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I’d rather him not help me, but I’d also rather get away.
We continued to climb, the sunlight shining right on us on the mountain.
“How has no one spotted us?”
“Because they prefer darkness over sunlight.”
“But still…”
“Keep moving.”
I kept going, finally reaching a plateau where I could rest. I pulled myself over the edge then lay there, catching my breath, not realizing how tired I was until I was finally allowed to stop.
Aurelias pulled himself over a moment later, but he wasn’t out of breath like I was. “We’ll climb until we reach snow. Then we can’t go any farther without losing our grip on the rock.” He moved against the rock face, standing in the shade as he looked down at the kingdom of the Teeth. “Let’s go.”
“Just give me a sec—”
“We don’t have a second.”
“They can’t see us—”
“Are you the same woman who can hold her own against the King of Kingdoms?” He stepped forward and looked down at me as if he despised me. “Because it doesn’t seem like it.” He turned to the rock, ready to keep going whether I joined him or not.
I felt the rage burn everything, including my fingertips. I could face my father on the battlefield, but I had no experience rock-climbing. The two activities weren’t comparable. I pushed myself up and came to his side, looking at the first groove for my fingers. I released a sigh of annoyance before I mapped out my initial movements. Then I grabbed the hold and pulled myself up.
“Attagirl.”
I stopped everything I was doing to look at him.
He met my gaze, his eyes cold despite the encouragement he’d just given me. “What?”
I looked at the mountain again and grabbed the next hold. “Nothing.”
* * *
Once we reached the snow, we stopped climbing upward and moved west, heading back to the coast on unexplored terrain. It was harder to navigate up here because we were at a constant incline. And the snow wasn’t thick over the rocks, so it was easy to slip.
Not to mention, it was cold as fuck.
I gritted my teeth and didn’t complain, because I would rather be cold fully dressed than naked and a prisoner of the Teeth. The sun had set, and now only a few rays of light shone over the horizon. It was already infinitely colder.
Aurelias continued to march on, like the lack of daylight was no obstacle in his determination.
I halted. “You can’t be serious right now.”
He looked toward the west, one foot planted on a rock as he gazed over the land. He stared for a few seconds before he turned and looked at me again, his spine still straight despite the weight of his armor and weapons.
“We’re going to break our legs if we continue.”
His hard expression was empty, his thoughts bottled deep inside.
“They aren’t going to find us up here. They don’t have dragons.”
“If we stop moving, you may freeze to death.”
“Me? What about you?”
“The cold doesn’t bother me.”
