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Now, only strong emotions, sharp ones, could pierce through her façade. She mostly just felt numb.

He is using what he knows about my feelings against me.She wondered if he thought she was easier to control because of it. There was no way he would reciprocate those feelings and, therefore, Valerie didn’t want to be intimate with someone who would only hurt her in the end.

What is the point in allowing someone in?Especially now, especially this person. The more her tenderness grew, the more desperate Valerie was to escape him. She was afraid.

At the end of this journey with the Caddel brothers, Valerie was going to take it out of his hands.

I have made my decision and I will stick to it.She wondered if Geryon would be upset when he discovered what she had done.Most unlikely. He is a Dragon, after all.

She would always be a temporary thing for him. She was seventy-three, and she had about a hundred years before she would truly start to wither with age.

Witches grew quickly in the beginning of their lives, matching humans, and then there was a quick decline. They would still age, but they would remain mostly youthful until they reached a hundred and seventy. Then their ageing would accelerate significantly.

She didn’t know how old he was, but she was sure Geryon would live at least another five hundred years. There was no point to what they were doing, and Valerie knew it.

That does not mean it does not make me sad.Her face didn’t convey such an emotion as specks of sunlight glittered through the leaves above her. Her lids flickered when one sparkled right in her eye, piercing it with light.

Holden whistled, calling Neil back to them to hide in the tree line. “Night will fall soon. We should set up camp.”

Valerie put her thoughts on hold.

They would make a small fire so they could see and cook their food, then they would sleep out in the open.

The Caddel brothers would lie on either side of her – not too close, but enough that it would be hard to approach her without one of them noticing. What they didn’t know is she would notice first. She appreciated the gesture, though.

Such sweet men.

1 month later

The eastern territory. The kingdom was large, flat, and forest covered everything except around its borders, where five main mountain ranges circled it.

Valerie had finally made it to the easternmost one. The land on the other side eventually turned to sea and islands, but the beaches wouldn’t be seen for many weeks of riding.

There was one last town before it became a no-man’s-land, and people feared going further east, feared going anywhere near the mountain. She knew she’d come to the right place when she heard rumours of demons and monsters that crawled the dense forestry.

Cattle mysteriously went missing from farms nearby, occasionally people as well. What kept people coming here was that the mountain range was rich in minerals, and they mined at the very base of it.

I will never make it through the forest before nightfall.Valerie needed to be able to see in the light of day for what she searched for.

Unfortunately, it meant she had to stop in town and pay for a stay at the inn. It was a hefty price, but the Caddel brothers had voiced no issue in helping her obtain more coin along their journey. They stole it from other travellers.

Getting here took longer than expected. From the northern kingdom, they had to go directly south and then travel east. The east was too hard to get to with the mountain ranges surrounding it.

It would be hard to instigate a war against it, which is why she thought the country had a long standing of peace.

Neil and Holden planned to stay a few nights in the town before they left. Valerie was intending to separate from them today. They were aware of this, and they’d already been paid.

To her surprise, Neil blubbered like a child at having to leave her, sentimental about their month together. She didn’t know why; they’d rarely spoken.

They never discovered she was a Witch, but she had a funny feeling they wouldn’t have cared. They saw a young woman who might have needed help and were already on the move.

Leaving the brothers to drink wine and eat by themselves, she paid the innkeeper to supply her with a warm bucket of water so that she could bathe before she slept. She planned to be up and out before the sun rose.

It is getting colder.Winter had finally come.My favourite season,she thought while she wiped her face and body clean.I hope I see snow while I travel.

Since she was alone, she allowed herself a small, sad smile.

With her remaining water, Valerie attempted to wash her spare clothes. She didn’t have a nightgown. There wasn’t a need for something so silly while she was travelling. She had needed to travel light.