Page 73 of Honour Bound
Something flared in his eyes. ‘Go on.’
‘I have lots of presence.’
He stared at me. ‘Very funny.’
Lie. I pulled back and shrugged. ‘I thought so,’ I said aloud. Perhaps it was time to give Byron a test while Kirsty’s Truth Seeking still swirled in my veins. I switched tactics to throw him off balance. ‘Why is your father trying to kill me?’
‘What?’ he blinked, obviously taken aback. ‘He’s not. He likes you. Why on earth would you think that?’
Truth again. I was surprised by how happy that knowledge made me and I beamed at him. ‘For that reaction,’ I said airily, ‘I’m not even going to tell you the punchline.’
He frowned. ‘That was another joke? Do you ever take anything seriously?’
Only people trying to kill me. I pointed at Kirsty’s tracks. ‘I take Sidhe girls running off into the woods in the middle of winter seriously. Come on. We need to find her.’
Byron was watching me. Despite my new Truth Seeking powers, I had no idea what he was thinking. ‘Fine,’ he replied eventually. Then he grinned. ‘This is a competition. Why not make it more interesting? First one to find her has to pay a forfeit.’
Eh?
‘What’s the matter?’ he prodded. ‘Are you afraid I’ll beat you?’
I snorted. ‘As if.’ I tilted my head. ‘We’re on. On a count of three.’
‘Three,’ he purred.
‘Two,’ I added. Then, before he could say another word, I took off. I heard him curse behind me. I laughed and ran for all I was worth.
‘Uh Integrity,’ Bob said in my ear, making me jerk and stumble. Unfortunately that was all Byron needed to overtake me. ‘Were you flirting with that man?’
‘Piss off, Bob,’ I hissed, picking myself and sprinting after Byron.
‘You need to have hot steamy sex with him and get him out of your system,’ the genie continued blithely. ‘He is the son of your mortal enemy after all.’
I ignored him in the hope that he’d get the message and shut up. Byron was pulling away from me so I dug down inside myself to find an extra spurt of energy. He might have athletic prowess – which was evident in every curve of every muscle ? but so did I. And I was used to this sort of terrain.
Bob sighed heavily in my ear. ‘This will end in tears.’
Yeah, yeah. I curved round a large pine and kept my attention on Byron’s back. There was less than a metre separating us. Unfortunately, I also caught glimpses of Kirsty up ahead too; we’d be on her in in a matter of seconds. Come on, Tegs, I muttered. You can do this.
It was hard not to keep the exultant smile off my face when I drew level with Byron. He was breathing heavily, the thin air and thick snow combining to make exertion difficult for him. I was coping better ? plus I had a clear path to Kirsty while he had several trees to wend round.
‘I guess you’re going to lose again,’ I said.
He grimaced. ‘Watch your shoelace. You’re going to trip.’
I looked down at my feet just in time to see my lace unravelling. It caught under my foot and I went flying, receiving a mouthful of snow as I crashed to the ground. Byron laughed just as Kirsty turned to see what the commotion was about. I lifted my head in time to see him reach her. He threw me a wink. Crapadoodle.
‘I can look after myself,’ she said, as I dusted myself off and joined them.
‘We’re in the middle of nowhere,’ he pointed out. ‘Just let us take you to the last checkpoint. There’s a road there which will lead you to the nearest town. Let us put you on it and then we’ll know you won’t get lost and freeze to death.’
‘Why?’ she asked suspiciously. ‘You’ll lose time. This is still a race.’
‘It’s the honourable thing to do,’ I said, wondering why I was bothering.
Kirsty gazed at me then shrugged. ‘It’s your competition to lose,’ she said finally. ‘And this is a free country. Do what you want.’ She began walking once more. Byron and I exchanged glances.
‘I won,’ he said with an easy grin.
