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CHAPTER 15
I hadn’t slept this soundly since I was a kid; I couldn’t even remember falling asleep. I was pretty sure I had stupid training with Sana and Amica this morning, but there were few things that would get me out of bed right now.
I’d just have to catch Miles and Amica up at breakfast on why I wasn’t at the lesson today, I’m sure they’d understand. I sighed as I readjusted my body and hugged myself closer to the warmth beneath. I took a deep breath and filled my lungs with just a touch of that musky scent of aged paper and hints of vanilla. This was easily my new favorite smell, the servants must have begun washing the sheets with new soaps, but even still the scent was oddly familiar. . .
“As much as I enjoy watching you drool all over me, we really need to get going. I’m in a time crunch today.”
I screamed as my eyes flew open and I took in the cheap old inn surrounding us. My hands were on Bennett’s chest as I lifted myself up into a sitting position.
His eyes glimmered as he smirked. “Hi.”
I pushed myself off him as color flooded my cheeks. I quickly turned to lay on my side, facing away from him so he couldn’t see the embarrassment on my face.
What the hell were you thinking, Rhia?
As if it wasn’t already awkward enough between the two of us, I had to go and wake up drooling on his perfectly chiseled chest. My insides coiled in on each other as I remembered waking him up to my nightmare last night, but I quickly shoved the emotions down. I didn’t have the time or energy to be thinking about this right now.
Bennett rolled off the other side of the bed and began packing his things. “Get changed. We’ll leave as soon as you’re ready.”
I got up from my side of the bed, stripping out of the lacy black gown and into the clothes I wore the day before. I strapped my golden dagger onto my thigh and tossed my cloak over my shoulders. I tried using my fingers to comb through my hair to at least make myself somewhat presentable, but it was no use. On the bright side of staying at this cheap inn, there were no mirrors to make me feel bad about myself.
I nodded to Bennett, letting him know I was ready, and we left the inn without another word. When we stepped outside and onto the streets of Vicinus, little white flurries swirled around us. I couldn’t help but smile at the winter wonderland. It was beautiful and I wished Veladis could experience this, not all year round like here, but just sometimes.
“Don’t you wish it snowed in Veladis? Not as much as here, but, you know, sometimes?” Bennett asked.
“Yes! I was just thinking. . .that. . .” I gave him a sideways glance and he gave me an amused look right back. “How did you—?”
“Your face is an open book, Rhia.” He shrugged, as if knowing exactly what I was thinking wasn’t weird at all.
I continued to follow his lead through the town, taking in every detail before we were to return to Veladis. We strayed off the road and down into a forest of snowy trees. Dead leaves crunched beneath our boots and the wind made my cheeks numb.
I breathed in the earthy scent and filled my lungs with the fresh air. I wasn’t sure what kind of business Bennett had in the middle of a forest, but I didn’t question it, I was enjoying myself. The trees were almost calling to me. I didn’t feel on edge here like I did in the Silver Forest. It was peaceful.
I gasped suddenly in realization. “Our horses!”
How could I forget about them?
Bennett shook his head and chuckled. “Of course you would be worried about them.”
Not surprised to find out that Bennett is an animal hater.
“Hey, don’t worry,” he said defensively. “They’re still being held at the horse stall. When we first dropped them off, I paid the owner what should’ve been more than enough for him to keep watch over them until dawn.”
I didn’t know if I trusted that fully, but I was really in no position to do anything. I was in the middle of some random forest in Vicinus, a kingdom where I didn’t know my way around.
The worry must have been showing on my face because Bennett kept insisting the horses were okay as we continued our trek through the trees to the bottom of a snowy mountain. I had to lean my head back to where I was practically looking straight up at the sky, and even then I still couldn’t see the top of the mountain. There was a small opening at the base, only big enough for probably one person to crawl through.
“I’m being kidnapped, aren’t I?” I said bluntly as I took in the fact that I was in the middle of a forest where no one would be around to hear me scream.
Bennett laughed and rolled his eyes. “Rhia, you know that’s not true.”
“Well, then, where are we going, Bennett?” I asked, gesturing to the forest around us defensively. “I don’t know if I can trust you and now you’ve brought me to the middle of nowhere for some ‘errand’ of yours or something. Our horses are back in the city so we have no way of getting back to Veladis from here, not to mention the fact that we have to go back through the Silver Forest. You don’t even look worried! And considering we’re standing adjacent to that cave in the wall I can almost guarantee that you’re gonna make me crawl in that star-forsaken hole.”
Bennett just gave me a knowing smirk.
“Well?” I flung my arms up. “Are you going to say something?”
“Nope.” He turned away from me and towards the little cavern.
