Page 28 of A Fate Unwoven
The two guards barely had time to look down before they slumped to the muddied ground.
“What did you do to them?” Lena breathed, eyes searching the shadows for anyone who might have seen.
“They’ve been working so hard, I thought they’d appreciate a nice nap.” Casimir shrugged. “It won’t last long, though, so I’d suggest we not be here when the potion wears off.”
Lena had never seen anything like it. Some of the ancient Wyrecian healers were rumored to have created basic healing salves in the past, but this kind of alchemy was practically unheard of in the Wyrecian Empire.
Unable to stop herself, Lena asked, “Where in the Sisters’ name did you get something like that?”
“Ah, that is a secret you have to earn, I’m afraid.”
He flashed her a grin over his shoulder, his eyes dancing. Before Lena could say anything else, Casimir started walking again, leaving Lena with no choice but to follow the smuggler and his secrets out of the city and into the outskirts and beyond.
ELEVEN
LENA
It was only when they reached the edge of a small forest that Lena truly felt like she could breathe again.
It was nothing like the vast forests in the Wilds, but compared to the bustle of Deyecia and the eerie, almost-haunting atmosphere of the abandoned village they’d passed just after dawn, it was a haven. Lena stopped to breathe in the scents of earth and pine, still strong even with many of the trees having lost their leaves.
“There’s nothing quite like it, is there?” Casimir said from beside her. He closed his eyes, tilting his face up toward the slowly rising sun.
They’d spent most of the night walking in silence, the memory of what had happened just before they’d left the city still lingering between them. Thankfully, the smuggler hadn’t brought it up again, and Lena had been more than happy to pretend it hadn’t happened at all.
Out here, away from the shadows and grime of Deyecia, the freckles across his nose were even starker, and Lena found herself trying not to stare at them as she replied, “I didn’t take you for a nature lover.”
Casimir’s lips turned up into the ghost of a smile. “Most Verlondians are. The lands surrounding the capital are filled with forests lusher than you can even imagine.” There was a thickness to his voice, one Lena knew well. It was the same way her voice sounded on the rare occasions she spoke of her mother.
“You miss it.” It wasn’t a question.
Casimir made a lowmmmsound in his throat but otherwise stayed silent.
“Why don’t you go back?” She shouldn’t have spoken her thoughts out loud. Asking questions would only invite him to ask his own. Questions Lena couldn’t give him answers to.
He stared at the forest for a moment longer before turning to face her, the smirk she was so used to seeing him wear tugging once more at his lips. “Because fine heretics such as yourself would be lost without me.”
Lena rolled her eyes even as her own lips twitched in response. “Yes, your absence would truly be a loss to this empire.”
“I’m glad you agree.”
They shared a look, one that made Lena’s stomach flip in what she told herself was simply amusement. The ease she felt around him was too close to how she’d felt with Finæn, and Lena knew how easy it could be to give in to such a feeling, to use it as a way of forgetting one’s pain.
Because that’s all this was, she told herself. She was only drawn to the smuggler’s easy smiles and pretty eyes because they helped her to forget.
Careful,her own mind warned. With the secret of herboda’sabilities hanging over her, letting people in had always been foolish. Doing so now would be downright stupid.
Filled with a sudden need to put space between them, Lena started toward the tree line with a quick, “We should keep moving.”
Casimir caught up to her easily, keeping more than a few inches of space between them, and Lena couldn’t help but wonder if it was coincidental or if he was giving her the distance she craved.
They walked that way in silence for a short while before Casimir announced, “As much as I am loath to interrupt this peaceful silence, I thought you might like to know you’re going the wrong way.”
Lena’s steps faltered, her jaw clenched. She’d been so stuck in her own thoughts that she’d been walking on instinct. “I’m going south,” she said, a littletoodefensively.
“Mmm, yes, but the forest grows too dense about halfway in.” He gestured east, and the grin on his face made her want to scream. “So unless you want to get into a fight with a bunch of thorns and brambles, I suggest we go this way.”
Lena bit down on the inside of her cheek as a dozen vulgar remarks went through her head.You’re paying him to get you out of here, Lenora,she told herself.Suck it up.
