Page 63 of The Pactbound Angel (The Soul Mirror Duet #1)

“Yes. Yes, I think you’re actually right.

Let’s go.” I plucked my mail armor from the ground, shook out the leaves and twigs that had attached themselves, and pulled it on over my head, careful of my hair.

The leather thong I usually used to tie my hair back was nowhere to be found.

Somewhere in the Dark Drop that is my pouch.

I’d no doubt spend a year pulling strands of hair out from the chain links.

“If it’s alright, I’d like to travel with you for a while after we get back. To ensure your safety.”

Armor settled and sword belt buckled, I secured my shield on my back, attached my pouch to my belt, and began to walk through the dense underbrush. Ramiren muttered under his breath behind me, but I couldn’t make out what he said.

We trekked through the woods, barely keeping the road in sight to make sure we were going the right way.

Occasionally, we would see a rider on the road moving at breakneck speeds.

Messengers, no doubt. We paid none of them any mind.

So long as they did not see us, and it was doubtful they could with the thick foliage, we didn’t care if there were two or twenty on the wide road leading to the grove’s path. Our destination.

As long as they weren’t there when we arrived.

The sun already had a hard time breaking through the canopy above our heads, so when the light faded even more, we decided to make camp. Foregoing our tents, we found a small cave inset into a stoney cliff. The night turned chilly, but we did not dare risk a fire.

Ramiren began to shiver. Broodlings liked heat well enough, but he had not been exaggerating about his sensitivity to colder temperatures.

I pulled out wool blankets from my pouch, putting a few under us to protect us from the chill of the rock. The rest I put around Ramiren’s shoulders.

“I’m sorry. I have no more blankets, Ramiren. This will have to do.”

In the dim light, his white smile strained to show as his teeth chattered. “It’s alright. But what about you?”

I scratched at an itch on my neck then shook my head. “My gambeson is thick. I will be fine.”

“Please…” He said, as he lifted the blankets with his left arm, clearly inviting me to sit beside him under them. “We can share warmth.”

Though not particularly cold, if my body heat could help Ramiren, I would be remiss to refuse.

After removing my weapons, pouch, and armor, leaving the gambeson on as a layer, I crawled in, putting my head on his shoulder and wrapping my hands around his left arm.

We sat in silence for a long while, soaking in the events of the day and each other’s warmth.

It was pitch black out by the time he stopped shivering.

Just as the sun had trouble during the day, the moonlight could not pierce the trees. I trusted Ramiren’s sight now.

Eventually, I broke the silence. “I never thanked you. I’m not used to being the one protected, and it usually bothers me when people try.”

His smile could be heard in his tone. “You are very welcome, Nathalia. I’m glad I was able to be of assistance.”

“No, it’s more than that. You saved me, Ramiren. I’m not used to that, either.” I frowned. “Did you know?”

He hesitated in responding. “Know what?”

“What he was like? That he would go to this trouble to salvage his pride? Threaten you? Bring me back in chains, no less.”

He whispered, as though it pained him to admit.

“I had my suspicions about him, yes, but vocalizing them would do worse than nothing. You wanted what you wanted, at the time, and speaking against him might lead to you doubling-down. Look at what happened with Raewyn. And what if I was wrong, and you left a good man on my word? No, you needed to make your own decision, without my influence.”

I smiled. “You know me.”

The rumble of a low chuckle preceded his words. “I do. Though I can read others to varying degrees, you are, for me, easy to understand.”

“Am I so transparent to you?” I scratched my neck again. Damned bug must have bitten me.

He shrugged. “Again, to me, yes.”

Disappointment weighed on me. Not that I wanted to be an enigma to my friends, but a little mystique wouldn’t go amiss.

His beard brushed my forehead as he turned his head towards me.

He must have been reading my face, or my thoughts even, because he put my hand in his gently. Damn broodlings and their vision.

He spoke firmly, “I want you to pay attention to me now, and understand what I am saying. Listen close, Nathalia, because it is very important you hear me. I am grateful I can see you so clearly. You are a remarkable person. Kind, good-hearted, gentle… except in a fight, patient, selfless.” He curled his fingers around mine, entangling them, almost playing.

“But you have your faults, like any other. Your self-esteem is not what it should be. Your fear of failure holds you back. Your desperate need to please and not be a burden makes you vulnerable to another’s manipulations.

You look for approval from others, even those whose opinion should not matter.

When you want something, you are bullheaded when it comes to getting it.

And by all the gods above, you have no gift for throwing.

” His last sentence was said with a hint of amusement.

“So, if I may ask, why did you run from your prince?”

That’s a lot of faults, Ramiren. But there were none I disagreed with.

My reasons, ever since doing it, had hogged my thoughts with an unsurprising relentlessness.

“Raewyn was right. I did not love him. It used to be that it wasn't necessarily important to me, for marriage. Love would come in time, especially with that eluva bond he mentioned, I was sure. But after spending time with you, I came to realize that…”

Don’t say it. No good could come of it.

I searched for the words that would convey my meaning without actually saying it. “...friendship is a needed component, at least initially. He was not my friend yet.”

I heard a frown when he said, “I see.”

I went on, deadpanned. “Also, I ran because he really did not appreciate me raising my middle finger and telling him to go fuck himself.”

Ramiren’s shoulders shook in silent laughter.

