Page 148 of The King's Man
I was… touched.
Diadre’s cheeks pinked when I told her so, and asked her to show me how she’d knotted the furs to keep them secure. This was a set-up I would use to travel in future and would teach to my men.
I lay in the softly swinging hammock, pleased, and humbled, while she hunted, cooked, and brought me food and water.
I was naked from my bath when I crawled into the hammock, and intended to dress before I slept in case we were roused from sleep by unwanted visitors. But the moment I finished the meal my eyes dragged closed.
I lay back in the hammock and told Diadre I would rest for a moment before dressing and preparing for the night.
And then the world went black.
At some point I half-woke when the hammock swung because Diadre crawled in to lay along my side—and that was a relief. I wanted to tell her I needed her there and loved her, but sleep overcame me again before I could form the words.
I slept the sleep of the dead, not even dreaming, coming half-awake once or twice when Diadre moved, but never fully awareof the world enough even to measure the risk. My body dragged me back down into the abyss before I could form the thought.
When I did finally wake, it was night and my chest was cold, which struck me as odd. I blinked once or twice, registering the leaves overhead. It took a moment or two to remember where I was—which was when I realized Diadre wasn’t with me in the hammock.
The night was deeply black and the air freezing, which meant it was the earliest hours of morning, before dawn.
She must have gone to relieve herself. Perhaps that was what had woken me. But no, my stomach growled. I wasravenouslyhungry.
Of course, the moment I grasped the sides of the hammock to push myself up to sit, the muscles down my spine screamed and sent me tumbling back to a prone position, cursing.
The hammock swung from my movement and I lay there for a few seconds, breathing, waiting for the pain to ease.
“Dee?” I called quietly, not wanting to raise attention from anyone who might be lurking in these woods, looking for us. I didn’t think the Centaurs would pursue us this far from Braventhall, but I hadn’t thought they’d be aggressive when we arrived, either, so who knew?
A niggling dread crawled up the back of my neck and I frowned. Then blinked into the dark again and made my voice a touch louder. “Dee? Are you here?”
No answer.
Shit.
Ignoring the claw of pain along my spine, I forced my body to roll sideways until I could get one elbow under me and swing my legs over the edge of the hammock and sit up.
The hammock wanted to keep moving, which made me wince as I had to brace to keep it still, but getting my feet on the ground helped.
“Dee?!” I hissed into the dark—and then the spear offearbolted through my chest.
Where the hell was she? Was she hunting? Why didn’t she wake me? Was it possible she’d been stolen away—but surely the Centaurs would have attackedmebefore they abducted her?
Unless it was other Neph?
Snarling with possessive fury, I leaned forward and stood, groaning and only straightening slowly because my back felt like a white-hot dagger sliced down the right side of my spine.
There was no way I could fly—and that only made me more apprehensive as I limped away from the hammock, scanning the shadows.
The fire had burned to nothing but glowing coals and a thin trail of smoke that was dissipated by the leaves overhead. The tension in my chest increased with every step that I couldn’t see or hear her, and then when I realized her pack was still on the ground next to mine which meant wherever she was, she had nothing of significance with her and—
‘You’re awake!’
I stopped and whirled, confused for a moment, thinking I’d heard her voice behind me, only to groan when the pain in my back caught at the quick movement, and she wasn’t there.
‘Where are you?’I growled.‘How far—’
‘I’ll be there in a couple of minutes. I’m glad you slept. You needed it.’
‘Were you hunting?’I kept my tone neutral, because my heart was still pounding and my system pushing me to hunt, to fight, to protect.
