Page 12 of This Midsummer Heart
“A hot meal would ease our transition from the comforts of home to the open road,” I try again.
Nothing.
“Titaine, I want pie.”
“We don’t have time for pie,” she scoffs.
“On the contrary, I think we haveplentyof time. The horses can rest, since you’re so concerned, and I’m sure they’ll welcome us...”
Titaine twists in her saddle, her golden-brown eyes completely cold as she levels a glare at me. “Wedon’thave unlimited time, and you shouldn’t assume we’ll be welcomed at mortal tables. From here on out, we can only trust our own kind.”
“A bleak view, even for you.” It’s my turn to scoff. “You hear one herald and assume the worst. And what’s the rush anyway? Unless youdon’ttrust our own kind. Do you think we’ll arrive in Nox and find Robin has taken over both our Houses?”
This time, she does not bother to turn back and shoot daggers at me with her pretty eyes. People often think a beautiful face must twist in an ugly way to carry such an emotion. Titaine is proof they are wrong.
There is nothing that will stop your heart faster than an astonishingly beautiful woman looking at you like you’re a dimwitted toad idling in a cart wheel’s path.
I give in with a sigh. “So no pie, then.”
“No pie,” she confirms.
Such a loss. “The first thing I’m doing when we get to a mortal town,” I grouse, “is heading to a bakery.”
“Oh, Auberon. Still a hedonist, I see.”
“Some of us have earned the right.” I forged the peace of the House of Elves with my own blood, sweat, and pain.
“And you sayIthink I’m better than everyone,“ she mutters.
“Just so you know, I can hear you.” No matter how ridiculously loud the insects and birds are out in these country fields. Honestly, it’s starting to grate on me.
She tips her head back, smiling sweetly. “I know you can.”
By the gods of the forest, the road to Nox is going to be a long one.
The long days of summer aren’t going to be enough to see us to our planned stop. “We won’t make it to Coronette Circle before dark,” I point out, needlessly. The sky is red and gold, the clouds streaked bright pink.
Titaine keeps the same pace on her mare, ignoring me.
“We have to make camp.”
Nothing.
It’s been a long time since I slept in the wilds, but those years of endless campaigning, taking turns keeping watch, of setting up the most secure camp sites possible, are deeply ingrained in me. And a good thing, for the sun is setting rapidly.
“That is a deep forest ahead,” I say, not bothering to pull out the map; the light is fading anyway, and my eyes are slow to adjust to the diminishing light. I am only half dark elf, after all. “We’d most likely have to journey in quite a ways to find a clearing for a fire. I say we camp out here, in the open.”
Titaine doesn’t slow her mare’s pace. “What’s the matter, Auberon? Are your arms getting cold?”
I scoff. Dark elves do not gettoo cold.
Except Iamstarting to feel a chill. There’s a cloak in my pack, but I don’t feel like validating her jibe at me right now.
“A fire keeps the wolves away. We don’t want to tempt them with our horses.”
“I told you already, the enchantments will only last so long. We should push on as far as we can. I’ll set wards when we arrive.”
“Arrive? Arrive where? The middle of the forest?” I snort—a perfectly derisive sound which she sadly cannot hear, as she is almost to the edge of the trees now.
