Page 91 of In The Dark
“I just find it odd that I’m back on the list for missions when it was clear I was being punished. What changed?”
He huffs a sigh and stops carving, like I’ve already annoyed him with my observation. He forgets that I’m in the brotherhood. I’m exceptionally skilled ateverything.
“Fine, do you really want to know?” he grunts.
“Well, that’s why I’m asking.”
He looks off to the side as if he’s too afraid of my reaction to meet my gaze. “I was supposed to bring Luke, but he’s a prick and he never shuts up. For the most part, you keep to yourself and are far better company than he is,” he mumbles as if he can’t stop himself from the confession.
I blink in stunned silence for a moment, trying to decipher if he’s messing with me or not. A few seconds go by when he begins carving again, not waiting for me to respond. I realize that he’s probably telling the truth.
Then I smirk at the thought that crosses my mind—the horrible idea I just had, causing me to chuckle as something sinister forms in my chest.
“Is that a challenge?” I tilt my head, forcing him to lift his gaze at my tone. He just admitted that I’m better than Luke, telling me that I haven’t been unbearable enough this trip.
“Isa,” he warns, brows lowering.
He knows that look—we all share it—but I can’t help myself. In an instant, I’m flipping a dagger in my hand, catching it by the tip, when he suddenly stands, mirroring me over the fire. A vicious grin pulls at my lips as I hone in on my training.
“Isa, don’t…” he growls.
Aiming for his head, I barely miss him when he jolts to the side, landing in the tree behind him with a low thud. He whips his head back around with narrowed eyes.
“I give you a compliment, and your response is to throw a dagger at my face?” He sits again.
“What can I say? I love a challenge.” I cross my arms with grin and a shrug, sitting back down.
“You missed. I taught you better than that. You should’ve hit me.” He scoffs, insulting my aim, then grabs the rabbits off the fire with a hard yank.
“You did teach me better than that. If I wanted to hit you, I would have,” I bite back with a tight smile, snatching the rabbit from him.
I ignore the fact that I just confessed that I didn’t plan on hitting him. I just wanted to make a point: don’t get too comfortable around me. After a few minutes, I catch the faintest of grins pulling at his mouth before he hides it, silently finishing the fox carving in his hands.
Shortly after eating, I find myself entering my tent, bidding Ren a good night, which results in a few inaudible mumbles. With my body secure under my thick quilt, cloak and all, I rest on the pack beneath me.
Over the last three nights, Rydian has consistently met me in the Veil while we slept. But the farther we travel apart, the more the connection falters, stretched thin by our distance across the realm.
When we do find each other, it’s as if the world stops for a few minutes with the way his hands brush my face before hislips meet mine, like he’s afraid to let me go. Then it flickers out, leaving me feeling cold and empty in the middle of a tent.
Now, as my head rests on my pack, I begin to feel Rydian the moment I drift off to sleep, as if he’s been waiting for me in the Veil all night.
We arrived in Nymara earlier this afternoon.
All morning, Ren kept stealing glances at me like he was trying to solve a complex problem, probably due to the dagger I threw at his head last night. I just ignored him, hoping to complete this mission and head back.
Since we’ll be breaking into someone’s home, we know we won’t be needing an inn tonight—let alone rest—so we set up our horses outside the city. Getting our target back to Nymara is going to be… challenging. We’ve never had to bring someone back to the castle before.
We learned our target’s name—Theo—after reading through our missive, mentioning that he went by the nicknameSmudgearound the local metal forges. So that’s what we did earlier: spent the day questioning locals to track him down. Eventually, we ended up at a forgery near the docks.
When we arrived, only the owner was there, and we quickly realized that Theo had already left. Ren took it upon himself to distract the owner, and without a word between us, I slipped past them and found Theo’s workspace, stealing a pair of his gloves.
Tracking him by scent proved to be more difficult than we thought with the ocean nearby, as it gives off an intense fishy aroma. It’s midnight now as we head into the city—my hand tightly gripping the glove marked with his nickname on the edge of the leather.
Nymara is set up on cobblestone, greeted by large towersthat extend for miles before reaching the outskirts of the city. Built near the water, the salt from the ocean drifts by on a breeze as the waves crash in the distance.
We finally reach the edge of the neighborhood, where homes climb the hills in narrow rows, stacked side by side and sloping away from the ocean. Thankfully, streetlamps are out for the night, allowing us to remain hidden in the shadows.
With a quick glance around and no words spoken between us, we pull our hoods up. My mask covers my nose, shielding me from the cold bite of the wind as our feet pull us toward Theo’s home. Ren nudges me, nodding at the lone house on the corner.
