Page 30 of To No End

He certainly had found something I was scared of, but this went beyond that. Frankly, I was terrified that some brave eel was going to make a meal out of my leg. But what would Trace think if I backed down now? After all, I was the one who had prompted this absurdity. This was a reminder that I needed to be more specific about my list in the future; that is, if I made it past this challenge.

I mustered every ounce of courage I had and turned to Trace defiantly. “Fine, I’ll do it, but you have to join me.”

“That’s not possible, dear. On the off chance anything does happen to you, we’ll want to make sure I’m there to be able to pull you out quickly.”

His point was fair—and infuriating, as I was faced with the reality that I’d be going in alone. Before my building adrenaline wavered, I marched over to the tree, walked around the horses, and began to quickly strip down. I was too focused on the task at hand to care if I was giving Trace a show, or if he was even interested. If I didn’t take care of this quickly, I was going to talk myself out of it.

I walked out from behind Rain, into the bright sunlight with my undergarments hanging loosely over my now goose-bumped flesh as I watched Trace attempt to ignore my lack of clothing.

Trace held out his hand to help me step down carefully into the still water. I shivered as the cool liquid enveloped me one limb at a time. I told myself if I was really careful and quiet about entering, then I’d be lucky enough to avoid disturbing any of the hostile eels resting in its depths.

Before letting go of Trace’s hand, he looked down at me with a taunting smile. “Any last words?”

“Yeah, don’t miss me too much.”

I yanked my hand away from him and carefully immersed the rest of my body up to my neck, as I slowly waded out farther toward the middle. Trace stood idly at the edge, waiting and watching for anything alarming. I was terrified, and I felt myself curling my toes in an attempt to keep them from accidentally drifting any deeper into the water where sunlight didn’t touch. My bones rattled with fear, but I grit my teeth and continued to stare back at Trace on the shoreline, who smiled back at me proudly and made a slow clapping motion.

All of a sudden, I heard a splash behind me, and then another. In complete panic, I began to flail and scream, hurriedly swimming with all my energy back to the shore. I was certain that there had to have been a swarm of eels coming straight for me.

When I reached the shoreline, I grabbed for Trace’s wrist, pulling myself, soaking wet, out of the water and into his arms. I stood there for a minute or two, panting and trembling, barely able to stand. Trace was holding my drenched body close to his chest when I heard him let out a laugh.

As he held me, one laugh became many. Infuriated, practically unable to see straight, I shoved myself back from his embrace.

“Was that you?” I screeched in anger.

He shook his head back and forth, raising his hands in surrender. “I’m sorry, I couldn’t help myself.”

The fury that coursed through my veins removed any embarrassment I might have felt as my soaked undergarments clung transparently to my skin. Trace kept laughing, clearly amused, but there was something else behind that look as I confronted him.

“You could have gotten me killed! What if you disturbed the eels?”

He had gambled with my life. He tried to approach me slowly, but I took another step back from him.

“Cress, I wouldn’t have done that to you.” He pointed at the pool of water to our side. “Sav eels are saltwater creatures. You’re not going to find them in a freshwater pond.”

If it was possible to catch fire in that very moment, I think I would have exploded as pure rage pulsed in my temples; he had not only lied to me, but also played a prank at my expense. I felt stupid and angry, unable to reconcile that I hadn’t been in any real danger since he’d used magic to scare me.

I charged at him, shoving him with both my hands and yelling, “You ass! You lying, ass!”

He stumbled back a little upon my impact. “Hey, you said you wanted to do something that scared you, not that you had to be in actual danger. I think this was actually the more responsible choice.”

His logic was irrefutable, but did not make me any less pissed off. I marched over to Rain, stepped behind the tree to strip off my wet undergarments and replaced them with my dry clothes.

I yelled out from behind the tree, “That was a real cheap shot, Trace, and trust me, you’re going to pay for it.”

When I came out from behind the tree, he had moved closer and fiendishly replied, “I’m counting on it.”

He eyed me up and down as if disappointed that I was no longer on display. I strode past him, bumping his side with my shoulder.

“Ass,” I muttered under my breath while wringing out my clothes and loading them into my pack.

I was grateful for the silence and distance between us on the ride back to the inn. I was still fuming, and doing my best to remain steadfast in my desires.

Upon arriving, Trace stowed the horses together in the stall, and I was secretly hoping that Rain might give him a good kick in the balls; wishful thinking.

Trace tossed me the key. “Same room as last night, go wash up. You smell like pond water.”

I could have spat at him, but he wasn’t wrong. My damp hair reeked, and I could use a hot bath to relax all this tension I was carrying. Not to mention I wasn’t interested in bedding anyone while like this. I took the key and marched off without a word,afraid that I might say something so harsh that there’d be no wooing my way back into his good graces.

---