Page 30 of The Warlord’s Princess (Warlords of Tempest #3)

RAMSEY

After hauling a pack of four endergulfs back to the village, I wipe the sweat from my brow and turn to Caen.

“Let us trek out again to see if our luck holds.”

“Again?” He gestures to our kills. “We have food enough for several turns of the moon.”

“But with the Penticari, it would be good to smoke more, before the cold season hits.”

He cocks his head to the side and looks at me with one raised eyebrow. “After taking down four endergulfs?”

“Are you too tired?” I ask with a look of concern, hoping he will fear judgment.

“I think that mayhap I would rather help build the corral going up than trudge through the woods again.”

My nostrils flare at the mention of the new building going up to house animals, but I say nothing.

“Would you like to join me in taking down a tree?”

“No,” I growl, looking off into the forest, wondering if there might be anything close to the village to preoccupy my time.

“As you say.” Caen walks off, and I travel in the opposite direction, toward the treeline.

“Squeak!”

I look over to see Harold sitting on my shoulder, giving me a questioning look.

“What do you say? One more hunt for the day?”

He looks at me with his beady little eyes, his pug nose twitching with intent.

“You are not starving, so stop looking at me like that,” I snarl.

“Squeak! Squeak!”

“You think me a fool? There is plenty of food for you back at my hut—no one forced you into my pouch!”

“Squeak!”

“Sweet Temp?—”

“Ramsey?” a voice halts me.

I look over and see Elena approaching, her brow narrowed in question.

“Yes?”

“Who were you talking to?”

“The wind,” I tell her. “I was?—”

“I see him on your shoulder!” she says, arms crossed over her chest.

I look to my right and see him, too.

Damn you, Harold!

“What do you need?”

“To talk.”

“You women have too many words for my liking.”

“Is that why you’re with Harold?”

Again, I look over at the vaeyark, silently cursing him.

“I need to ask you something,” Elena says, her voice dipping low.

I sigh. “Then ramble, as you do.”

“Is there something going on with Grixis?”

“Why would you ask?”

“Just answer the question.”

I shift uncomfortably, looking around in all directions before shrugging. “He has great worries, and it is not wrong to blame me for some of them.”

“Because of the meeting?”

“Yes.” I nod. “I regret my words and that they brought much needless worry.”

“I was terrified, at first—really furious at you—but in a way, it was a good thing.”

“How so?”

“It showed me that even the grumpiest man of Tempest could come around to caring for my people, and that gave me hope others would, too.”

“Or perhaps I was trying to get rid of you.”

A smile curls on her lips. “Perhaps.”

“Is that all?”

“No.”

I sigh again.

“I spoke with Asha about you.”

My jaw tics. “Why must you chatter?”

“It wasn’t chatter. I’m just telling you what was said.”

“Why?”

“Because you tried to help my people, and I want to help you.”

“You think you, of all the Penticari, who waddles around the village eyeing food and occasionally being accompanied by a woldoven, could help me?”

She giggles. “Sir Gene may be the first animal we take into our tribe.”

I look over at Harold, letting him know that despite our many disagreements, he is seen.

Elena giggles louder.

“I care not to hear what was said,” I huff.

She rolls her eyes. “You’re always so stubborn.”

“And you are long-winded.”

“I was just trying to say that I spoke with Asha about you, and I regret what I said.”

Suddenly interested, I blurt, “And that was?”

“That I didn’t think you were capable of making her happy. That even if you were to couple, you’d be too stubborn and aggressive to be a suitable partner.”

My stomach twists, and I look down at the earth. “Is that all?”

“No.” She shifts uncomfortably in her spot. “I wanted to say you should prove me wrong.”

“You think I care to?” I scoff.

“Yes.”

“You are?—”

“Stop being contrarian!” Elena scolds.

“Then stop speaking.” I turn to storm into the woods.

Elena rushes to my side, pulling at my arm.

“Just court her.”

“She does not wish to be courted by me.”

“Oh, trust me, she does. It’s been two weeks since you’ve been back, and she makes every excuse not to accept the others’ courtship gifts.”

My hands ball into fists at the mention of the others.

“Don’t be so grumpy that you miss out on the one chance you have at happiness.”

“Do not assume you know what happiness is to me,” I growl.

She stops, and I continue forward, fire burning in my chest.

“Fine, do whatever you want, but one day, Asha will be forced to take someone, and you’ll have to watch from your hut as they walk hand in hand through the village, laughing and being obnoxiously cute while you go back inside to your hand.”

Shocked, I spin to look at her. “What did you just say?”

Instead of answering, she gives a small “humph” and walks away.

How dare she assume!

As I storm past the treeline, my strides slow, and I eventually stop.

Every word Elena said pokes at unseen wounds, and I know that over time, they will grow, until there is nothing left but pain.

Princess Kasmina has no hope of mending them, as the very thought of her twists my stomach, filling me with dread.

I never wanted Princess Kasmina. She was all I had.

There is only one for me, and I treated her carelessly, driving her away.

But perhaps all is not lost, and I can prove to my Little Vaeyark that I am not the grumpy warlord she thinks I am. That I can be more.

For her.

“Squeak!”

“Fine!” I grumble at Harold, turning back around and marching toward the village. “We will win back this Penticari princess, or we will lose our honor trying.”

But first, I must find Nori.