Page 38 of Rising Out of the Darkness
“No, you’ll be riding with me, Elena.” He bellowed the command from on top of his saddle. The man was fast. How the Hells had he got up there so quickly? He sat staring at me with furrowed brows and lips pursed in their infamous thin line.
“Seriously?” I began to argue.
“Now. Hurry up.”
Gone was the soft-spoken man who had combed through my hair last night, helping to lull me to sleep. All that was left now was the Lord of Grumpiness.
Rolling my eyes, I lifted my hand and placed it into his. Before I could lift my foot, he yanked me and I flew into the saddle in front of him. Several obscenities tore out of me under my breath, until a sharp pain poked my side.
“Ow! What the Hells was that for?” I rubbed my tender side where he had pinched me.
Anger fueled my fist as I tried to punch him in the gut. He grabbed my wrist and swung me back around, trapping me with his arm cinched uncomfortably tight around my stomach. With a harsh tug of the reins, we were off in a gallop. A chorus of snickers arose from behind us as the guards followed.
Once there was a sizable gap between us and the rest of the group, Declan slowed the horse down to a trot. I tried to tug my arm away from him, but his grip tightened as he pulled me in closer. Still trapped between his arm and his chest, I shivered as I felt his heavy breaths rolling over the side of my neck.
“That was for arguing with me, Elena, and the pinch was for rolling your eyes at me yet again,” he growled next to my ear.
I forcefully blew out a breath, still wiggling to try to escape his hold on me. “Gods, are you always this surly?”
His broad chest crashed against my back as his mouth hovered next to my ear once more. “No, I just save that for contemptuous, arrogant bastards like yourself.”
He’d used my own words against me.Touché, Prince,touché.
I curled my neck around just in time to see the delighted smirk stretched across his face. Whipping my head back around, I murmured several fouler obscenities under my breath.
“What was that, Elena? You’re mumbling again and I can’t hear you.”
Extending my elbow with maximum force, I launched it back into his stomach.
A deep grunt bellowed out of him as he shoved me away. “Was that necessary?” He growled.
“Absolutely, Your Highness.” A devious smile spread across my face.
Chapter 14
Elena
For a long part of our journey, it was eerily quiet, as I strained my back to keep away from the hard wall of a chest behind me. My shoulders were already starting to throb almost as much as the pain in my head. I released a groan, slouching as I applied pressure to forehead. The events of the past two days were starting to catch up with my body.
Declan leaned back on the horse as I heard shuffling from within his saddlebags. “Here.” His words were softer than earlier. “You’ll need to drink more water today. Also, eat this. It’ll help.”
He handed me his waterskin, then placed a strange, orange-tinted shard of what looked like glass in my hands. I raised an eyebrow, holding up the glass rock, silently questioning how I was supposed to ingest it. He laughed, rubbing his large hand over his face before he spoke.
“I’m not trying to poison you, Elena. I’m trying to help. It’s ginger candy one of the cooks makes for me when I’m out on the road. The ginger in it is supposed to help with upset stomachs, hangovers…” He tapped his index finger on my forehead. “Headaches as well. She likes to make me things.” He shrugged casually. “Apparently, I’m her favorite.”
“Favorite, huh? Mmhmm.” I waggled my eyebrows up and down, but all I was met with was a blank stare. “Is she pretty?”
Silence.
“Since you’re neglecting to answer, I’ll assume that she’s gorgeous. Also, she must be one fierce woman to put up with your particular aura of …surliness.” I snickered.
“I can already hear the gossip now. ‘No shadows can hide the prince and cook, as they were caught red-handed with a bun in the oven.’”
Snorting quietly to myself, my shoulders shook widely with mirth. I was either delirious or hilarious, but the glare burning the back of my head confirmed it was the latter.
I popped the candy into my mouth. The feel of his chest against my back made me jump. He was close enough to whisper into my ear. “Well, considering Alana, our cook, is old enough to be my grandmother, that would be quite the royal scandal indeed, Elena.”
My mouth gaped wide open as he waggled his brows up and down with a sinister grin.
