Page 28 of Of Blood and Banes (The Arterian #2)

RAIN

I wake to the sound of raindrops pattering against the ceiling, rushing in a calm atmosphere despite Darian clinking in his chains. Yawning, I rise to sit in bed, stretching my arms above my head.

“Lovely. Is this how you always look in the mornings?” Darian taunts.

I haven’t even gotten out of bed yet, and he’s already at it. Sheepishly, I brush a hand down to flatten my hair and then braid it back. I dress, sheathing my sword and daggers before turning my attention to him. “I’ll be back later.”

“You’re not seriously leaving me here, are you?”

“Thought you might want to stay out of the rain.”

“So thoughtful, however I don’t mind getting wet, ” he slows on the last word.

I pause. If I leave him here unattended, I’m not worried he’ll escape. But it leaves open the possibility of someone else slipping into my room and taking him. Or killing him. The fact of the matter is I need to have an eye on him or someone I trust to keep an eye on him.

“Fine.” I unhook the long chain attaching his restraints to the metal loop in the wall, then lead him out of the room with it like it’s a leash.

All of Midkeep is washed in gray and blue hues with raindrops ricocheting off the ground.

The rain immediately soaks our clothes and hair.

Squinting through the rain, we break out into a fast walk and wind down the streets to get to the community hall.

We rush inside, the room warm with candlelight and a roaring fire in the grand hearth.

Long tables lined with food and drink stretch out before us, and a dull buzz of conversation fills the room.

The chatter dies out as everyone turns to face us.

I recognize Archie sitting with Melaina, Gavin, Nolan, and Marge. But no Cole.

Water drips from my forehead down my cheeks and throat, and I swipe away the drops trickling into my eyes.

“Good morning,” Sethan rumbles, standing from his place near the fire. “Come. Sit. We have things to discuss.” He tosses a look at the guards standing near the wall.

They swoop in and take Darian’s chains from me, leading him away to the table with the other Arterians. I shrug my cloak off and afford one last glance at Darian, who’s being passed off to Melaina.

“He’ll be fine. Sit,” Sethan commands.

I take a seat next to Sethan, and someone pushes a plate of food in front of me. The fire at my back already warms my clothes.

Sethan watches me curiously. “We meant to start our travels today, but seeing as it’s raining, it might be best to wait until the storm clears. In the meantime, we’ve been preparing the horses for those without dragons.”

I cough, nearly spitting my water out. “Horses? Wouldn’t the dragons be…I don’t know, tempted to eat them?”

“Wild dragons, perhaps. Are you concerned about the mental restraint of your own dragon? That might need to be something you work on.”

“She’s perfectly capable of restraining herself, thank you.”

He shrugs. “She’s quite young—technically still a hatchling. Besides, our dragons don’t have to worry about their next meals. Here in the Dragon Lands, we have built dragon feed farmers into our society.”

“Sounds like a lucrative business,” I say as I pop a piece of cheese into my mouth.

“The older your dragon gets, the less they must eat. So not really, no. A’nala eats maybe once every few months.”

Now that I think about it, when was the last time Daeja ate?

“A few minutes ago.”

I really need to practice when to share my thoughts with her. “And what exactly did you eat?”

“Nothing that concerns you,” she rumbles.

“You also need to work on that,” Sethan interrupts.

“What’s that?”

“You’re quite obvious when you’re speaking to her. You need to practice masking your features, otherwise others will know when you’re talking. Especially if we are to ever run into trouble with rebels or Arterians.”

Suppose I’ll add it to the list of things I need to practice.

“There was one other thing I wanted to show you…” Sethan stands, offering a hand to help me to my feet. “Follow me.”

I ignore his offer, standing on my own, and he leads me out of the community hall back into the rain and to another building a few blocks over.

Swinging open the door for me, he ushers me inside.

After a few blinks, my eyesight adjusts to the dim, cloudy light creeping through the windows.

Boxes and heaps of items occupy the room in tidy, well-maintained lines.

“Storage,” Sethan answers before I ask, and strides over to the back corner.

I follow him, glancing at the items around us as I pass them: black leathers, swords, daggers, maces, and axes. Crates of what looks like fruit. Stacks of folded blankets and pillows.

“Here,” Sethan calls, tracing a hand over a black-as-midnight item resting on a table tucked back against the farthest wall.

As I approach, I make out the curves, lines, and pair of horns at the top of it.

