Page 85 of A Hunt Bound in Blood
I released Glory’s hand, and she collapsed to her knees, sucking in air and letting it out with painful-sounding retches.
I frowned and looked her over. The last time we’d had to run like that, she’d outpaced me. “Should you be this tired?”
“I’m fine.” She shook herself off and slicked her loose hair out of her face. “Got a cramp, that’s all. I’ll be all right in a moment.” She eased herself to her feet and stood facing me, her hazel eyes large and open. “How are your wings?”
I extended them, flinched at the pain, and spun around for her inspection. “A few more singed feathers, a few more blisters, but nothing that won’t heal after a day or two.”
“The blisters look awful. We’ll see if we can find what we need for a salve.” As I turned back around, she ducked her head. “Thank you for saving me. Again.”
I tucked a strand of hair behind her ear and cupped her cheek, my fingertips stroking the back of her neck where her hair had fallen loose. “Of course.”
Glory turned her face into my palm. “Not of course. Most people wouldn’t have gone through such effort, regardless of what some king promised them. They would have saved themselves and left anyone else behind.”
“Yeah, well…” I met her eye, and the words on my tongue threatened to fall before I could stop them. But if I said anything remotely like the things I wanted to say, I’d be making my desires real. As long as they stayed in my head, they were fantasy—they were safe—and I could continue down the path I’d set out for myself without looking in another direction. I cleared my throat. “Most people don’t want what I do badly enough.”
Her eyelashes flickered, and when she lowered her gaze, I tasted a new emotion from her. Disappointment? If so, it wound a thread of regret around my heart that I’d been the one to disappoint her. At the same time, it created a traitorous warmth that I forced myself not to read into too deeply.
“Besides,” I continued, “what would I do without your company? We’ve proved we need to work together to reach this amulet, right? I’d be letting myself down if I didn’t do everything I could to keep you safe.”
Her answering smile was strained, and I wished she’d heard just how genuine my final words had been. “You’re right. We’re in this together, for better or worse.” She stepped away from me, handed me my pack and vest, and adjusted her bag on her shoulders. “So let’s keep on, shall we? I’m still hopeful for that stream.” Her nose wrinkled. “If I wait much longer, I might regret not letting that dragon incinerate me.”
As Glory walked away, it took everything I had not to call her back. I wanted to race after her, throw my arms around her, and tell her how relieved I was that she was okay. If that dragon had been any closer, or if I hadn’t been there to cover her, I would have lost her. Her brushes with death were happening far too often on this journey, and I didn’t know how much more I could stand. I was not ready to say goodbye to her.
Yet in a week and a half, that was exactly what I would be doing.
On leaden legs, I followed her through the woods, wishing time would grant me a gift and slow the fuck down.
Glory
XXXVII
I walked until my legs protested, and then I kept going. I refused to stop for the night until I’d found somewhere to wash off the blood and stink. While it lingered, I was basically a walking beacon telling that dragon exactly where to find us.
A dragon.
A laugh bubbled in my chest, and the only reason I bothered holding it back was because I didn’t want Cammon to think I’d lost my mind.
A dragon!
Never in my life had I believed I would see one for myself. In person. Trying to eat me. The flash of midnight scales in the sun as it had risen from the peaks was a sight I would never forget. The way it had stretched out its wings, revealing the red veins within the black. The way its massive form had filled the sky until nothing else existed.
I might live the rest of my life and never see the likes of it again. Yes, I had been certain I was about to experience my last moments, but I’d felt alive. Staring into the eyes of a fucking dragon.
That laugh rose again, and I swallowed it with a smile. My mother would never believe the adventures I was having. My father would have loved to hear about them, though he would have been afraid for me every step of the way. I missed them both so much it hurt, but even that felt good. Anything felt better than the numbness I’d wrapped myself in all these years out of a sense of security. No—out of fear.
Tapping into these emotions, allowing myself to feel. It was magic.
It was terrifying.
And painful.
It had left me vulnerable to Cammon’s reminder that the only reason he was with me was because Evaniel had bargained for his protection. He was working towards his revenge, and he’d been paired with me out of necessity. What we’d shared under the mountain had been him giving into his nature, as I’d suspected. That wasn’t to say his opinion of me hadn’t changed and that we didn’t get along—didn’t have a connection—but his motives were personal, and nothing that had passed between us would change that.
Nor should it.
After all, my motives hadn’t changed. Had they?
The question sat uncomfortably in my head for a good long while, until it was drowned out by the blessed gurgle of water rushing around rock and earth. I picked up my pace, rounded a bend in the path, and let out a whoop at the sight of a narrow stream ahead.