Page 39 of A Soul to Guide

“You don’t get to ask me a million questions and then scold me for my own.”

“Sure, I can,” she pouted. “My questions don’t involve me undressing you.”

If Merikh had eyes, he would have rolled them. Instead, he rolled his head.

“Let’s move on. We’re wasting time.”

He turned and waited for her to grab the rope again. She remained pouted for quite some time, and he accepted the silence with ease.

She ate while they walked, never losing her pace.

“Merikh,” she said, causing his quills to shudder and short fur to puff slightly as a thrill swept through him.

It was the first time she’d said hisrealname to him in her melodic and heavenly voice. His reaction was so shocking to him that his orbs turned a reddish pink in embarrassment.

When others said his name, it was brash. It sounded like what it was: an omen and warning of death. From her lips, she’d somehow twisted it to sound... inviting, rich.

“What?” he grated.

“How long will it be until we’re there? Don’t you dare say ‘a few days’ like you have been.”

He considered their new pace, since she was much faster and steadier without her boots on.

“At this rate, we’ll likely reach the only Anstthúli temple in the southlands within two to three days.” Then, with a curt tone, he asked, “Is that aproblemfor you?”

“I’ll be honest... I’m almost out of food.”

“Then you should have rationed it.”

“It’s been five days. I have rationed it, but I only brought as much as I could carry.”

Merikh raised a hand to the underside of his snout.

It won’t do either of us any good if she goes hungry.He wasn’t interested in needlessly torturing her for a necessity. Plus, she’d likely start whining or slowing down if she didn’t have enough sustenance.

“I’ll find food along the way.”

Knee-deep in faintly moving pond water, Merikh had his claws tensed and ready. His long black trousers were rolled up as far as his thighs would allow, the bottoms of them wet. His shirt, however, couldn’t manage the same feat, and it currently lay on the shore.

The short fur around his thick thighs was the only thing moving, and it gently swayed with the river’s natural motion. He was so still that even his long, thin bull tail, curled up within his trousers, was unmoving.

In that position, poised to strike, he waited.

He’d waited so long that Raewyn eventually sighed with boredom from the riverbed. She was sitting on her arse, her arms wrapped around her bent knees.

The water here was fresh, as it hadn’t been polluted by seawater running back up the river yet. This was also a good place to refill her water sack.

All these necessities were irksome to a creature who’d never needed to consider them, but he wasn’t annoyed at her for having them.

“Does fishing usually take this long?”

Does fishing usually take this long?he mentally mocked, refusing to answer in case it frightened off an unsuspecting fish.

She wasn’t the one getting drenched just so she could catch someone else’s dinner. No, insteadhewas doing it, and she was being highly ungrateful.

Then, she snuck her toes into the water and kicked!

“Is this water sanitary? If so, I’d love to have a bath once you’re done swimming around in there.”

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