Two straps hang down from the item, the bottoms ending in loops.

A saddle? I brush one of the horns, the leather cracked and worn, yet smooth.

Sethan mumbles, “Cole requested a saddle for you, but don’t tell him I told you. He asked me not to mention his name.”

I flick my gaze to him. Cole?

Sethan turns his attention back to the saddle. “Funny enough, we kept this one for years. I wasn’t sure why the elders demanded we keep it. But by the stars—this saddle was meant for you. Because it was Cyrus’s.”

I’m speechless. Unsure what to say. “He…was a dragon rider, as well?”

“No. While he seemed naturally drawn to the dragons, he never bonded one. This was a horse saddle, but we reconfigured it to fit your dragon. Though, I imagine we may need to adjust it as she grows. There’s no telling how big she’ll get, considering how large she already is for her age.

” He pats the saddle as if it’s an old-time friend.

“It’ll make the journey much more comfortable. You’re one of us, now.”

Sethan and I return to the community hall, and I scan the crowd for Cole but fail to find him. I head straight to Archie, who uses a knife to expertly carve into an apple. When I stop a few feet behind him, I smile. He’s carving a rose into the apple of all things.

“Hey, do you have a moment?” I ask, resting a hand on his shoulder.

He turns, his brown eyes bright with joy and teeth flashing. “Absolutely.”

He flicks his attention over to Melaina a few seats down deep in conversation, whistles at her, and tosses her the apple. She catches it, and glances down at it in confusion as Archie pushes up from his chair and walks away from the table with me. A wide smile warms her cheeks.

As soon as we are out of earshot, I turn to Archie. “Have you seen Cole?”

Archie tilts his head, recognizing the worry in my voice, before answering easily, “He’s probably off in the forest somewhere near the river.”

“Doing…?”

Archie blinks and shrugs. “I don’t know what he usually does out there.

In Arterias, he would always slip off when it was raining and be gone for a few hours.

I followed him one time, and he just sat at the river.

Staring…” He frowns. “You know, I don’t know what his fascination with the rain is. Did you not get much rain in Padmoor?”

“Umm…yes? During the winter and spring seasons but…”

I can’t put my finger on it—Cole hates the rain. He detests the way his hair clings to his skin when it’s wet. Loathes how his clothes would rub him raw, and despises how a drizzle can fog over an otherwise perfectly sunny day. He hates rain.

“I’m going to go check on him,” I excuse myself.

Archie shakes his head. “No need. He always asks to not be bothered.”

“Well, I’m his sister. So, I’ll be bothering him.”

Before Archie can argue, I slip out of the hall into the rain-slicked town and head into the forest toward the river.

The deeper I go, the more the hazy drizzle washes out the environment, to the point I can’t see more than fifteen feet in front of me.

I follow the sound of the river until it grows louder, and I spot Cole.

He sits with his back facing me, his head low.

As I draw closer, his legs are bent up, head resting in his arms crossed over his knees. His face hidden from view.

“Careful,” Daeja warns, and I glance around the forest, expecting to see her but not finding her. “I checked on him earlier. He asked to not be bothered.”

“You didn’t tell me he was out here alone?”

She grumbles, trying to form a response, before finally saying, “I was keeping a close eye on him from afar. I didn’t want to be in the middle.”

I pause, frozen a few footsteps away from Cole. How is he not freezing his ass off out here? Something about this feels personal and vulnerable. Something I’m not supposed to see. But the thought of leaving him out here, alone in the freezing rain…

I rest my fingertips on his shoulder. “Cole?”

He flinches, whipping toward me. “Kat? What are you doing here?”

I settle myself next to him, the rain splattering against us. He shrugs out of his jacket and holds it over my head.

I duck underneath it, glancing his way. “Thanks. I…”

My voice drops off when I observe his face.

Strips of his muddied red hair hug his angled features.

The rain slicks off his strong nose, off his bearded chin and down his corded throat.

His lashes drip, his hazel eyes the only warmth in the blue-hued environment.

Like the sun on a rainy day. And yet…a sadness lingers within them.

A depth of longing and swirling agony. And just like that, I already know I’m the reason why.

“What?” he mutters, blinking rapidly and turning his face away from me, still holding his jacket over me to shield me from the rain.

I tilt my head to the side, trying to get a better look at his face. It looks like it wasn’t the rain wetting his cheeks and reddening his nose and eyes.

“Look at me,” I whisper.