Page 71 of Galadon
Rayna squeezed his hand. “We’ll handle it together, and that’s all that matters.”
“You’re too good for me,” he said, kissing her forehead.
She laughed. “I know, but I love you anyway. Can we go eat now?
“Yes. I’m starving.”
“And I’m ready to get away from the hostile plants,” she said as they walked back to the edge of the woods where Onyx had left their food scattered in wrapped cloth across the ground.
Chapter 27
Rayna
Galadon was gone when she woke. Rayna vaguely remembered him kissing her and saying he must do an early patrol today because he needed to speak to a certain Takaran guard about another one of his trade deals. As she rose, she noted a faint tremor in her hand and something else. Rayna closed her eyes and clenched her fists, feeling the strength coursing through her body that hadn’t been there for too long.
Her slayer side was back.
It wasn’t subtle like when the feeling slowly built the longer she went without killing a dragon. This was rising fast and hard. She wished she’d asked how it would work when the potion wore off, but it hadn’t occurred to her. This was a new thing.
She wasn’t lost to it yet, but she didn’t know how much time she had left before it became uncontrollable. By the feel of things, she needed to hunt today if she wanted to avoid hurting anyone who mattered. She dashed to Galadon’s wardrobe, pulling the doors open. He’d given her a couple of shelves to store her clothing, and she grabbed a set of black camrium warrior clothing, along with her new weapon’s harness.
Rayna pulled on one of Galadon’s dirty tunics to cover her long enough to get to the bathing chamber. Ujala wasn’t outside, thankfully, so she made it across the central clearing without any delay. She rushed through a quick wash with a shallow tub of water to scrub off the previous night’s activities.
Maybe if she hurried, she could race over to Takaran territory and find some annoying dragon to kill. The closest section of the border was a thirty-minute ride from here. Rayna would get her kill and put the whole thing behind her for a while, hopefully, before Galadon realized she was gone.
Exiting the bathing chambers, she went back to their living quarters, racing down the tunnel. She came to a halt when she found Galadon waiting for her.Shit.All she’d wanted was to avoid this conversation, but with him here, there was no way around it. The very thing they’d worked so hard to ignore had reared its ugly head.
He frowned. “You’re already dressed.”
“Yes.” She moved toward the weapons rack on the wall where he’d also made space for her blades. “I need to go out.”
“Where?” he asked, but something in his tone told her that he suspected.
Rayna forced herself to turn and meet his gaze. “To hunt.”
“It’s back,” he stated flatly.
She nodded. “It’s coming on hard, but if I hurry, I can take care of it today before it gets too bad.”
“I thought it would come on slower and give us more time to figure it out,” he said, rubbing at the back of his neck.
Rayna began fitting knives into their sheaths. She felt like a drug addict, rushing to get her next fix, except she needed to kill for hers. “This isn’t an option, Galadon. Ihaveto go.”
His voice came out soft and gentle, “I have more potion.”
She shook her head. “No.”
“Where will you hunt?” he asked.
“The Takaran territory, since it’s the closest.”
Irritation transformed his features. “I have allies there, and you can’t recognize which ones. While there are bad dragons among them, there are also many good.”
Rayna threw her hands up. “Fine. I’ll go farther to the Ghastanan, or do you have allies there as well?’
“I do, and with the Bogaran.”
“So I’m left with the Kandoran as the closest dragons I can kill, which will take three days to reach riding Onyx. I don’t have that kind of time, especially since the route up there is through Faegud land. The risk I’ll kill one of your clan members before I reach the Kandoran is too high,” she argued. He had to see reason on this.
