Page 13 of Quest

My mind raced for further explanation but none was forthcoming, the awkwardness of the situation rendering me speechless. Fear of discovery had eclipsed my usual level-headed calm, leaving me to struggle to maintain my secrecy while under scrutiny.

I’d directed my response to the other side of the stream, keeping my face averted to avoid accidentally seeing something I very much wanted to avoid from the man standing far too close. To my horror Kael sloshed closer. I stole a tentative peek at his face and found him squinting at my profile, brow furrowed.

His eyes suddenly widened in bewilderment. “Wait, are you?—”

My disguise! The enchanted paste must have washed off in the water, and the jar containing the ointment lay out of reach on the bank behind him. I hastily ducked my head, but though the branches from the nearby copse of trees created a canopy of shadow, the faint light might not be enough to entirely mask my feminine features from his proximity.

Before he could examine me more closely I made a hasty retreat, my flight hindered by my foot getting caught in an underwater plant that caused a small splash that only drew more attention. I approached the bank, heart seizing in dread as I deliberated how to emerge from the water without being seen. I stared longingly at my neat pile of clothing, topped by my cloak that I’d planned on using as a makeshift towel. If only I’d hung it a little closer…

I turned back to see whether Kael was watching when something suddenly hit me in the back of the head. I whirled, instinctively snatching the bundle of cloth and staring up at Sir Jiang, who had flung my cloak at me from where he still stood on the bank.

“Hurry up,” he growled. “We have a long day ahead of us.”

I wrapped the fabric around myself—too grateful to mind that it was now wet—and emerged from the water. I nearly slipped on the muddy embankment, but eventually I succeeded in escaping, snatching up the rest of my things before hurrying into the trees.

I expected them to come after me but thankfully they remained behind, the heated weight of their scrutiny following me until I was out of sight. I had barely gone a short distance and rewound the cloth binding my chest when more footsteps sounded. I nearly groaned; it felt as fate was conspiring against me, as if its loyalty to the prince of the land compelled it to expose my deceit.

I hid myself behind a bush just as the prince emerged, heading for the very stream I had barely escaped from. I tried to keep still, but the rustle of leaves created by my hasty movements had already drawn the intruder’s unwanted attention. “Ren?”

I muttered an unsavory curse that by his snort he’d undoubtedly heard, ruining the chance that silence would allow me to remain undetected. Upon spotting me he changed directions. I hastily began tugging on the remainder of my clothes, my movements clumsy and the fabric clinging to my still-wet skin.

“Ren? Is that you?”

I managed to yank on my last garment just in time and plaster my enchanted ointment over my face. My skin tingled, and when I was certain the charm had worked its magic I tentatively peeked over the bush serving as my makeshift shield.

Prince Darcel stood there, brow furrowed. “What are you doing?”

My mind scrambled for any sort of explanation for my unusual behavior, each more inadequate and desperate than the last. Shyness seemed an inadequate excuse when I had no reason to desire modesty while bathing if I was a man. I sensed that any lie I spoke would be easily detected by his perusing gaze.

“Nothing. I just finished bathing.” My voice emerged breathless in my anxiety. The one silver lining was that unlike my previous disastrous conversation, at least I was dressed for this encounter.

He frowned. “I didn’t realize you could wash inside a bush.”

“I was harvesting aquatic plants.” I remembered my lie from earlier, in case the prince checked my story with the others.

He looked pointedly at the very non-aquatic bush while I focused onnotnoticing the way the early morning rays of light showed glints of gold in his dark eyes.

“Earlier,” I amended. “That’s what I was doing at the stream, and your companions thought I’d come to bathe.”

His lip twitched slightly. “Hence your dripping cloak.” The faint smile and hint of amusement transformed his face from its usual stern mask, and I felt a sudden yearning that I could be my true self with him rather than wearing a constant façade.

His mention of the cloak reminded me of his unexpected kindness during the night. I took a breath to thank him but fumbled for words, unsure of how a woman masquerading as a man should express gratitude to another man.

Instead, I blurted, “Now I’m picking herbs that can only be gathered at dawn.” I plucked a leaf from the bush I’d hidden behind and held it up. The prince’s eyebrows rose as he took in the sprigleaf, before narrowing as he studied the small pile I’d gathered earlier. The friendly light in his eyes faded as the harsh prince I’d met returned to the surface.

He leaned towards my ear, his warmth doing little to dispel the chill that fear caused to prickle my damp skin; I instinctively stiffened. “While it’s true that some herbs require you to pick them at such a specific time, the ones you gathered are not among them. You’ve already proved yourself knowledgeable enough in your craft that I doubt this was made in error. Next time you choose deceit, ensure that the one you’re lying to doesn’t possess a layman’s knowledge of the very subject you’ve chosen to be dishonest in.”

Without another word he departed. For a long moment I stared after his retreating form, his accusation rendering me frozen. As my wave of panic ebbed, my mind raced, desperately scrambling to untangle the potential implications of each encounter that had gone awry. There was the terrifying possibility that Kael might have glimpsed my true face beneath my faltered disguise, Sir Jiang clearly harbored suspicions about my strange behavior, and worst of all I had been caught lying by the prince whose trustworthiness I’d made it my personal mission to gauge.

It was bitterly ironic that this morning’s efforts to preserve my secrecy might now threaten to unravel the entire persona I had so meticulously crafted. In just a few fraught moments, my careful façade seemed on the verge of disintegrating, leaving my mission in peril.

CHAPTER 7

Darcel

Something was off about that herbalist.

I watched his retreating form until the trees swallowed him up, their branches concealing him from my scrutiny. My first impression of him was he seemed like a frail man unaccustomed to travel, which in itself was not unusual, considering his profession. But there was also something unusual about his mannerisms, the way he carried himself, even his matter of speaking. At first glance he was just an awkward youth whose scrawny stature almost made him appear as a boy, yet I couldn’t shake the unsettling feeling that something more lurked beneath the surface.

---