Page 25 of The Warlord’s Princess (Warlords of Tempest #3)

ASHA

I watch in horror as Ramsey charges forward, toward a beast he has no hope of besting, his words echoing in my head.

Could he have meant them?

It doesn’t matter, because if I don’t find a way to help him, he’ll die.

I’m no Fiona or Araelya, but perhaps I don’t have to be. Perhaps I just need to distract the creature so Ramsey can strike.

Tusks jut out from its face, six in total, all looking like they could impale men much larger than those from Tempest.

Ramsey swings his axe. The great animal sidesteps and drives into his side, throwing him against a tree.

“Run!” Ramsey growls.

Refusing to leave him, I watch, seeing how the beast moves, which isn’t at all how you’d expect an aggressive animal to.

At the sight of me rooted in place, Ramsey straightens, gripping his axe in one hand as he bares his teeth.

The beast stares at him and backs away ever so slightly. Ramsey charges forward, and the giant rushes him again, an enormous tusk slicing his torso.

Ramsey cries out, and for a moment, I’m unsure of what to do. If there’s anything I can do.

Then, the beast looks at me, its two golden eyes shining in the midday light, and I know…

I walk forward, stepping softly as the creature watches me. It’s furious, likely to charge if I’m not too careful, so I place my hands in the air, so it can see my palms.

“Asha!” Ramsey snarls, straightening again. I see him hunching, getting ready to charge.

Knowing I have mere seconds before he launches another attack, I rush forward, placing myself between him and the beast.

“Asha!” he roars, trying to shove me away with his free arm, but I push toward him, driving my shoulder into his wound.

He screams from the pain, but I keep at it, until his suffering is so great, he drops his axe.

“Why?” he asks, his voice tortured.

Unable to waste precious time, I spin around, facing the creature, showing it my palms.

It hunches, snarling.

“I won’t hurt you,” I saw in a soft voice. “And I don’t think you want to hurt me.”

“Asha!” My name is a low growl in Ramsey’s throat.

I walk towards the beast, smiling, trying to show it I’m harmless.

Its golden eyes squint, and it snorts, still deciding if I’m a threat.

I hear Ramsey shift behind me. I cast him a look over my shoulder. “It doesn’t want to fight.”

“You are mad if you think?—”

The beast approaches, coming an inch from my face.

I bring a hand to its furry pelt, petting the bear-like creature, asking, “What’s wrong?”

It looks off into the forest, huffs, then slowly jogs away, nodding its head for me to follow.

“Great Tempest…” Ramsey whispers.

I take off after the creature, following it for long minutes, hearing Ramsey a short way behind me.

We walk what has to be a mile before stopping at a creek. It nods to a deep hole that’s slick with mud. At the bottom is what looks like a smaller version of the beast. A cub. Or at least I think that’s what it would be called.

Without hesitation, I leap into the hole.

“Asha!” Ramsey cries, peering over the lip of the pit.

“It’s fine,” I tell him.

The cub is heavy and ungainly, impossible for me to lift, so I squat, encouraging it to climb on me.

Up above, the creature roars urgently in what sounds like communication between it and the cub.

Hesitantly, the small beast eventually climbs on my back, and I rise to a stand. Still unable to crawl out, Ramsey reaches down, grabs it by the scruff, and hauls it out.

I hear cheerful sounds from the two creatures, and I bloom with satisfaction because for once, I did something more than just weave or squeeze between two walls. I saved one of the toughest members of the Tempest tribe and an enormous beast’s adorable offspring.

Ramsey lowers his axe into the pit, telling me to hold on to the head so he can pull me up, and a minute later, I’m standing with the three of them.

The creatures lick my face and cuddle me before leaving, and even Ramsey gives the cute cub a pat before it walks off.

“No one ever has the right to call me weak again—even you,” I say, smiling.

“Strong in different ways,” he says softly, hunched over, his torso bleeding profusely.

“Sit.” I point to the base of a tree.

“No, we must get back.”

“Not before I patch you up.”

“Are you a cleric now?”

“No, but I know a few things—sit.”

He obeys, and I dig into my bag, searching for my finest thread, a cloth, and a needle.

“This is going to hurt.”

“I can handle pain.”

He winces as I clean his wound.

“If you weren’t so hot-headed, it wouldn’t have come to this,” I tell him.

