Page 89 of Beyond the Winter Kingdom
“Yes,” he agreed. “I suppose it is.”
While I had been able to tell overall time well enough, I couldn’t measure the minutes. The hours. They just dragged on. Sometimes Damon and I talked. Sometimes we remained silent. I complained about my feet, and we thankfully found softer ground, but it didn’t stop the overall ache that throbbed in my body.
Damon, scratching his head. “A bath would be great right about now.”
“Ugh, don’t say the ‘B’ word. I’d kill for a proper soak.”
“And a mattress with a feather pillow.”
“And some of that stew I had in the castle. With fresh baked bread.” I began daydreaming about being ‘kidnapped’ by Vareck again. I’d be a fricken liar if I said I hadn’t dreamed of it a dozen or more times these past few weeks.
He hummed. “The one with root vegetables and thyme? That’s my favorite too.”
Damon stopped, drinking from the canteen and handing it to me. I glanced at a bush, checking for the direction of the flowers. A large, lavender tree stood next to it. After I took a drink, I knelt down to tie the lace on my boot that had come loose. When I finished, I stood up, looking at the bush again. Only this time, the blue flowers weren’t facing the same tree.
“Did you see that?” I whispered, feeling a creeping chill crawl up my spine.
Damon was oblivious, but he was instantly on guard when he heard the fear in my voice. “See what?” He looked around, assessing the trees and waiting to see if we were being watched.
“The flowers. I swear it changed direction.”
He surveyed the blue flowers, gesturing for me to follow him. I did, slowly, while looking for any other thing out of the ordinary, but nothing stood out.
“Are you sure? Corvo said the flowers always face north.”
My lips parted, and I took a breath but stopped before I spoke. “Maybe I was wrong...” I began to question myself. Was I seeing things? This was a hell realm, and even though I was in it and living it, I needed to remind myself. I had to be careful, and I knew it was going to play tricks on me.
“I hope so,” Damon murmured. I cast him a curious glance, and he sighed. “If you’re right, then the realm is taking us fuck knows where. That’s worrisome, especially after it made a point to separate you and Vareck.” With a grimace, he added, “I know we’ve given each other space to go to the bathroom, but, um ... we’re going to need to stay closer to each other. We can’t risk it. We’ve been unprovoked and have not come across any creatures, but we’ve let our guard down because of it. That stops now.”
Now I had to go to the bathroom in front of Damon? This was the worst. I knew it wasn’t, but losing that privacy kind of felt like it at the moment. I wouldn’t argue, though, because I knew he was right. We hadn’t been attacked, and we’d been alert while we trekked through the trees, but we had accepted this false sense of security.
“Why do you think it wanted to separate us?” I asked quietly. Internally I’d asked myself this every few hours since we’d been separated. Externally, I’d been too scared to address it. Maybe bringing up the elephant in the jungle would help.
Or I’d come away more afraid. It was a toss-up.
Without missing a beat, he answered, and I could not have prepared myself for it. “My guess is that it has something to do with the Nameless.”
I reared back, blinking rapidly. “What?”
“You said one of them spoke. Like calls to like. I’ve been thinking about it since the moment the land shift happened, and I feel like it’s related.”
I stumbled over a rock, nearly face-planting into the rough bark of a tree when Damon grabbed me. He helped me get my footing back before pointing to a large flat rock. “Sit. Drink. You’re exhausted.”
I tilted my head back and let out a slightly manic laugh. “No shit. We both are.”
Damon inclined his head and gave me a look that was so much like Vareck that my heart squeezed. Would I ever see him again? I had to hope so. If not ... I couldn’t afford to think about it.
“What’s that look for?”
“You know.”
“Do I?” I shot back, taking a seat regardless.
“We don’t know how far away the Fold is or isn’t. We’ve gotten lucky so far that we haven’t run into anything on the way. You need to rest more, because on the off chance we do run into something, we’ll have to fight or run. I know you were raised by redcaps but I’m getting the distinct impression you’re not exactly a professional badass underneath allthis.” He motioned to me, and I quirked an eyebrow.
“This?”
Damon rolled his eyes. “You know what I mean. You. All curves, two left feet, frizzy hair, and good intentions.”
