Page 41 of Wrath Of Suns And Shadows (The Osparia #2)
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Emelyn
“ L et’s stop here,” Kade commanded, his voice cutting through the evening stillness.
We had been riding since dawn, and even my fae endurance faltered under the relentless pace he kept and the draining effect of the iron that bound my wrists.
His men obeyed, swiftly dismounting and beginning the nightly rituals of setting up small tents and tending to the Musonus.
Kade helped me off the beast and I slumped to the ground, my back against a gnarled tree, watching as the rest of the men worked.
The soldiers avoided my gaze, and the ones who did look snarled at me, their hatred evident.
As Kade helped his brother set up our sleeping arrangements for the night, his eyes found mine in the dimming light, an unreadable expression etched onto his handsome face.
For a brief moment, I wondered what thoughts lay behind those amber eyes, but I quickly quashed the curiosity.
He was my enemy, nothing more. I needed to stop thinking about him in any other way.
He was delivering me to his father. I was nothing but a prize regardless of what he kept telling me.
As night descended, the camp settled into a rhythm of muted conversations and the clatter of cooking utensils. A soldier approached and dropped a meager portion of bread and cheese beside me, the food a dull thud against the forest floor before he started to leave.
Kade stopped him. “Give her more,” he demanded, and the soldier hesitated a moment. Kade met his gaze, and the man relented, tossing me more before turning to leave.
I didn’t say a word. Kade and Rhet had barely spoken to me since this journey had begun. I assumed it was because the watchful eyes that surrounded us, but I was too tired to try and decipher what was a show and what wasn’t.
Hunger gnawed at me, but so did the thought of escaping. So while I ate, I thought about how my opportunity to run would come when the camp slept. Irons or no, I refused to be caged like some prized pet for the emperor. I would get out of here.
When the final embers of the campfire dimmed to a soft glow, I pretended to curl into my bedroll, feigning sleep. My heart hammered against my ribcage as I waited, counting each breath of the dozing guards scattered around us. I glanced over to Kade and Rhet. They were sleeping right next to me.
I peeled myself slowly from the ground, the irons heavy on my limbs, their chill seeping into my bones.
I glanced once more at Kade, ensuring he was asleep.
With a deep breath, I edged toward the darkness beyond the camp’s perimeter, my heart a silent drumbeat, urging me forward.
Escape was mere moments away. As the forest closed in around me, swallowing me in its shadows, I darted between the trees.
My breath came in ragged gasps, the iron cuffs biting into my wrists with every desperate stride.
Suddenly, an earth-shattering grunt reverberated through the darkness.
My pulse quickened; my steps faltered. A behemoth loomed ahead, its massive frame etched in moonlight—a wild boar of impossible size.
Three menacing tusks jutted from each side of its snout, like jagged daggers thirsting for blood.
Damn the Mother.
Before I could react, the creature charged. I tried to sidestep, but I was too slow. Too drained from the day. The boar slammed into me with the fury of an enraged storm, pinning me against a rough-barked tree. My cry of pain was lost amidst the snarling and thrashing of the beast.
Panic clawed at my insides, and each attempt to push it away failed. I was too weak from the irons.
Then, out of the darkness, Kade emerged, his blades drawn and gleaming like a sliver of light. He moved with lethal grace. His steel clashed with the tusks, and Kade wedged his swords and twisted the beast to the ground and away from me. The beast rose, and his attention now fell to Kade.
“Emelyn, stay back!” Kade shouted as he parried another vicious lunge from the boar, its tusks gleaming like hungry scythes. I stumbled backward, my breath hitching in my throat from how close I was to being speared by them.
I eyed the dense tree line, my eyes volleying between freedom and Kade.
“Emelyn, don’t.” Kade grunted, struggling to hold back the wild animal’s unrelenting strength. His eyes found mine, imploring, commanding—pleading. The boar backed a few feet away and then charged with a primal fury that shook the earth beneath my feet.
I darted a look at him, our gazes locking for an infinitesimal moment before I turned on my heel and fled into the embrace of the trees. Branches clawed at my face, snatched at my hair, but I pushed forward.