“I was protecting you.”

“And how’d that work out for you?”

He sighs. “I am forever in awe of you.”

I sew him up to the tune of his growls and angry curses, and then we bathe, washing the mud and blood from our bodies. Thankfully, we have changes of clothes.

When we leave to go back to the village, we see the two beasts standing nearby, watching us.

“Who would have thought a terragulf would have such intelligence?” he muses.

“Every animal has intelligence,” I say smugly. “You’re just too busy poking them with sticks to realize it. Just ask Harold.”

I can’t help but notice that Ramsey has gone back to his coldness, which hurts more than I care to admit.

He told me he loved me—and risked his life to save me—yet this is how he treats me. Cold. Indifferent. Lesser.

I’ll never make him happy.

The truth is cruel, but there’s no point in denying it.

Despite his pain, Ramsey insists on carrying me, practically sprinting through the forest to get home before dark.

Eventually, we come across Gaerth, who was sent by Grixis to scout. He blows a horn, and a short time later, more Tempest men arrive, helping Ramsey and me to the village.

Everyone has questions. It’s Ramsey who answers them, telling everyone how I bravely approached the terragulf and saved him from certain death.

At first, people think he’s joking, and it isn’t until Grixis reminds everyone that he’s not a trickster that they turn to me with looks of reverence in their eyes.

They ask questions, but I tell everyone I’m too tired to talk, which isn’t a lie.

Grixis barks at the crowd to get to work, and I walk with Ramsey and a few others to the cleric’s hut.

“The wound is deep,” Orvell says, “but I could not have stitched it better myself.” He looks through a lens at Ramsey’s torn flesh. “What did you use to patch him up?”

“I have a thread that is fine, stronger than the others,” I say, pulling it from my pouch.

Orvell takes it, turning it in his hand. “Interesting. May I keep this?”

I shrug. “If you don’t mind the thread of lessers, sure.”

Kairi giggles. Orvell grumbles.

Once he’s done inspecting Ramsey’s wound, he tells him he must stay in the cleric’s tent for a few days to see how his flesh reacts to the thread. Predictably, Ramsey snarls, but relents.

“Could I have a moment alone with Ramsey?” I ask Orvell.

He nods, exiting the hut with Kairi.

“Thank you, strong Asha, for all you have done,” Ramsey says, his tone tinged with sorrow.

“It was my dumb idea to go out so far, so I should hardly be thanked, but you’re welcome.”

“The knowledge you have given our tribes is a gift to be studied.”

“Mayhap I’ll have you riding terragulfs one day.”

“I would say no, but then you would do anything and everything to prove me wrong.

Giggling sadly, I place my hand on his. “I have a feeling I may be able to strong arm Grixis into giving me a new workplace.”

“Nonsense!” Ramsey growls.

I lick my lips, drawing what little courage I have left in me to say what needs to be said. “I think it’s for the best.”

The torment that washes over his face makes me yearn to take it back, but I know what I must do. Staying with him would be torture, and I’m not na?ve enough to believe he’ll have a change of heart. Even if he did, I’m not sure if he would ever be a suitable partner, capable of making me happy.

“Thank you for everything, Ramsey, but I’m going to move my stuff to the longhouse now.”

He nods curtly, looking deadpan.

After I leave, big tears well in my eyes, but I wipe them away, determined to get on with what I must do.

Harold immediately comes to greet me. I give him a chunk of bread I saved and scratch his neck.

“Asha,” Elena says.

I turn to see her standing in the doorway.

“What you did was nothing short of amazing. You really came through for the tribe.”

I feel my cheeks flush with color. “Thanks.”

“Why are you packing your weaves?”

“I figured it’s time for me to move into the longhouse.”

“Is that your decision?”

I sigh. “Things didn’t go as I’d hoped out there.”

“Well, he came back singing your praise.”

“Yes, but…” I bow my head. “Whatever we had, it’s over.”

Her arms wrap around me, and I lay my head down on her shoulder.

“You’ll be fine.”

“I know…but it’s hard.”

“I’m sure it is, and one day in the future, when you have a big Tempest man by your side, he’s going to regret how he treated you.”

“You know what? I don’t think he will.”

We part, and she grabs a basket. “Let me help you move.”

“Aren’t you?—”

“I’m pregnant, not incapable…but seriously, don’t tell Grixis.”