Page 16 of Heart of the Raven
“No,” I lied. “But the sooner we go, the better.” I turned my back on him, even though he was the one who would lead the way.
I sensed his hesitation before he spoke again. “Was it something I said, Lady Sasha? Are you angry with me?”
I pressed my lips together and took a deep breath to keep the shaking out of my voice. Clarity rushed around me. Perhaps the presence of the Queen of the Wildwood was more eye-opening than I’d wanted. My odd attraction to Raven had to be quashed before I did something I would regret. He was forbidden, dangerous, and belonged in the wildwood, while my destiny lay in Capern. I’d already let my thoughts stray too far.
“It was something the queen said? Wasn’t it?” he muttered. “I get it, you fulfilled your end of the bargain, now you’re waiting for me to fulfill mine.”
“No,” I blurted out, spinning and catching the corner of his sleeve. “No, it’s not like that. I was just thinking that you’re right.” I stared up at him, imploring him to understand. “When you said I shouldn’t try to get too close to you, to play with your affections, to flirt with you, ever so briefly. You’re right, we’re only together for a short amount of time and…”
I broke off, for with each word I spoke he took another step toward me, until the feathers of his cloak brushed my chest. His liquid gaze studied me while his hand rested on my hip. I couldn’t help twisting my fingers through his cloak, pulling him toward me, sure he could read the desire on my face.
“See,” I whispered, breaking the spell that held us. “You know I am right.”
His hand trembled and just for a moment I thought he would give in to his desire, and to mine. I lifted my lips to receive his kiss of fire, only to be denied. Dropping his hand, he forced himself away, a strangled cry in his throat. Keeping his back to me, he punched one of the tree trunks, the sudden movement violent, angry.
I drew in a sharp breath to still my racing heartbeat. Why did he have to have self-control? Why couldn’t he have given in to a few moments of forbidden fruit? But deep inside I knew it would have gone much further than just a kiss, and heat flamed my face as I realized what I wanted.
“You’re right,” he groaned, his back still to me. “Even though you and I desire the same thing.”
“Yes.” Never had an agreement come so easily from my lips. Was the wildwood changing me? Unraveling my guarded heart? “Don’t you see?” I pleaded with him. “We are from different worlds. You belong here and I belong out there.”
His silence was almost more deadly than the darkness I’d seen in his eyes when he killed the wolfman and the orc. At last he lifted his head and gave me a grim smile. “Come, Lady Sasha, we have a lengthy journey ahead.”
* * *
I did not havea chance to change clothes again and wore my red dress through the wildwood, sorrow clenched tight around my heart. The sound of the joyful waterfall faded, and we descended further into the forest. At least, it felt like a descent. We traveled downhill through a place where spring hadn’t touched the forest floor. Thin trees grew dark and stunted, with grotesque trunks. They seemed to glare at me like hideous faces and I glared right back, disappointment and frustration rising with me. Why had I come here and why had my luck failed me so badly? If I could have gone back to being fifteen, young, innocent, with dreams of becoming the wife of a lord and dwelling in a castle where every comfort was provided. Yet, here I was, my name being just that, only a name, while I walked through the wildwood with a dark knight as my guide. I understood why the Queen of the Wildwood was loath to have him back. Not only could he bind magic, but he was a killer. The Queen’s Killer. It was why the Goddess of Death would want him by her side, to do what he did best. But was it possible for someone to change? I’d sensed his transformation, felt it. Then was it possible for me to change? But no matter what I considered, each choice led out of the forest to Capern.
By the time darkness crept near—the actual darkness of night and not the constant gloom of the wood—my feet ached, my stomach rumbled, and my fingers were stiff and numb. I thought I might descend into tears at any moment, stupid tears for not getting what I wanted.
“Tonight will not be as pleasant as the last,” Raven broke the silence. “And we should not start a fire out here, it will only serve as a beacon of light to those who search.”
Tears streaked my cheeks, but I nodded, even though he could not see, and we pressed on.
The night we passed on a mossy knoll. A shallow depression in the ground seemed more like the beginning of an underground tunnel than anything else. Raven bade me sleep while he sat above on a log, keeping watch. But I couldn’t sleep. I sat on the damp, cold ground, a cloak spread below me to keep me warm, but it was nothing like fluffy clouds of fur and even when I nodded off, my sleep was broken by rustling in the thicket and far off howls. I was all too aware that we were not alone, and when the sky lightened I stood. More tired, if possible.
Raven handed me some dried meat. Our fingers touched and a hum of arousal vibrated in my stomach. I pulled the cloak over my red dress and nodded at him. “I’m ready.”
He opened his mouth to speak, then apparently shut it as he changed his mind and led on through the dark forest.
Words burned my throat all day, and somewhere in those twisted paths, I lost my appetite. Raven glanced back at me from time to time, but even his looks would not break the burden of sorrow that hung heavy on me. If only I had someone I trusted to talk to, to explain my predicament. My thoughts flew back to Mari and her cheerful words and incessant giggles. If only my journey hadn’t gone so wrong.
“Lady Sasha? Did you hear me?”
I almost ran into Raven, who stood at a fork in the road, peering around a tree. He put a finger to his lips and a hand on my shoulder. “We are in their land now, stay close.”
I followed his gaze around the tree and saw hunters. They were both men and stripped to their waists. Their brown bodies were graceful and slender, and they wore their dark hair long. I gasped as I studied them, for at first I’d assumed their hair was black, but it was only a trick of the light. It was a rich blue as dark as night and one of them wore a feather, skillfully braided into his hair. On the ground between them was a deer they were carefully skinning.
I pulled away, pressing my hand to my mouth. I knew about such things as hunting and killing and skinning, but I’d never been so close to the bloody death. I stepped back and my foot landed on a twig. It snapped, the sound loud in the thicket’s quiet. The two hunters moved silently, skillfully, one snatching up a bow and arrow, the other gripping a knife.
My eyes wide, I turned to apologize to Raven, but he wasn’t beside me. To my horror, I saw him stride out from behind the tree and approach the hunters, arms spread wide.
“Greetings, Kian, and Harli. I mean you no harm.”
The one with the knife took a menacing step forward. “What are you doing on our land?” he demanded.
Chapter Fifteen
Raven moved toward them,keeping his hands raised. “I would not be here unless I had to be, and it is good you are here. Kian. I came to request safe passage through your land.”
