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I shrugged. “I’m not sure. He never shared all the details with me. We’re allies, but I don’t support his cause.”
“Then why did you go to him in the first place?”
“I told you I needed something from him.”
“And what could the Teeth offer you that no one else could?”
I couldn’t explain it, not without providing information about myself.
“What was so important that you would capture an innocent person?”
I still said nothing.
When she got no information from me, she finished her food and water then got to her feet. “Let’s go. I can’t wait to be home.”
* * *
We reached the path up the cliff and took it on foot. It would have been much easier on horseback, and I felt the burn in my thighs shortly after the ascent began. I expected to see soldiers looking for Harlow along the way, but to my surprise, nobody was there.
The higher up we went, the warmer it became, and Harlow started to shed her clothes on the hike. She gave me back my cloak, and she tied her sweater around her waist once she started to sweat.
We said nothing on the journey, focusing our energy on the hike.
I hadn’t eaten since we’d left, so that would be my first activity once I was back. I’d find someone alone, someone I could drain and hide after I was done. If I let my prey live, someone would notice their bites, and soon rumors would start in the village. They had no idea what vampires were, but they knew what the Teeth were, so I would get labeled as one of them.
By the time we reached the top, I was so warm that I forgot how cold I’d been for the last week. I saw people nearby, but they were farmers about to take their harvest down to the bottom of the cliffs to deliver to the outpost. They didn’t seem to notice her, more focused on their animals and their wagons.
We walked under the trees, and she moved toward the path that led to Delacroix.
“Where are you going?”
She stopped and looked at me over her shoulder. “Home?”
“You can go home after you get me my ship.”
Her eyebrows furrowed before she walked back to me, the light back in her eyes now that she wasn’t frozen solid. “How am I supposed to do that without speaking to my father?”
“I’m not stupid, Harlow. I know what your father will do to me.”
Her eyes remained hard on my face. “I can’t get you a ship without—”
“There are no ships in Delacroix. We need to travel to the port city, where you’ll ask the steward to provide me with a ship and a crew—no questions asked. That was the deal, Harlow.”
“I’m not doing that—”
“You bet your ass you are. You owe me.”
“I owe you?Asshole, my parents probably think I’m dead right now. Or worse. The Teeth stripped me naked and tied me up like an animal. I almost died in that winter storm. It’ll take us another week to travel to the port city, and if you think I’m going to let my parents suffer for another week, you’re insane. They need to know that I’m okay.”
“The sooner you get me that ship, the sooner you can tell them you’re fine.”
She shook her head. “No.”
“No?”
“I don’t even want to imagine how my parents are suffering right now. I get the impression you’re some kind of loner who doesn’t really have anyone, so you don’t know what it’s like to lose someone you love.”
I almost laughed at the absurdity. “Sure…I have no idea what that’s like.”