We crouched down as we peered through the foliage of the ample brush, searching the gardens and cottages of the Ivory Grove.

We had made it here shortly after day break but waited to ensure neither guards nor Jaylin were around.

We saw a few six-legged feyhorses but didn’t know if they belonged to Jaylin or the druids.

Sure enough, after roughly an hour or so, Jaylin came out of one of the small cottages, obviously having slept there that night.

We sat, watching, but he just would not leave.

He milled about endlessly. Occasionally, he’d get so impatient that he’d take out his sword and hack at a fallen log with it.

Or bark orders at one of the grove’s druids to bring him food or drink.

Or merely sit with his forehead in his hands, rubbing it as though it pained him.

His frustration made me happier than wearing his ring ever would have.

Now, though, we could see Jaylin talking with Leraska. They seemed to be arguing.

“Interesting.” Ramiren whispered.

I whispered back, “What?”

“They know each other. Their body language is familiar.”

I hummed. “Perhaps he visits the grove often? Regardless, it’s obvious he suspects she’s hiding us, and she’s telling him we’re not there.”

Ramiren made a noise in his throat.

My head tilted to get a good look at his doubting expression. “You disagree?”

Ramiren replied, his tone skeptical, “I don’t outright disagree, but I’m not sure if I agree either.” He shook his head. “Either way, neither of them knows where we are, and that’s a good thing.”

It took the rest of the morning and well into the afternoon before Jaylin finally gave up and left, riding away in the failing light. We waited a few more minutes, just in case, then stepped out of our hiding spot.

Leraska saw us immediately. Her demeanor went from annoyed to seething as she stalked over to us. “Where have you two been?”

Ramiren and I stopped and looked at each other. The prince must’ve given her a very hard time. Ramiren’s face was enigmatic as he answered her. “Hiding in the woods.”

Leraska’s eyebrows shot up, putting both of her hands on her staff and thumping it into the ground. She responded incredulously, “For two days?”

Ramiren replied coolly, “Yes, and we’d like to leave before he returns.”

Leraska frowned deeper, hesitating, but nodded. “Very well. Come forward.”

As we did, the light from her gnarled staff brightened.

Leraska leveled us with a stare. “Farewell for now.”

I opened my mouth to reply, but the light from her staff exploded, and I was sent tumbling again with no breath for words.

When my whole body hit something solid, I was prone yet again, gasping as my lungs finally flooded with air and the scent of warm earth. My fingers curled into the grass under me. Green grass.

Green. Green!

With a toss of my head to get my hair out of my face, I saw green, bushy trees swaying in the soft breeze. The blue sky above me held fluffy, white clouds.

“Yes! We’re safe!” We both stood and stepped together into a tight embrace.

He leaned back slightly and nodded with a strained smile. “We are home, at any rate.”

Home.

My spirits lifted, I asked while still in his arms, “So, what now? Camlynn? ”

He finally broke the embrace by taking a step back with an almost apologetic expression. “I think it’s perhaps best if we go our separate ways.”

There was a sharp snapping sound from somewhere, and my chest filled with a pressing pain. Did I break a rib somehow? And did he hear it, too? It sounded like a thick twig breaking inside my chest, and my body went numb all over. “Wait. Really?”

He bowed his head to look away, rubbing his neck. He murmured an apology.

Searching his face, I tried to speak past the lump in my throat, but the words came out guttural and breathless. “But why?”

So much for having all the time in the world.

Ramiren replied, “Remember what I said of circumstance choosing the end instead of us? This would be a circumstance.”

After everything, he leaves me?

My stinging eyes muddled my voice even more. “Well, I hope you got that luck stone’s worth.” The words came out far more bitter than I intended. I immediately spun to apologize and saw him glaring at me with his features twisted in anger.

“No, Nathalia.” He snarled and reached into the breast of his jacket, pulling out my mother’s necklace. “Besides, this isn’t a luck stone.” He shook the chain in his hands, as though emphasizing his point.

Am I hallucinating words again?

“Excuse me, what?”

He tucked the necklace back, under his shirt, and motioned towards me with a raised palm before dropping his hand. “It’s just a mundane necklace. It has no magical properties.”

Mother lied to me? She said it brought her luck…

I opened my mouth but only a strained squeak came out. Completely unmoored, my thoughts were in disarray. Then, finally, they pinpointed on one detail, and I found my voice. “Did you know? When we started this pact, did you know it was just a plain necklace?”

Ramiren simply nodded, his face unreadable.

My head tilted back as I gave a growling grunt, and my hair fell off my shoulders.

I threw my hands up weakly. Confusion and annoyance mixed in my gut and churned it like bad food.

“Why? Huh, Ramiren? It’s not even pretty!

If it’s just a plain, little trinket, why did you accept it for the lessons?

Why do you wear it if it’s not magical ?

” I didn’t know how to feel. How I should feel.

He opened his mouth to answer, and then his eyes flitted to my neck, now exposed with the tilting of my head. Ramiren’s eyes squinted a brief second before widening. “Oh fuck…”

I straightened immediately, my hands immediately moving to my neck. “What? What’s wrong?” I moved my hair out of the way fully to allow him to look closer.

“You have a mark on your neck. A sigil.” My eyes strayed to Ramiren’s neck as a reflex, where he had been rubbing, and I saw a burning glyph there, partially hidden by his black hair. It barely showed against his tanned skin.