Behind me, the sounds of battle—the clash of steel against bone, the guttural roars of man and beast locked in their deadly dance—faded into the background as I put ground between us. My legs pumped furiously, muscles screaming in protest, but I did not slow. I couldn’t.
I desperately wanted to wield my wind to nip at my heels, make my blood flow faster into my limbs, but I couldn’t because of these damn irons. I’d have to find a way to get rid of them as soon as possible.
The world narrowed to the pounding of my heart, the crisp night air filling my lungs, and the path that wound deeper into the forest. Away from Kade, away from the beast, away from Ember.
But then, as quickly as hope filled me, it shattered against a solid mass as I rounded a tree. His chest. Kade’s chest. A gasp escaped me, the air knocked from my lungs, as his arms shot out, steadying me against the rough bark of the tree.
“Emelyn,” he panted, his breath hot and ragged against my face. Blood splatter covered half of his handsome features. “Are you hurt? Tell me if you're okay.”
Confusion lanced through my adrenaline. He was supposed to be behind, entangled with the beast, not here with concern etching lines into the hard planes of his face.
Why wasn't there fury in those deep amber eyes?
Why did his hands gently roam over my sides as they searched for injuries? Why did he care so much?
"Answer me, Emelyn," he urged, his hands cupping my face and moving my head from side to side.
"I’m fine," I managed to growl, the words tasting bitter on my tongue as I jerked from his hold.
He blew out a breath. “I thought the beast had gotten you with its tusks.”
“Well, it didn’t. Why would it have mattered if it had?” I scoffed.
“Because with irons on, you wouldn’t have been able to heal a deadly wound fast enough. I thought—” His voice cracked. “It doesn’t matter what I thought. You’re okay. That’s all that matters.”
He nodded toward the trail leading us back to camp, and I blew out a defeated breath before I started the trek back. Tense silence stretched between us until we made it back to the corpse of the boar.
With a grunt, Kade crouched and plunged his blade into the beast’s belly.
"Looks like we'll be having wild boar for breakfast," he announced, a certain grim satisfaction in his tone as he began the grisly task of gutting his kill.
I watched him work, his hands sure and steady, the metallic scent of blood mingling with the earthy aroma of the forest floor.
I found my voice. “You're not mad that I tried to run?” It seemed absurd to fixate on his temper when death had just danced around us, but I couldn’t stop my curiosity.
The prince paused, his eyes lifting from the carcass to meet mine.
Shadows played across his sharper features, rendering him unreadable.
“No, Emelyn,” he replied sharply, not with anger but a kind of resignation that made me falter.
“I learned from my last bet with Rhet. I knew you would try to run again. You have every reason to.” His hands finished pulling out the boar's innards, and he straightened up, locking his gaze with mine.
There was a depth there, a turbulent sea I hadn't dared to navigate before.
“You are in enemy territory, you are wanted by the dreadful Emperor of Ember, and you have the weight of the world on your shoulders. I can’t possibly imagine what you must be feeling .
. . but I promise you, Emelyn. I will not let you die in Ember. "
His words hung between us like a thread of light, binding yet fragile.
His eyes held mine, and in them I saw something that clawed at the walls I’d built around my heart.
A glimmer of . . . what? Compassion? Understanding?
It was disarming, and for a heartbeat, I let myself drown in the possibility that maybe this man wasn’t like them.
Breaking our connection, he cleared his throat and returned to his task, muscles flexing under the strain, his dagger moving with practiced precision.
Without a word, Kade finished his work, wiping his blade on the grass before sheathing it.
He glanced at me, perhaps waiting for some acknowledgment or protest, but I gave him neither.
Instead, we both turned toward the camp, our footsteps muffled by the mossy earth as we both carried large portions of meat.
We walked back in complete silence, the distance between us filled with so many unspoken truths and thoughts too heavy to bear. Shadows stretched long and twisted from the flickering campfire as we approached. I made my way back to my bedroll, and sleep found me quickly.