Page 74 of The Cursed Kingdom

“Go,” Kie urges.

The human gulps, her throat bobbing, before she turns to walk off.

“No,” I say, stopping her. “Here.”

She’s lost the right to the illusion of privacy.

Kie places a hand on my shoulder, and I shrug him off. I won’t let his softness toward the human affect my decisions. Being small and cute doesn’t equal being harmless.

King Malcolm once trusted a small, cute woman, and that earned him death. He brought a mistress and her daughter into his home, ignoring all the warnings, and it cost him his life.

The human draws in a shaky breath, her gaze darting between me and Kie. She doesn’t know whom to listen to. She’s more frightened of me, but she’s feeling confident in my weakened state. I’m going to make her regret that confidence.

“Go,” Kie tells her, ignoring my decision to keep her close.

She continues to glance between Kie and me, her lip pulled between her teeth, before she spins and takes off into the woods. I listen, ensuring she doesn’t go too far. I don’t care how injured I am. If she tries to run, I’m going to hunt her down.

“You’re being cruel,” Kie says the moment she’s out of sight.

That’s not a concern of mine.

“You’re being weak,” I argue. “She’s asking about delysum, and you’re too busy thinking with your cock to ask why.”

I sway on the balls of my feet, and Kie smoothly wraps his arm around my waist to stabilize me. I have half a mind to nudgehim aside, but I’m not sure how long I’ll be able to support my weight without his help.

Already, the edges of my mind are fuzzy, and I’ll be damned if I pass out and give him the opportunity to carry me. He’d never let me hear the end of it, and upon our return to the capital, I’m sure it’ll only take hours for him to spread gossip about it.

“She’s frightened, and she has no survival instinct,” Kie says. “I don’t think she knows anything. She’s not some trained killer, or in any way equipped for this realm.”

The human pees, and I listen.

“She knowssomething,” I argue. “Otherwise, she wouldn’t be asking about it.”

Kie doesn’t immediately respond, probably because he knows I’m right. Her question may have seemed innocent enough, and she’s doing a good job playing the role of a scared, confused woman, but I know with absolute certainty that she’s hiding something from us.

“Delysum kills magic,” I quietly remind him. “It killed your father.”

Kie knows this, knows how serious it is, and I don’t understand how he can be so casual about it.

“Why are you protecting her?” I ask.

Kie shakes his head, and a long silence stretches between us before he mumbles, “I don’t know. I feel bad for her, and I’m just trying not to make this trip any harder than it already is. She’s been through enough.”

That’s not a good answer.

The human finishes relieving herself before returning. A small part of me is disappointed that she doesn’t try to run away, and I wonder if she made any attempts while I was gone. I’d ask Kie, but I have a feeling he wouldn’t tell me if she did.

Kie releases my waist as she appears, probably thinking he’s doing it for my benefit. I don’t care if she sees me leaning against him. She just spent the past three hours watching me practically hang off his back. There’s no hiding just how injured I am.

I singlehandedly fought and killed seven shifters. I’m not ashamed of my wounds.

I wrap my arms around Kie’s shoulders and drop most of my weight onto his back as we continue walking. We should only be a few hours from the troll lands.

I debate taking this time to question the human, but I want to be in a better physical state when I do. I don’t want to overlook something she says or let a minor detail slip through the cracks. Kie will be no help, so it’s up to me to figure out what the fuck is going on.

We only make it another hour before stopping to rest.

The human practically collapses onto the ground, and I lean against a nearby tree while Kie sets up our sleeping mat and overhead. We’ll keep this stop quick. We don’t have time to waste.

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