Page 96 of A Hunt Bound in Blood
“Unlikely we’ll make it there today,” I said, assessing the distance and the position of the sun.
“No, but if we reach the next hill, we might have a better idea of where we can set up camp for the night.”
I nodded my agreement and tagged along as we started down the hill I’d struggled to climb. The fresh blood pumping through my heart made the trek much easier, and Cammon showed no obvious ill effects from the drain. I felt them, though. His fatigue, the weight in his limbs. He hid his discomfort well, but the bond allowed no secrets between us. Something I would need to remember in the days ahead. Not only would I have to be conscious of what I said, but my heart had to be on guard if I didn’t want the situation to become more muddled than it was.
If I didn’t want to risk having the fractures contained within my rib cage break into a million pieces.
Cammon looked at me over his shoulder, and I pressed my lips into a thin line. I was clearly off to a great start.
In an effort to control my thoughts, I asked the first question that came to mind. “If Evaniel hadn’t asked you to go on this mission, where would you have headed next? Not traipsing across the country with a vampire, I’m sure.”
He chuckled. “No, not exactly.” He glanced at me again, his crimson eyes bright under the sun. “There was a sword I was considering.”
His eyes twinkled, and my jaw dropped. “No. You can’t mean the sword of Calanthruin?”
“None other. After what we found in the cave, it’s hard not to see it as the Fates approving my choice.”
“Do you really think you know where it is?” What were the odds? I couldn’t allow myself to consider the possibility that everything about this mission, about Cammon and me, had been designed by some all-seeing weavers of destiny, but in the face of this coincidence, I found it harder to deny.
“Like I said, the story tells us that, after the battle, King Melat threw the sword into the Never Sea, and there’ve been rumours that suggest it washed up on the Sun-Touched Islands well off the northern coast. I’d planned to set out with the turn of the season. Would have been gone about six months or so.”
My eyes widened. “For a sword? I know it has huge historical value, but that sounds…”
“Excessive? Maybe, but considering the history for my people, not to mention the nature of the blade, it’s almost my princely obligation to retrieve it.” He grinned. “Imagine me returning home wielding the Demonsbane as my weapon. The traitors would scatter before me.”
His gaze lit with the fires of vengeance, but when he blinked, the heat was gone, and he shrugged. “There’s also the fact that by all accounts it’s a stunning blade. Dragon steel with a dragon-scale hilt. Nigh on indestructible. Lightweight, beautiful. Worth the entire island it’s supposed to have landed on. With all that weighing down the scale, it would definitely be worth my while to lay claim to it.”
“Is dragon steel important?”
His grin widened. “You’re such a book person.” The warmth with which he said it transformed the usual accusation into a term of endearment, and I basked in the glow. “It’s a gorgeous material. Changes colour with the sun, and some people believe it’s mildly sentient, forming a bond with its bearer.”
I narrowed my eyes. “Sounds incredible. Literally. Hard to believe.”
“You’re a tempest mage with vampiric blood on the hunt for a life-saving amulet with a demon prince. You’ve faced shifters and mutts and dragons. Yet you can so easily discount the possibility that magical metal exists?”
He gripped my waist and lifted me over a large boulder lying in the middle of the path. My stomach fluttered under his touch, and my heart followed its rhythm when he kept his arm around my shoulders after I touched down.
“Oh, I have no doubts about magical metal,” I said. “I believe all sorts of impossible things. What I have trouble believing is that you would disappear for six whole months to track down a blade, historical significance or not. You’ve already proved yourself capable of defending yourself without one.”
He nudged me with his hip. “I’ll accept the compliment, as hidden as it was.” His smile faded. “I might not need the sword—I might not even have kept it if I’d found it—but I wouldn’t have said no to the journey.”
“For half a year? You wouldn’t have missed your…”
“Home?” His shoulders slumped, and his voice was heavy as he said, “Ah, Buttons, I have no home. Not really. I have a house. I have a friend. But this has never been my home. Not when I’ve been so focused on returning to Karhasan.”
I cleared my throat, my heart squeezing at the loneliness vibrating through the bond. “What about when you do? Return, I mean. Do you have plans for how to take back your position?”
He nodded. “I’ve given little thought to anything else for the past ten years. With the evidence Evaniel’s spymaster gives me, I’m going to march into the throne room and hand it to my father. Simple as that. He might have exiled me, but he was always a fair ruler.” He frowned. “Usually.” His throat bobbed. “At least, he always struck me as fair. He could have killed me when my siblings failed their coup, but he showed mercy. To a point.”
I sensed his doubt, a rising uncertainty that carried the sharpness of something new, as though he’d never considered anything to the contrary before. He shrugged off his dark thoughts and continued. “Assuming he takes the new evidence in stride and slays my siblings where they stand—if they’re still breathing after I’m through with them—I’ll take my place at his side. Get to know my people again. My land. I can only imagine how much things have changed since I left.”
Again that uncertainty, filled with longing and a sense of fear that reminded me of a child on the cusp of stepping into the world on their own for the first time.
I slid my arm around Cammon’s waist, wanting nothing more than to brace him with my strength. My confidence in his success.
“They’ll be lucky to have you. You’ve managed to build yourself up from nothing in the ten years you’ve been here. You’ve shown restraint, creativity, a willingness to do what was necessary, and a single-mindedness to achieve your aims. If you bring that to the ruling of a country, I think you’ll be an amazing prince.”
Gratitude swelled between us, and I rested my head on his shoulder before pulling away to walk around another large boulder that had rolled into our path.