Page 14

CHAPTER SIX

IN WHICH THE PARTY IS GIVEN THEIR FIRST ENCOUNTER

I woke refreshed the next morning, although with a residual ache in my feet and calves.

After rolling my mat and blanket and returning them to my pack, I braided my hair, dug out a zanna root, and exited my tent.

Silence met me. The sky was bright and clear, and a fresh-smelling breeze rustled the grass.

I took a nibble of the root and chewed, swishing the lather produced by the plant fibers around in my mouth.

Where is everybody?

Hohem and Vyrain had a tendency to get up early. Lu’s nest was empty, with no sign of the eccentric flirt in the vicinity. I wasn’t going to check if Yrra was in his tent.

Might as well take advantage of the privacy.

Refreshed after attending to my needs, I returned to camp at the same time as Yrra, who had our canteens slung around one shoulder. One of a waterfolk’s unique talents was a sixth sense for finding water, which would no doubt be invaluable for the rest of our trip.

“Didn’t have to go too far, I hope?” I greeted him in between bites of zanna .

He shook his head as he shrugged off the string of canteens. “ No rivers nearby,” he said, passing me my water, “but the inn had a well.”

“Oh, smart. Is that where everyone went?”

“No…”

His hesitation made me frown.

“They went for a run,” Daethie announced, emerging from Yrra’s tent.

She laced her fingers together and stretched her arms above her head with a wanton moan of satisfaction.

“Didn’t want to bother those of us who were still sleeping.

You know how boys get along; if they haven’t killed each other, they’re probably comparing cocks by now. ”

How the hell did they have the energy to work out in the morning on top of walking for ten hours straight?

“I need a drink,” I muttered, one hand coming up to massage my temple.

Mentally swatting away the image that accompanied Daethie’s comment, I disposed of the zanna root and strode back to my tent.

Dismantling it for travel took no more than a few minutes.

Yrra joined me, wordlessly taking apart his own tent.

We were still packing when the boys returned.

Shirtless, out of breath, and shimmering with sweat, they trotted into the clearing.

Hohem went straight for his tent, nodding a greeting as he passed by.

Noticing that I was up, Luthri and Vyrain exchanged a look of challenge and dropped like stones for a series of push-ups. Up, down, up, down.

“Surprised you manage with all that extra weight,” Vyrain taunted through gritted teeth.

“Guess muscle is good for something after all,” Lu retorted, showing no signs of fatigue.

“Better save some of that energy for our walk today,” I called.

From where I was standing, I had a good vantage point to admire the rippling back muscles, straining biceps, and tightened glutes.

I also took the opportunity to appreciate Luthri’s large, feathered wings unabashed.

They bunched against his back like they’d been tied together to keep them from moving.

Was it a pain trying to get them into shirts otherwise?

How impressive they must be when unfurled.

Beside me, not nearly as preoccupied with the view, Hohem guzzled water from his canteen. At that rate, he’d need to fill it again before we left.

“How did you get roped into this?” I asked, crossing my arms. He shrugged.

“Vyrain and I usually work out in the mornings. It’s nice to have a challenge for once.”

“Is it?” Eyeing Lu and his vigorous technique, I clarified, “Is he? A challenge?”

“He can keep up,” was all Hohem provided.

A faint humming sounded by my ear. Daethie hovered over my shoulder, her iridescent wings beating so rapidly that they became a lustrous blur. By the look of it, she was similarly enjoying the view, wearing a wide grin that showed off her sharp little teeth.

“Not a bad way to start the day,” she remarked.

I could have taken her words at face value, but curiosity got the best of me. “If your race doesn’t have males, the implications of that aside, how come you find this attractive?”

Daethie scoffed, “I might be a hand-span tall, but I’m not blind. I can appreciate the male form as much as anyone. Especially when it’s so artfully presented.”

Hmph. Reasonable enough.

With an unfettered groan of exhaustion, Vyrain collapsed to the forest floor and rolled onto his back. Luthri sat back on his heels, the ends of his bundled wings kissing the ground. Together, the two of them looked like models out of a Sports Illustrated magazine.

“Got it out of your system?” I joked, directing the question at both of them. “I hope this means we get to look forward to a nice, quiet stroll today.”

