Whatever. I don’t care.”
He sucks in a breath, and his eyes get heavier. It’s like I can see him shutting down. “It was nothing important. I promise.”
“Raef doesn’t know anything?”
“No.”
I look down, shaking my head. “I figured you would have at least told him what happened that day.”
“No. And not because he hasn’t asked… one hundred times. There’s just nothing that needs telling.”
A puff of air escapes my nose. I’m not really in the mood to laugh, but it could have been funny, under different circumstances.
I lift my head, meeting his gaze. “Okay.”
“Okay?”
I nod in confirmation, and I expect him to grin or look a little happy, but when the corner of his lip pulls back, there’s only sadness in his eyes.
I’ll never know, so I don’t ask.
“Let’s go get a drink,” I say, taking off toward the door.
“I thought you weren’t in the mood?”
“My mood has changed.”
He chuckles quietly behind me as I open the door and storm out with purpose. Daegan closes it and follows behind.