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Frowning, I stepped nearer and swung, aiming for his chest. In a single smooth motion, Garrick stepped aside, using one hand to seize my wrist and the other to steal the knife from my grasp. Spinning it, he held it toward my neck.
I pursed my lips. “You’re flaunting your training.”
Garrick burst into a good-natured laugh. “I wanted to see what we needed to work on.”
“Everything?” I asked sheepishly.
Reaching up to brush some snow from my hair, Garrick shook his head, still smiling. “Not everything. You know where to aim it, at least.”
By the time the sun was staining the western sky orange, my stomach ached from laughing at Garrick’s constant jests. He’d made even the exhausting work of learning how to stand, how to duck and dodge blows, how to parry a strike, and even how to swing a blade at an opponent surprisingly enjoyable. Though I hated to think of actually needing to fight to kill, he’d kept me smiling and laughing the entire time.
Sometimes, when he teased me, his gold eyes studying my face without fear or disgust, my heart would skip a beat and I’d almost forget he was fae. He was only a young man, friendly and good-hearted and quick-witted, and he seemed to enjoy my company.
“We can rest now, and I’ll teach you to build a fire,” Garrick announced.
“What, shall I burn my enemies to death?”
Dimples framed the wolf shifter’s mouth. “She jests. I knew you’d warm up to me.”
I turned away to conceal my reddened cheeks, though I wasn’t sure why I was embarrassed and couldn’t quite meet those brilliant eyes.
“No,” Garrick went on, “I just think it would be useful for you to know how to fend for yourself in the mountains. In case...” He trailed off, shrugging. “Well, you’re ever robbed of my delightful company.”
Spinning on my heel, I tossed him an alarmed look. “When you leave me?”
I felt like a fool. Garrick had a life here, and though he’d promised to see me to safety, he’d also said the royals might never stop hunting me. What if he planned to equip me to survive the wilderness and then return to his life? It seemed only fair. I couldn’t expect him to uproot his life for me. And yet, my heart sank at the notion. Which was utterly ridiculous. He couldn’t stay with me for the rest of our lives. He wasn’t family,or a man courting me for my hand and pledging marriage. He was only...a protector. An unexpected friend.
Eventually, I would enter Ashwood and find new friends there. I hoped.
“Leave you?” Garrick appeared as taken aback as I felt. “I only meant we never know what could happen, Starlight. Come, let me show you how to choose the driest firewood, even in the snow.”
Sheathing my knife and stuffing it back into my pocket, I followed him into the forest, trying to ignore the tangle of emotions that had taken up residence in my heart.
CHAPTER SIX
After Garrick showed me how to start a fire and we ate a dinner of fresh fish drawn from his traps, the wolf shifter pulled aside some tree branches to reveal a hidden cave resting near the stream’s embankment. “Troll-free,” he said with a wink. “I stay here often.”
He removed a bedroll from his pack and laid it out near the edge of the cave, close enough to our fire to receive its warmth. It worried me that he only had one, but shyness overtook me when I considered asking him about it. Hopefully, as with the single beds, he had a plan.
Instead, I settled on the floor close to the cavern’s mouth to soak up the fire’s heat. When I peered out and up, through the pine branches swaying overheard, I could pick out the first stars sprinkling across the evening sky.
“Which was your stepfather’s favorite constellation?” Garrick asked, noticing my look. It startled me, filling me with a pleasant jolt of warmth to realize he’d been watching me so closely and remembering my words about my stepfather.
“The hunter,” I said, laughing a little. “He loved to share the story about his feats against the...” I shrugged apologetically. “Well, about the dark fae who tried to kidnap his daughter. I always liked to imagine he would fight that hard for me, if ever a fae crossed the border and wanted to take me away.” For a moment, I frowned at the sky, thinking painfully of the timesCharles had sat beside me listening to that very same story. How easily he’d offered me to the fae.
