Page 24 of The Freedom You Seek

“This is the first bit of clean water I’ve seen in days, and as you put it so charmingly earlier, I smell to the heavens.”

Gods, the way she threw my former insult back at me was surprising. Especially since she did it with a sweet smile that barely veiled the sarcasm in her voice. I could almost respect her for retorting like that.

“It’s cold, and you don’t have clothes to change into. Your sensitivities will have to wait. End of discussion.” No stench in the world would justify a bath in freezing water in near darkness. I turned my back to her, ignoring her glare at my back as I proceeded to set up camp for the night.

I stared at Dion, who instantly disregarded my request for basic hygiene as mere sensitivities and chose to ignore me right afterward. Anger brewed under my surface, telling me I’d tolerated the moody bastard long enough.

I glanced over at him to check if he was still busy and then quickly undid the warm cloak he’d given me earlier. The garment was much too big for me but smelled like him. Even if he was insufferable, something in his scent was far too enjoyable. Evergreens and petrichor weaved together with something I couldn’t place and reminded me of a rainy fall day in the forest.

After a last inhale, I shrugged the fabric off completely, folded it, and deposited it on a rock, followed by the dirty, torn dress I was wearing. I kept the chemise on, and nothingcould make me take it off. I was barefoot anyway, since my rescuers hadn’t bothered to hand me shoes.

When I peeked over to check on Dion, I sent his back my most beautiful victory smile because he wasn’t paying attention to my defiance. Instead, he was busy starting a fire, and with a triumph in my heart, I waded into the lake.

The water temperature reminded me of the time when I’d fallen into the pond behind our house in winter, and I suppressed a hiss. Clamping my teeth together, I quickly traversed deeper until I was submerged up to my neck. The water was freezing, and so was I, but cleaning my dirty, itching skin felt heavenly, even if my wounds were on fire before numbness finally settled in. I couldn’t care less. The prospect of being clean was too tempting.

I scrubbed my body and hair, and despite the pain and the chill seeping into my bones, I felt as if I could breathe easily for the first time in days.

“Jama?”

I could hear Dion calling from the clearing. Although he wasn’t the type of person who would hold back from expressing his annoyance that I’d defied his orders, I wasn’t afraid of him—despite his less-than-likable behavior so far. Surely, his bark would be worse than his bite.

“Over here.” I was proud of the overly saccharine touch I added to my tone, and I checked if my chemise was still covering me properly.

Dion stalked toward me, following my voice until he stopped at the shore. Not surprisingly, his expression changed in an instant. Whereas he’d appeared searching and maybe a bit annoyed before, his eyes narrowed to slits,and a muscle ticked in his jaw. He looked ridiculous, and I fought hard to suppress a laugh at his tense expression.

“Are you serious? I told you not to go into the lake. And of course, the moment I turn my back on you, where are you? In the water, of all places!Do you have any idea how stupid that is?”

“First, I hate when people tell me what to do.” I directly met his strange, colorless eyes without flinching. Luckily, the sun hadn’t set completely, and I was able to see just fine. “And second, when I spotted this lake—this opportunity—I couldn’t bear to remain doused in the blood of the man who’d tried to rape me any longer.”

Initially, Dion displayed an unfazed, albeit very annoyed impression, but as I continued to speak, a furious scowl took over. “So, that’s what really happened?”

“I don’t want to talk about it. I don’t even want tothinkabout it. But if you have to know, yes, that’sexactlywhat happened.”

Dion’s stance and expression softened slightly, and he turned around.

“Get out of the water as quickly as possible. I’ll bring some dry clothes for you to the shore. They’ll be way too big for someone as tiny as you, but I didn’t save your life just so you could catch hypothermia and freeze to death.”

“Thanks.” There was nothing else to say.

“Nevertheless, Jama, we’ll soon have to address the topic of how some orders are issued for logical reasons.”

“Of course. Right after the conversation about how to voice suchrequestswithout sounding like a massive jerk.”

Dion huffed as if this discussion was beneath him and stalked back to the fire without saying a word. Grinning, I proceeded to wash up, knowing I was the winner of this round.

If I was absolutely honest, I understood what he’d tried to say in his own charming ways. When he’d demanded that I shouldn’t enter the lake, he hadn’t done it to dominate me but because it would have been only sensible under normal circumstances. And he hadn’t forbidden it because of some strange desire for control over me—although I suspected from his general behavior that he had such issues—but because he was more experienced with camping in the wilds. Still, all these reasons didn’t change the fact that he’d behaved like a giant jackass. I couldn’t help but ponder whether he’d always been like that or if he’d adopted this brutish and dark attitude as a smokescreen for something he wished to conceal.

I stopped speculating when I was satisfied with the state of my skin and hair.

My whole body was aching again, and my neck and back battled over which of them were in more pain. Surprisingly, the injuries I’d suffered during my brief visit to the gallows weren’t as bad as I’d expected. The aftermath of my father’s beatings had often kept me in more pain than almost being executedandriding through the countryside for half a day.

So yes, my back hurt more than my neck, and if I were more religious, I would have prayed to the gods so the wounds my father had inflicted during the little episode with the cane wouldn’t infect on top of everything else.Thanks to all the dirt I’d been subjected to, I didn’t like my odds of staying free of inflammation. But even though it was common knowledge that the gods existed, I had no illusions that any amount of praying would convince them to help me with something as insignificant as my health. Divinity had better things to do, for sure.

Another thing I couldn’t deny was that I was exhausted. I waded back to the shore, where Dion had deposited dry clothes, along with a towel for me. Pleased that he’d kept his word, I stepped out of the lake and dried myself as well as possible, given that my chemise stuck to my skin. I needed to get rid of the wet clothes, so much was sure.

As I glanced toward the fire, I noted with relief that Dion was sitting with his back to me, so I hastily removed my wet shift and slipped into the dry, black tunic. Instantly, I was enveloped in his scent of evergreens, petrichor, and something I still couldn’t place. He’d given me one of his own garments.

Calling the tunic too big was the understatement of the decade. It was as if someone called the Restless Desert a little bit warm—laughable, that place was so hot it melted the skin off the bones of every fool who accidentally entered the area. Luckily, my consequences were less dire, but I looked like a small girl pretending to play grown-up with her parent’s clothes. The garment was so huge that two of me could have easily fit inside. But the fabric was dry, warm, and smelled delicious, so I wouldn’t complain. It wasn’t as if my rescuer was forced to give me his clothes.