“As ruthless as she is beautiful,” Vyrain lamented to the open air .

“You always did like the mean ones.” Hohem closed his canteen and gave it a lazy, underhanded throw. It landed squarely on his brother’s chest, eliciting an indignant yelp. Vyrain sat up with a murderous scowl and grumbled as he helped himself to a drink.

Lu, having proved his point, hopped to his feet and went to collect his things.

As he passed, he caught my braid, twisting his fingers around the end before letting it fall.

I reacted too slowly, stepping out of reach as he pulled away.

My hackles rose. Who was he to casually invade my space?

Traveling with us didn’t give him permission to touch me.

“I’m afraid I might be out of commission tonight,” he said in an apologetic tone. “I’ll need a proper night’s sleep to recover my strength after today’s journey.”

“Whatever will I do?” The sarcastic response came easily.

“Tell you what. I’ll let you top,” he offered. The cocksure attitude annoyed me further. He took too many liberties for my liking. A hand came up, reaching for my braid again. This time, I was ready, and I had no qualms about smacking it away.

“Keep your hands to yourself,” I told him in no uncertain terms. “That’s going to be your first and last warning. Next time, I bite.” A fleeting thought had my teeth sharpening to aggressive points, and I snapped them to punctuate my words.

Lu’s eyes widened, and his hand dropped. “I’m sorry,” he whispered.

Somewhat mollified, I swiveled to gather my bag and help the others finish getting their things together. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw him discreetly rearrange something between his legs, and to my chagrin, a self-satisfied smile tugged at the corners of my mouth.

The road smoothed out and widened in sections.

Daethie flew some of the way, busying herself with braiding Lu’s thick, dark locks into neat cornrows as we walked.

I focused on putting one foot in front of the other, so most of their conversation faded into background noise.

I caught snippets, like Daethie telling him about the time I got physical with a customer who ran us ragged and Lu brushing aside Daethie’s invitation to join her for a flight sometime.

Lunchtime arrived, and Luthri ate nothing as the rest of us dined in the dirt. Was it because there was no meat available, or because he was self-conscious due to my blunder at last night’s meal? Did he mean it when he said he could comfortably go without eating for days?

I couldn’t find a comfortable position, and my own food tasted like cardboard. It was ridiculous to beat myself up about this. Why did I care? He wasn’t a street dog that needed someone to look after him. He was a grown-ass man who could make his own decisions.

A hesitant touch on my forearm had me blinking back to awareness. My jaw hurt from the way I’d been gnawing on my flatbread, and I realized I’d been glowering in Lu’s general direction. Yrra withdrew his hand, but his somber yet curious expression didn’t change.

“It’s nothing,” I told him, because it was.

There was no reason for me to feel guilty for thinking raw meat was gross or for snapping at Lu for touching me that morning—I was within my rights on both counts.

And so what if they wanted to run around like a bunch of children in the mornings?

As long as they could keep up during the day and weren’t quibbling the whole time, it didn’t affect me.

Since when had I become such a control freak?

Yrra tapped the spot between his eyes. I quickly smoothed the frown from my features.

I’d told him once that humans sometimes developed permanent lines on their faces if they held the same expression for too long, and he raised a concern about how often I frowned.

That was part of why I wanted to be a nicer person; it wasn’t all selfless.

But the important thing was that Yrra and the others shouldn’t have to worry about me. “Sorry,” I muttered. “Woke up on the wrong side of the tent today.”

That was as good an explanation as any.

Yrra nodded and went back to his meal. Not for the first time, I appreciated his quiet, steady presence.

Unlike some people, he knew when to offer support and when not to push the issue.

I dearly hoped that he would someday find some lovely ladies who would look past his timid personality and be happy to settle down with him. They’d be getting a real gem.

That afternoon, after another couple of hours of walking, we came across a tree branch lying across the road.

It had a clear X gouged out of its center, but no other markings in the wood.

As if that wasn’t foreboding enough, several large stones had been stacked in a pyramid behind it. What could it mean?

“Gotta be some kind of warning.” Hohem nudged the branch with one foot as though it might come to life and tell us why it was there. To no one’s surprise, nothing happened.