Page 70 of Seized to Sacrifice
They helped her to dress before taking her back to the hall, which was deserted and silent. Pallets had been laid out on the floor in front of the hearth for them to sleep on and Rye put three of them together.
He lay on one, pulling her down with him and placing her on the middle one as Nyx lay on her other side.
‘What will happen to me when we get to the Brothers’ Camp?’ she asked.
‘How do you mean?’ rumbled Nyx softly.
‘Kora said I need to be a Fourth or I’ll belong to the Camp.’
They were both silent.
It was Rye who finally spoke. ‘Elle, you’ve been our Fourth since before the Army even existed. You’re ours … whether we like it or not.’
She wanted to ask more questions, but when she opened her mouth, Nyx put his fingers to her lips.
‘Ask tomorrow. Sleep now,’ Nyx murmured to her, caressing her face, and placing a kiss where his fingers had been.
With a contented sigh, she did.
CHAPTER9
ELLE
The next morning they left the keep early dressed in their freshly laundered Brothers blacks. Elle embraced Kora and thanked her as they left, nodding to Lucien, Mace, and, finally, at Kade who looked to be in a much better mood than he had been yestereve now that his nemesis was leaving.
He and Thorne regarded each other with thinly veiled suspicion, Thorne backing away from Kade as if he thought he could be attacked at any moment, though Elle conceded that if Kade had tried to kill her as many times as he apparently had Thorne, she wouldn't take her eyes off him either.
They journeyed back out to the road through the forest and the day passed without incident, everyone oddly quiet.
Elle found she could hardly look Rye and Nyx in the eyes when she recalled what they'd done with her last night. She shivered at the pleasurable memory, her body clenching with recollections of the pool.
They'd woken her with kisses and lovers’ embraces this morning after cuddling her between them the whole night and keeping her warm. Even the thought of it made her content in a way she hadn't known was possible.
Rye’s dislike of her seemed to be vanishing quickly and though Elle didn’t understand why, she was so glad of it that she didn’t want to question his motives.
There was just one thing that would make it complete. She glanced at Thorne. She didn't think she would get it though.
He wouldn't look at her. So angry, so full of hate for her and she didn’t know how to change that. Perhaps time with her would heal his wounds as it had with Rye.
They travelled well into the day at a steady pace. The weather had changed and was quite warm now that the sun was shining through the branches of the forest canopy. There were spring buds on the trees and there was a general sense of renewal despite the deep rumblings they kept hearing, the tremors they kept feeling.
There hadn't been another real shake since the flood but there would be, and it kept all of them on edge.
When the sun began to set, they made their camp in a large clearing well away from trees and rivers and anything else that might fall on them. Elle and Nyx gathered kindling and she started a fire. This, like the riding, she could do with ease as if she’d coaxed a flame to life a thousand times before.
The others went to hunt for their dinner, coming back not too much later with a small boar.
Thorne butchered the animal, cutting it into pieces for quicker roasting as Nyx dug into their packs for some of the fresh bread that they’d left Mace’s keep with this morning.
Mace and his unit had been generous with their supplies, giving Rye and the others everything they might need for the next two days until they reached the Army and beyond. They’d even lent them a couple of horses as they hadn’t been able to find hers and Thorne’s after the flood.
Rye came and stood next to Elle as she was seeing to their mounts. She didn't lean into him, but she wanted to. After last night and this morning, she felt differently than she had before.
He let out a breath and put his arm around her, resting his chin on top of her head and staying there for a moment.
‘It’s the oddest feeling,’ he said. ‘It’s been so long and yet, in some ways, it’s as if we were never apart.’
‘Except for the fact that I can’t remember you at all,’ she muttered, with the wisp of a smile.
