Page 63 of Path of the Dark
Ryana’s brow furrowed as she considered the way forward.
She could try taking Elias back to The Royal City and handing him over to Nathan.
The thought appealed.
But it wouldn’t get her to Gael.
“Gael has no allegiance to anyone but himself,” she said finally. “He’ll use your father to his own ends. He must be stopped.”
Elias gave a brusque nod. On one thing they agreed. “So come with me to Veldoras,” he replied, his voice still hoarse. “I’ll speak to my father and try to persuade him to avoid conflict with Rithmar. In the meantime, you track Gael down and kill him.”
Ryana’s anger surged once more. Elias was trying to take control of the situation, but she wouldn’t let him. “I don’t need you for that.” The fingers of her right hand flexed, and the shadows under the nearby pines whispered back. “Maybe I should just finish what I started … here and now.”
Elias withdrew the slender blade from the back of his boot once more, his big body coiling. He wouldn’t let her catch him off guard again. “You won’t get into Veldoras without me,” he pointed out. “My father will have the city locked down.”
Ryana scowled. She could always cloak herself in shadow and try to sneak in, but it would certainly be easier to travel south with his help. “So your father will listen to you?” she asked finally.
“I’m likely theonlyperson who could convince him,” he replied.
She moved back from him, glancing up at where the sun now peeked over the tree tops. “We’d better get moving then. We’ve a long journey before us.”
She glanced back at Elias to see him watching her, his gaze wary. “So you’ll travel to Veldoras with me?”
“Aye.”
“And what of Nathan’s men? They’ll hunt us down before we reach the border.”
Ryana cast him a humorless smile, letting the mask settle firmly in place. “Not if they don’t pick up our scents … I had my shadows erase any sign of our trail so I could finish you before anyone arrived.”
Elias glanced up at the hard blue sky, squinting into the glare.
It felt like the hottest day of the summer so far. The sun was almost as searing as it could be in Anthor. The heat had dried his wet clothes, although now they had itched and chafed his skin. It was late afternoon, and the heat had reached its peak. Sweat slid down his back and turned his silk shirt into a second skin once more.
He led the way down yet another forested vale. The highlands were vast. They still had another day of them, before the land would open out. Ryana followed around half a dozen yards behind Elias, silent and surly.
Apart from a few terse exchanges when they’d rested briefly at noon, they hadn’t spoken since leaving the clearing. Elias didn’t mind that—he wasn’t uncomfortable with silence. However, his temper had slowly been simmering all day.
Ryana had tried to kill him.
When she’d first attacked him, he hadn’t been overly concerned. He’d thought she’d just been letting off steam. But when that garrote of shadows had tightened around his throat, he’d realized she was serious.
Elias clenched his hands by his sides, remembering the incident.
The mad bitch had nearly gone through with it. That was the closest he’d ever come to dying. Even when Darg had tortured him inside the Dim Hold months earlier, it hadn’t been this close. He itched to take out some form of retribution upon her. He would have if it had been anyone else.
But underneath Elias’s outrage lay a deep disappointment—in himself, and in her. The woman he had enjoyed flirting with, the woman he’d bedded, had disappeared.
It was as if nothing had ever happened between them.
Elias swatted away a fly and scowled. His regret irritated him.
There had never been much time in Elias’s life for women. A soldier’s life meant that his unions were usually short-lived—and until now that hadn’t mattered. But in just a few days Ryana had gotten under his skin. It bothered him that she’d gone so cold, that she hated him now.
It’s over,he reminded himself cruelly.You need to look ahead.
And he did. He had to ensure they reached the border, before Nathan’s soldiers caught up with them. After that they would need to ride swiftly for Veldoras.
Elias clenched his jaw as he walked, determination settling over him. He’d failed at the mission his father had set him—but now he was free to choose his own way forward.
