Page 32 of The Anointed's Paladin

I stopped, surprised. He’d been mostly silent tonight, just adding a sarcastic comment here and there. I tossed him the water, watching Nidori as she crash-landed next to me.

“Ugh. Why are your legs so big?” she said, kicking my foot from where she lay on the ground. “You don’t even look tired. It’s unnatural.”

“I agree,” said Kaine. “What, you’re not even going to sit down? We’ve been walking for six hours straight.”

I shrugged. “I’m fine.”

“Nidori, can you kick him again? For me, this time.”

Nidori waved a foot limply in my direction. I still couldn’t figure out if she was actually his ward or not. All signs pointed to yes, but I hadn’t seen him compel her once. Or even give her a regular order.

“Right,” I said. “That’s enough. Nidori, you’re tiny. You can’t keep up. There’s nothing to be ashamed of.”

Nidori flipped me a tiny bird, not even looking up. I scooped her up—she barely weighed anything—and set her in the joint where one of my wings met my back.

“There. Solved,” I said, winding my hair into a bun, so it wouldn’t be in her way.

Nidori giggled, settling into the nook. “Oh. Your wings are so soft,” she said, touching them and then tangling her fingers in my hair.

“Itissilky,” she announced. To Kaine, perhaps?

Kaine eyed us, letting out a huff. “You could sit onmyshoulders,” he said. Was hejealous?

“No. This is practically a built-in seat. And he smells really good,” she said matter-of-factly, patting my head. Kaine glared at me.

I stopped, hearing a noise nearby. Kaine had frozen, too, his eyes narrowed.

Nidori rushed to the ground, pressing her palm into the dirt. Her eyes widened. “Wind and cinders, we have to go,” she hissed and flew back to my shoulder.

Kaine jumped to his feet, and we started forward.

“No, no. That way.” Nidori tugged my horn to the left. It was towards the tall cliffs that loomed far above us.

“I thought we needed to get to the pass?” I asked.

“They’ve cut us off. We’ll have to go through the cliffs,” she said. Kaine groaned, muttering something to himself, but kept up as I started in that direction. “There’s a tunnel! We’re close. It’s a clear path through.”

“A cave tunnel. One we were initially not going to use,” Kaine said flatly. “Why? Danger, perhaps?”

I glanced at him. He’d been grumpy, verging on downright mean, all night. It’d been a tense time, with something on our tail.

“No, I just don’t like caves,” said Nidori. “I can’t grow anything through all that rock.”

16

A fucking cliff

Kaine

The fucking cliff loomed above us.

“We left them behind,” said Nidori, standing up. “They weren’t expecting us to come this way.”

“They? People, then?” I asked. I’d been on edge all night. I didn’t think it could be Cassandra, not so soon, but why would anyone else be hunting us? And it didn’t help my mood thatmyNidori was getting all cozy with Talon. Why didn’t I think of carrying her?

“I guess,” she replied. “All right. We need to get up there.”

She pointed straight up the steep cliff face. I squinted, making out something that could possibly be a cave entrance.

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