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CHAPTER EIGHTY-THREE

Ryker

We spent the next three weeks rebuilding the encampment and settling the newcomers. Unfortunately, we’d lost all the chickens, but everyone had survived, and the rest of the farm animals endured the storm.

When Val returned, she brought some of the children’s fathers. We asked her to bring us more chickens, and she did so the next day.

Farley let us know about another encampment in the woods. He said it would take half a day to get there, but we weren’t ready for more newcomers. We still didn’t have enough shelters for those we’d already brought in, and some amsirah were still sharing their homes.

The lingering summer heat released its grip on the days as September gave way to October. We woke to chilly mornings, and extra, warmer clothes became necessary.

We’d started forging small metal containers for the homes so everyone could have a heat source once winter settled in. The containers weren’t large, but with the windows closed and the covers over the doors, they would warm the tree houses.

The workers would fit each residence with a metal pipe that ran up from the container and out the ceiling to vent the smoke. Having fires in such small, flammable spaces wasn’t exactly comforting, but neither was freezing to death.

While I worked on building tree houses, Ellery and Fletcher ran a small group of men and women who spent most of their days hunting. Before, while some extra food was stored in the camp, it was a few days’ supply at most, but we required more than that for the winter.

Tucker and Ianto were adding to the drying shed while also assembling a barn to store the meat the hunters brought in. Old wood was being gathered and dried while others downed trees for the next year. We needed at least a couple of months’ worth of supplies.

Ellery assured us that some animals would remain out for the winter, but many would hibernate. Winters in Tempest could often be brutal; there might be some days we could barely leave our homes, never mind hunt.

The hunters were working to bring in plenty of meat to dry and store for the winter. Their stripped hides were turned into warmer clothes and blankets to protect everyone from the cold.

With most of our focus on ensuring the encampment survived the winter, we heard little of the outside world. We knew things weren’t good in Tempest, but we could block that out as survival became our focus.

I still planned to take my father down and destroy the suffocating hold he and the nobles had on our realm, but we had to ensure that all those we’d taken in lived to fight that war.

When Farley brought word Val had returned with another group of women and children, we couldn’t turn them away, even though we weren’t prepared to house them. We were working on building extra shelters for new arrivals, but so far, we’d only succeeded in erecting two of them.

Still, I followed the infuriating poltergeist through the woods with Ianto and Callan beside me. Farley assured me we were nearly there when I sensed Ellery somewhere nearby.

I stopped walking to examine the sunlight filtering through the leaves in golden rays that lit patches of the forest floor. Birds sang from their perches as they fluttered through the trees.

Ianto stopped beside me. “What is it?”

“Ellery,” I said. “She’s nearby.”

“Is this that freaky thing you did in the cave too?”

The corner of my mouth twitched toward a smile. “Freaky thing?”

“I don’t know where she is, and I couldn’t tell you if she was five feet away or a mile.”

“That’s because you’re not freaky.”

“That’s not what the ladies say, but that’s later, as I always steal their breath.”

I couldn’t keep a smile hidden anymore.

“Or crush it from them,” Callan remarked.

Ianto and I laughed as Farley rolled his eyes. “Oh good, so you guys can fuck. Yippee for you. Some of us have evolved past such pursuits. Can we move along now?”

“You miss your dick, don’t you, Farley?” I asked.

Farley glanced down at himself. “I do,” he lamented. “I really do.”

“If it makes you feel any better, you have the personality of a giant dick.”

Ianto and Callan chuckled as Farley glowered at me. “I’m helping you out, Pretty Boy.”

“I know.”

Ellery emerged from behind a copse of trees. She had her bow and quiver slung over her shoulder.

Though the day had started to warm, she still wore the deerskin cloak Scarlet made for her. With her hair pulled into a braid, her elegant features were on clear display, as was the radiant smile that lit her face when she saw me.

That smile caused my heart to skip a beat as I strode toward her. Clasping her hips, I plucked her off the ground, and her fingers entwined against my nape when I kissed her.

I forgot about the others while I tasted her and relished the way she felt against me. She’d always smelled of apples, but now that she was in the Revenant Woods all the time, she’d also taken in the forest’s fresh air and pine scent.

She’d been beautiful and happy in her manor, but something about this place brought out even more wildness from her already feral spirit. She was at home here, more so than the others, and it showed in the way she blended in with the trees, savored nature, and embraced everything about this place.