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Yes, they did. Until Raider was healed, Seth needed to have a proper shelter for them.
But he could feel danger in every word he was tempted to say, so instead he replied reasonably, “I’ll carry it until I can’t.”
At least there was no arguing that point.
“Your shoulder’s fucked up,” Raider argued.
Seth glared at him. “If you can travel like that, then I can certainly travel like this.”
“My body is rife with quicksilver, remember? It’s practically an arcane instrument itself.”
Seth narrowed his eyes. Raider’s words echoed ones that Seth had spoken at the oasis after Raider had scorned Seth’s attachment to his tools. It has its advantages, Raider had sneered in response to Seth’s comment.
He was sneering now, too.
Seth didn’t like that. So even though he wanted to discuss that very subject—namely Raider’s quicksilver but also his nightmares and a dozen other things—this wasn’t the moment for it.
So Seth ignored Raider’s comment and simply told him, “I’m taking the fucking tent.” Then he tossed a pouch of dates and almonds at him and ordered, “Eat that.”
Raider glared at him. Seth glared back.
Seth didn’t know exactly what was going on in Raider’s head right now, but it didn’t matter. Raider needed to do what Seth had said—because Seth was right. And Seth was going to take care of him even if he was being an asshole.
Finally, Raider yielded. He looked down and let out a shaky breath and reached for the pouch that Seth had tossed him.
Seth wanted more than that. He wanted Raider to talk to him—really talk to him. He wanted Raider to let down his guard so Seth could get close to him. But Seth could tell that none of that was going to happen, not right now.
So, for now, this would do.
CHAPTER 27
RAIDER WAS OUT of breath halfway into their climb up the rocky slope, but it didn’t matter. They needed to get out of here—for a lot of reasons. Their limited resources. The fact that the sand serpent was still here somewhere. The fact that the bandits, if they hadn’t been eaten, were here somewhere too.
But more than all that, Raider needed out of this goddamn tunnel. He couldn’t take another second of the confined space. Especially with where his head had been during his delirium.
He needed some space from Seth too.
That dream …
It was eating him up inside.
Seth had asked him once why he refused to attach himself to anything. He’d asked if Raider didn’t trust anyone for more than a meal or a fuck. He’d asked if that was why Raider called himself a feather on the wind.
The thing was … Seth had guessed rightly. And wrongly.
There was a part of Raider, deep down, that always expected betrayal, always expected good things to vanish. They always did. So Raider preferred to enjoy good things in their fleeting moment—and to drift onward before they could disappear.
But more than that, Raider knew, deep down, that he didn’t deserve good things. It was something he’d always known, even before an emperor had changed his life. By always distracting himself with new, superficial pleasures, he didn’t have to dwell on that fact.
Raider was so used to staying on that surface level that he hadn’t expected things with Seth to be any different, to go any deeper. Raider should have known better. He should have understood from the beginning how different his response to Seth was. But Raider had told himself it was just the challenge. He’d told himself that it was just sex.
If it ever had been just sex, it certainly wasn’t now. Not for Raider. His dream was proof enough of that.
But goddamn it, that didn’t stop him from wanting it. Wanting this. With Seth. Whatever this was.
At the mouth of the narrow passageway, Seth halted, forcing Raider to a stop behind him. Seth scanned the open ground with his arcane scope. The scope was as good as Raider’s eye, and it was better for Seth to lead right now. Raider didn’t think he could.
Raider wasn’t ready when Seth glanced back at him. He hadn’t expected it, hadn’t prepared his face. And his face, clearly, was showing way too much because Seth’s eyebrows scrunched down and he opened his mouth to say something.
