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Once I’ve found plenty of the things we need, I make my way back to the spot. Out in the woods I hear abang!and then Lo’zar lets out a cackle. He’s like a boy sometimes... while very much a man in other ways.
A troll, I guess. My silly, excitable troll.
He returns a while later carrying a small deer, and I recoil at the blood leaking from its wound. But Lo’zar doesn’t notice my expression as he drops the deer in front of me and surveys the pile of materials I brought him.
Good. This will make a nice fire.We’re a long way off the main road, so he doesn’t seem nervous about lighting one. He assembles all the sticks and moss into a little tent shape that reminds me of the pyramid, then uses his fire starter to light the moss. It quickly catches, and I try to commit this process to memory for tomorrow.
Find some big sticks, he instructs me, and pulls out his sword. He slices into the deer, drawing dark blood, and I turn away.
Right. Big sticks.I head off into the trees, hoping I can still find my way back in the dark. The moon is already rising overhead, but very little of it makes it down through the canopy.
I grab a few large sticks, then return to find Lo’zar has most of the small animal butchered, and his sword is drenched in blood. I feel a little sick to my stomach as I show him the sticks, and he takes them, spearing each piece of meat and holding it over the fire. It’s pathetic how little experience I have with where my food comes from. He gives me a stick to hold, too, and shows me how to turn it a little at a time to cook the meat.
Usually, I have a gadget for this, he says.It was back at the wagon.He explains how his friend Graz built it, so it folds out and becomes a nice little structure over the fire that’s perfect for cooking food. Halfway through telling me this, he stops abruptly.
Graz, he says.Maybe Graz can help us.
Who?
My friend.He thinks about this for a while.Yeah. That’s what we’ll do. He’ll know how to get you home.
Home. I know that’s what I want—to be with my family again, as strange as life with them is. I want to sleep in my bed, to wander the garden grounds and swim in the lake. To be safe, to never fear the crate.
But as Lo’zar chatters on, I feel a hard tug in my chest. Leaving this strange continent means leaving him, too. Maybe I’ve only known him for a few days, but I feel a bond I’ve never experienced with anyone before. I want all of him, always. That big grin, the devilish handsomeness, his cheeky charm; the way he cares about me and protects me like I’m the most precious thing in the world to him.
Rimi?Lo’zar has stopped talking and is watching me curiously.
Sorry. I’m just thinking about home.
His face falls, and I realize how crude that sounds. Instead of being here with him, he thinks my mind is off in the sky, back in Yusala.
Don’t worry.He forces on a carefree smile.We’ll get you there.
I suppose that’s what I should want. This place is temporary, and most of my time here was a nightmare. My parents must miss me immensely. Do they think I’m dead? Perhaps we never had a close relationship, but surely they want me home again, where I belong.
I wonder if they’ve buried me.
Lo’zar is quiet after that, lost in his own thoughts. I run a finger down his arm to get his attention, and start tapping on the wooden cooking stick in my hand. I want to raise his spirits again, remind him that I’m here with him. He raises an eyebrow at me, and one tusk slides high up on his face as he grins. With his own stick he taps on the ground in the same regular rhythm, until we’re both drumming along with the beat. Then Lo’zar jangles his rings together, adding another layer of sound. I slide closer, and tap my nails on his sword, which lets out a metallic ring. My troll’s grin widens. Soon we’re tapping out a song, just the two of us alone in the jungle, with no one around to interrupt us. And despite everything, I think this is the happiest I’ve ever been.
Suddenly Lo’zar stops. He wraps one arm behind my neck, pulling me in close for a kiss. It isn’t the urgent, devouring kiss I was expecting, though. It’s slow and sensual as he sucks on my lower lip, and smooths over it with his tongue. In it is everything he feels about me, and the tenderness makes my heart want to break open and spill out all over the ground.
When he finally pulls away, Lo’zar brings me under his arm and squeezes me to his side, leaning his face into my hair. Maybe we’re on the run, and it looks like danger is around every corner, but I almost don’t want to return to civilization.
What if we just lived out here, in the jungle, wild and free?
But I know that can’t happen. Lo’zar had a life before me, before he sacrificed everything to help me.
After we’ve cleaned up our meal, it’s time to try to sleep on the jungle floor. It’s even worse than the inside of the pyramid, with sticks and stones digging into my back everywhere I try to lie down.
Feeling anxious?he asks.
I’m ashamed just saying it.I don’t know how to sleep on the ground.
His grin is big.I know a cure for that.He picks me up around the middle, then rolls us over so I’m sitting on his hips. He draws me down onto him, tucking my head under his chin.There. Use me as a bed, princess Rimi.
Princess?!He laughs that big, boisterous laugh, and I cuddle close to his chest. His arms wrap tight around me, and if I weren’t so exhausted, I would try to rouse the delightful creature that lies between Lo’zar’s very shapely legs. Instead I close my eyes and listen to the slow beating of his huge heart, and let it lull me to sleep.
Chapter15
