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Why the hell hadn’t Axel run too?
“We need to get out of here,” Melaina said. “Before they realize the dragon isn’t pursuing them, and they come back.”
I nodded. She spoke with reason—reason I should be having right now. But I couldn’t seem to think straight, so I just followed them when Quilla tugged at my arm gently.
Holly turned into a brown mare with a complete saddle ready for me to ride. I climbed aboard, not even thinking about how much easier it was to ride again with both hands unbound. She started after the other two horses, and we were heading toward the road again.
Quilla glanced at me, worry lacing her gaze. “Do we need to do anything with his body?”
I glanced toward my cousin’s corpse as it grew smaller the farther away we rode, and I shuddered with grief but shook my head. “No. His father lives nearby. They’ll find him soon enough and take care of him.”
She winced. “Will he know it was you?”
I shrugged. “Doesn’t matter. Either way, we’ll be long gone by then.”
Clicking my tongue, I hurried Holly’s pace and sent our party moving along a little faster.
Chapter 24
Quilla
“Wow,” Melaina muttered to me as she rode up alongside my horse. “Murder sure does make that one a downer, doesn’t it?” She lifted her eyebrows archly as she took in Indigo, trotting ahead of us along the path. “He’s been sulking ever since he killed that man. Probably wouldn’t even react at all if I tried to harass him right now. The buzzkill.”
“It was his cousin,” I muttered, casting her a stern glance. “He just killed his cousin. To protect us. Give him a break.”
“Oh, he didn’t do anything to protect me, darling. That was all for your benefit.”
That didn’t exactly make me feel better.
I swallowed thickly, trying not to think about what he’d just done for me.
“Regardless,” I bit out. “If you don’t allow him time to process what just happened before you start in on him again with your nagging, I will hurt you, understand?”
“Hey, if the man can’t take a little razzing,” she started dramatically. “Then what good is he?”
“Just leave him the fuck alone, Melaina.”
“Fine. Jesus, you’re as bad as he is.” Huffing, she rode off to travel by herself.
Sighing, I rolled my head on my shoulders to keep from berating her. She couldn’t help it, I tried to remind myself. Her compassion had been suppressed. It physically hurt her to feel kindness or anything soft and loving.
But damn, now wasn’t a good time for her to be so her either.
Indigo was hurting.
Unable to deal with her Melaina-ness right now, I clicked my tongue and urged my horse to move past hers so I could catch up with him.
We’d been on the road for hours, not pushing our mounts to full speed but keeping the pace faster than usual. And he hadn’t spoken to either of us in all that time. He wasn’t humming or whistling that irritatingly cheerful tune of his. He wasn’t begging for details about Earth. He wasn’t trying to flirt with me.
It was all just…
Wrong.
Except I had no idea what to say once I reached him. Being raised by an empathy-challenged aunt had not equipped me with comforting skills. I usually avoided all emotion or just stuck with the safe ones like anger or irritation. Because happiness didn’t last. Sadness sucked. So did fear. And love…
Love was a fucking myth.
I think.
