Page 65 of The Lands Defying
“It’s so steep! I’m probably going to break an ankle.” A hard stare hits the side of my face. “Or not, especially with my babysitter.” I nod my head in Darius’s direction.
“Really?” Darius says, stopping at the tree next to us. “I’m back to your babysitter?”
I eye him. “You have been on my ass since we left.”
“And it’s exactly where I will always be.”
I scrunch my nose. “I can handle going down here without you being a constant shadow.”
I don’t know why I’m whining at him, it’s not like I don’t enjoy him always being at my back, watching me.
He eyes me back. “Are you being a brat?”
I blink. “Did you just call me a brat?” His face gives nothing away as Leo and Damion laugh. I call my magic and send it to the base of his tree.
It explodes on impact, and the tree Darius was using snaps at the base, then topples over.
Whoops.
I look at Josh and then head down the rest of the way together, laughing as Darius curses behind us.
“You are so dead,” Josh whispers, looking behind him. “Oh he’s mad.”
I look too, and yep, he’s mad.
“Way to show the Alpha, Rhea!” Damian calls and I smile.
Darius storms down the rest of the way, his eyes pinned to me as his face settles into a deep frown.
“Maybe you took it too far,” Leo sighs.
I back away, hands held up. “Now just wait, you were being overbearing!” I say to Darius, defending myself. “I’m an Alpha too, or did you forget? You can’t always—”
His hand is in my hair and my head is yanked back. “That tree could have hit you on the way down,” he says between gritted teeth while I blink up at him.
“But it didn’t?” I try, making my face a picture of innocence.
An angry noise spills from him as his forehead lowers to mine. “Don’t be so reckless! I’m already on edge with that rogure appearing and we have no idea what we are about to walk into,” he hisses.
I soften at that, noticing the tension in his shoulders. “Okay, I won’t do something like that again.” I rub my nose with his, and he eyes me suspiciously. I raise my arm and tap my wrist, where the blood oath is. “I vow it.”
He steps back, grunting in acknowledgement.
I didn’t take into consideration that he may be feeling more on-edge than all of us. With having to leave Vokheim, the threat of Charles turning up at his keep at any time, and now walking into the unknown with his brothers and us… He has a lot to think about I guess.
A lot of worries to shoulder.
Maybe I shouldn’t add to his load, but the tree was fucking funny.
Once we reach more level ground, I take in the massive boulders and small rock formations in the area. Some have formed bridges between levels and some look like they have steps at the side of them to reach the top.
It looks man made, rather than what the lands did.
“Does anything live down here?” I ask Darius, looking around.
“Many creatures live in The Drylands, the trolls are just one of those things,” Darius answers, looking around for any signs of danger. “This is an area where they have been known to stay, but there are no signs they have been here for a long time.”
I nearly trip over my feet. “What the fuck,” I hiss. “Why in the Gods are we walking through here when there could be trolls?”
