Page 20 of Secrets & Curses of Crimson

“We will take a few days to train and get ready, then head out.” I nodded, feeling good about the plan.

This year would be different. Mikel was no longer interfering with us, thanks to Della. I would not let this happen another year. Thea was mine, and I wasn’t letting anyone keep her from me. Not the stars, not the gods, not her father.

A strong sense of hatred filled my blood bond, making my thoughts scatter.

“Fuck,” I breathed.

“What’s wrong?” Zade asked.

“I just felt Thea through the bond, and she really fucking hates something.”

Haden let out a sigh of relief.

“So, she’s alive somewhere. That’s a step in the right direction. Are you sure it was hatred you felt?” Haden asked.

“Yes. She is really fucking angry too.” The feelings were overwhelming to the point I had to grip the table and bow my head at the onslaught of rage she was pumping down the bond. “Fuck, what would make her feel like this?”

Flashes of what Jesper did to her last time plagued me. No. She would feel scared or anxious if that were happening. This was white-hot rage and hatred.

“Probably not something in Exile, so she’s probably out,” Leer said, hopeful. I agree with that. My first thought was Jesper or a member of her family.

The emotions down the bond cut off abruptly. I would rather feel her rage than nothing. I glanced up at all of them staring at me.

“Let’s get ready to find my wife.”

?????

We thought we had been sneaky for the past few weeks. We destroyed an enemy scouting camp, but we had managed to stay out of sight of the Cerithian army. Palo, their new captain since Thea killed Jeb, was not known for being strategic. It was odd for him to play this game of cat and mouse. But when I found my empty scouting camp burned to the ground, I realized that Palo was on to us.

Then I found another one burned down a few days later. Palo had grown a pair recently because he usually wasn’t so aggressive with his tactics. I had gone to the Cerithian castle last night to try and find Thea, but I couldn’t. Her room hadn’t been slept in; dust coated the bedding, so I didn’t think she was there. My mind had been distracted since I didn’t find her. Maybe she was in Exile.

But now I had declared war, so I had to fight until I pushed Cerithia back to their lands. Thisshould be easy because Palo was a spineless captain, but for some reason, he decided to be a pain in my ass these past two weeks.

I glanced around the burned scout camp we came upon. This was the third one he destroyed, and it just irritated the fuck out of me. How did he know where our camps were, and how did he do it without being caught?

“What do you want to do?” Haden glanced at me.

“We need to make this a face-to-face battle. Let’s find the Cerithian bastards and end them. I will handle their coward of a captain, Palo, by myself.”

We headed back toward the base camp we had set up. The temperature was dropping with the setting sun. All I could think of was going back to Cerithia tonight to spy on Luren and figure out where Thea was. Suddenly, something in the air shifted, making me glance around us. But I heard them before I ever saw them. I stopped and held up my hand so that all the men halted too. We were on the edge of a large clearing, and across it I saw Cerithian guards on horseback.

I slipped on my helmet to get ready for our attack. It was clear that Cerithia didn’t expect to see us either because they were loud as they talked and rode through the woods. A moment later their captain halted. Gods, Palo was much shorter for a male than I remembered from our one briefmeeting. I was instantly pissed off that he was on Kaida. That was Thea’s horse, not his.

Onyx seemed to recognize Kaida as he became frantic to get over to her. He wouldn’t move, though, until my command. I decided I was stealing her fucking horse after I killed Palo.

Palo wore a helmet that covered his whole face, but I could feel his eyes on me. He was waiting to see what I would do.

“Their captain is mine,” I called out.

Palo’s horse took a step towards us, and I took that as my signal to meet him in the center of the field and end him so I could go find my wife. Palo hesitated for a moment before charging straight for me, his men following. Onyx was much faster than Kaida, so I met him a little past halfway through the field. I unsheathed my sword. Palo copied me, and we collided.

The force of our swords knocked us both from our horses and to the ground. I recovered quickly with my sword in my hand. I charged at him, not giving him one second to spare. He tripped over his feet but then regained his fighting stance as we swung at each other. Palo met me blow for blow, which surprised me because men didn’t last long in a sword fight with me. The clanking of swordsaround us let me know that our men had followed us and were now in full battle.

Palo ducked low and pulled a dagger out, almost spearing me in the stomach. For fuck’s sake, when did Palo become a worthy opponent? I barely dodged it, but I managed. Palo and I stared at one another for a long moment before we both charged again, but this time we did the same moves. I narrowed my eyes on him. Did he learn my technique to fuck with me? If I was being honest, it was working. Palo stumbled back, getting caught up in his own feet because his stance wasn’t wide enough.

We fought, just the two of us, amongst the chaos of all the soldiers. It was clear our men knew that we would fight each other, and no one bothered us.

I could hear the screams of dying men behind me. Magic blazed through the fields, but I could not tell who had the upper hand—us or Cerithia. A strong scent of burning overtook the space around us, and it was so foul that my eyes burned with disgust. Their captain stumbled backward as I swung my sword toward him.

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