Page 107 of Of Blood & Stone

The smell of blood dissipated as his warm hand gripped her chin, tilting her face to meet his while his other hand took her shaking fingers.

“Don’t look at any of that,” he said, his gaze steady and determined. “Now, tell me, what are your thoughts?”

Falling apart wasn’t an option, not in Lhaal Forest, and not when their goal was so important. She was tipping over the side of a cliff, about to become undone, and Elnok could see it.

She straightened her spine. “You look like a youngling who thinks he could be a Dynami when he’s actually destined to run a floral shop.”

He smiled, a blessed vision in the wake of her carnage. “What a diabolical assessment, as if you assume I wouldn’t thoroughly enjoy owning a floral shop.”

“The problem is that you’d probably run it to the ground,” she replied, a smirk crawling along her mouth.

“Well, guess I’ll have to prove you wrong on all accounts someday.”

Surrounded by blood, death, and destruction, she laughed. It felt wrong, and yet it felt right as Elnok joined her. A strange knot had been tying in her chest, but it started to loosen. His half-grin took her away from Westley’s pale eyes, Distrathrus’ cold voice, and the lingering pain in her back.

Her hands no longer shook.

How did he do that?

“We need to be watchful,” Sylzenya said, removing her chin from his hand while she stood, “I doubt Kharis is gone for good.”

“I agree. Let’s not linger.”

Sylzenya grunted in agreement as she led them forward through the dark fog, the glow of the compass and Elnok’s sword illuminating the barren path. Sylzenya offered a prayer to Aretta, seeking her guidance, and requesting the tree stay in its current location before Elnok’s friend ran out of time.

And that, by some miracle, it held the answer to stopping Distrathrus.

Chapter 25

There Are No Heroes

Elnok knew he’d made a gamble when he sprinted away from Sylzenya and towards the Dynameis. He’d been far outmatched, the warriors’ magic enough to kill him in a blink of an eye, the serpentums even more so. But at the end of the day, he trusted Sylzenya, and he believed she would sooner use her magic than forfeit his life, even if it meant putting others in danger. And heneededher to use it. Her magic was the key to making it through Lhaal Forest alive, and he couldn’t let her guilty conscience get in the way.

The night they’d spent together may have been a mistake, especially since the truth of her magic had been made known, but he couldn’t deny the thin web spun between them, its material threaded with the strength of Vutrorian steel.

Even if he was supposed to hate her, he wasn’t sure he could find the will to do so.

“We should rest,” he finally spoke, voice hoarse from thirst.

They’d walked somewhere around ten miles, and he could tell Sylzenya was feeling the strain as well. Her speed had significantly decreased in the last mile or so.

“We don’t have time,” she replied.

“If we keep this pace for much longer, we’ll lose our strength and only further delay ourselves.”

Sylzenya glanced over her shoulder, the yellow glow of his sword illuminating her face in such a way she looked like a goddess amidst the dark crooked trees. Her eyes looked determined, her full lips set in a calculated line, and her muscles shifting in the shadow and light. Of all the times for his cock to get hard, of course it would be in a deadly forest with a woman whose magic had been stripping his land of its ability to survive.

“Inconvenient” was an understatement.

“Fine, but it’ll need to be short,” she replied, “We can’t risk the tree changing locations.”

“Agreed.”

They traveled a little ways further until they found a small clearing. Quietly, they surveyed the trees, careful to identify any serpentum skins or arachni webs. They found none. Head teetering on the brink of a throbbing ache, Elnok sat, leaning against a petrified log as he took two large gulps of water from the stolen waterskin. The dead warrior had only carried one waterskin, suggesting he’d thought they’d capture him and Sylzenya with ease.

They didn’t take into account just how powerful she’d become.

Idiots.

---