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“Where you headed, young lady?” Neil, the older one by a year, had asked. His hair was black, his eyes brown, and he bore a scar over his empty left eye.

“Furthest borders of the east kingdom,” she answered.

“Got money for protection?” Holden had asked, his hair dark brown and his eyes a darker shade than his brother’s. He had a short beard, which made it difficult to tell if he also bore scarring on his face. “Area is dried up, and we were thinking of heading to another place.”

Without a word, Valerie threw the last of her coin on the table. Neil had swiped it, checked what she had, and they nodded to each other.

She would have preferred to travel alone, but the moment they made the offer, she realised this was her perfect opportunity. She wished she’d thought of this kind of arrangement sooner.

After that, they’d become travelling companions.

She told them one thing and one thing only about what she was doing: she was being followed and if that person caught up to her, they weren’t to get in their way. No matter what they heard or saw, she could handle him.

They’d raised their brows at her, but she explained she didn’t need protection from that person, only others on the road.

Geryon may kill them if they get in the way.And shedidlike her travel companions.

They were rough around the edges, but they were respectable enough. They didn’t hassle her, barely spoke to her, and she knew they appreciated she also wasn’t chatty. Not once did they ever attempt to get under her skirt.

They looked like thugs, covered in scars and dirt. They spoke rudely, crudely, brashly. They often replied in grunts, but they were nice men. It was people like that who often gave her faith in humanity when she’d been dealt harm.

She once tried to teach Aldora that, to not think with bias, but she’d been too traumatised to see past her pain.

Since they knew she was being followed, they often split up. One would ride their horse along the road, and the other she rode with by the tree line.

She knew Geryon would follow her scent eventually to the tavern and someone would reveal she had left with these two. They were making it appear as though they were single riders, rather than a trio of people, from the skies, at least.

That’s where the Caddel brothers really came in.

Valerie was using them to hide her scent alongside the perfumes she regularly changed. Geryon wouldn’t know their scents, wouldn’t know the smell of their horses.

With her riding behind one, they shielded her. It wouldn’t last forever, but she just hoped it was enough to get her safely to her destination.

Valerie was facing backwards, like she usually did, and leaned against the back of the rider. Today, she was with Holden, and he paid no mind to what she did on the back of his horse.

She turned her head up towards the blue sky she could barely see through the canopy of leaves above.

I hope I reach my destination before he finds me.The piece of herself she’d given to Geryon burned worse than it did before.

It hadn’t been able to grow in King Bradwick’s palace, since she knew she had to leave after she found her sister. Afterwards, he had detested her.

It had been nothing but a sweet memory, a lovely thing she shared with another and cherished.

She may have regretted it for his sake, but that was no longer the case. Instead, the time she’d spent with him in his lair had forced it to grow, to spread into a bigger piece. It burned constantly. It took her a long time to realise she liked his attention.

Do I miss him? No, no, that is not possible.That was at least what she told herself.

Knowing he was out there, trying to find her, for whatever reason, made that piece ache worse.Why does he keep chasing me?

She didn’t think it was only because she was his escaped prey. If that were the case, he would have done so with anger, with wrath. He wouldn’t have approached her in the forest cautiously to have a conversation.

What he was offering sounded enticing. A life of pleasure? Some form of companionship other than what she planned at the end of this journey?

But she couldn’t do that, and she knew it. What he wanted from her right now could be temporary. She wouldn’t let him play her with emotions... with her heart – the one she was always desperate to never feel.

I am not unfeeling. Valerie never had been. There was just something broken about her. For some deep reason, she’d never felt comfortable sharing herself with the world, had buried what she did feel deep inside.

Sometimes even to the point where she barely registered them.