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Looking weak was not an option though, especially not in front of Thorn and especially not right now. I needed to be strong so I could get away and figure out how to hide my mark even in the fae lands.
Chapter
Eight
Thorn
Senara thought she was so different, that she and I were nothing alike, and yet nothing could be further from the truth. Just to prove that to myself I waited outside her door, knowing that having left her and Wyn alone, she would be tempted to try and escape. I didn't know if Wyn would go with her. I wasn't even sure how she'd go about it, but I felt certain that she'd make some kind of attempt.
I told Ronan and Trevor before they went up to rest that I would take first watch, intending to switch out with Ronan later in the night, but I didn't need to because as soon as the door shut, I heard them whispering to each other. Senara was begging Wyn to go with her and Wyn was telling her no.
A fierce feeling took up residence in my chest, one that I dare not name. It made my heart pound in a way I wasn't used to. When I heard her come toward the door, I backed up, padding silently along the hallway until I was hidden just around the corner. Although she was being quiet, I still heard the door unlatch. It swung open, barely generating a gust of air as she slipped through a crack that was just big enough for her. I was thankful she didn't come in my direction. It would have put anend to my snooping, and I was too curious about her plans to not have any answers.
I followed her at a distance and almost ruined everything when I hovered by the entrance to the sitting area as I watched her grab a loaf of bread. It was pure luck that she didn't see me. When she turned to the door, nerves rattled me. I had no idea if she was willing to risk leaving us exposed to ghouls, since she didn't really seem to trust that they existed.
Part of me expected her to fully open the door, but that wasn't what she did. After biting down on the bread she clambered up the two wooden barricades and out through the hatch that I'd use to release the raven. With any luck, that thing would be clear of the tree line by now and on its way to the capital.
A chuckle almost escaped me as I watched Senara struggle to get her ass through the window. It was a luscious ass at that. I had half expected her to fail, but then she just plopped through, not being very graceful. Not that I thought there was a graceful way to do that.
The worst part about this whole endeavor was waiting. I had to give her enough time to get ahead of me before I opened the door. Otherwise she'd know that I was following her.
After counting to one hundred slowly I opened the door. I could still see the mark in the mud from where she had fallen, and the tracks that let me know that she had headed off to the right, so I went left, and I took off at speed.
My goal was to meet her as she came around the other side of the tree. I had no doubt that she was going for the stables. After all, that had been a juicy bit of information that Ronan had let slip. I had practically been able to hear the gears in her head turning when he said that. My stride easily ate up the ground around the tree, giving me a nice burst of giving me a nice short workout.
As I came around to the stables, I heard the horses pacing, tapping their feet and whinnying nervously. These horses weren't the kind to be spooked easily so I made sure they were safe and grabbed a sword and bow just in case before I moved on. Senara was moving slower than I had expected, though. We had been marching all day and this was new terrain, a new environment in general, for her.
I hadn't expected any ghouls to be around. After all, it was still early in the evening, but I was so very wrong. Ghouls were drawn to magic, which meant that I had no doubt it would be drawn to Senara. After all, she was loaded with it, especially based on the mark that now covered her body.
The fact that she had never had any instances of using her magic, even accidentally, was surprising to me. If she was that powerful, then surely there would have been some kind of indication of that earlier, but there hadn't been.
As I chased after the ghoul, I saw it raise its head, sniff the air and then bolt away. I put on a burst of speed so I could catch up to it, and found it heading directly towards the woman that I was worried about. I flared my magic, hoping to draw its attention, but it was too focused on her. There was no choice but to call my magic forth. My eye burned with heat as power shot from it.
Being sun kissed wasn't as gentle as being moon marked. We were hot, fiery, and our magic burned.
This jet of fire that shot forth from me burned along it's haunches and side. I fired some arrows into it before finally taking my sword to its head. In some ways I was lucky that it was so distracted by Senara. If it had just been me out here by myself then the fight would have been a lot different, and I probably wouldn't be walking away unscathed, if I walked away at all.
"What the fuck do you think you're doing?" I demanded as I stood over Senara.
Her face was as white as a sheet, and I knew that she had finally realized how much danger she could have been in had she ventured off on her own. The gash on Senara's arm was bleeding heavily, and if I hadn't been a split second later in telling her to get down, she might have lost her head, or the ghouls claws could have punctured her chest.
The creatures knew exactly where to aim for the most damage on fae. After all, they had been hunting us for centuries. The only reason we survived was because we knew how to use magic and had weapons.
"Come on, let's go get your wounds cleaned up." I held out my hand to her, and she grasped it with the hand of her uninjured arm. As gently as I could, I pulled her to her feet, and she had the decency to look ashamed of her actions.
Fear still rode her, which was something I hadn't seen on her before. It wasn't that I wanted to see her scared, but seeing a different side of her was more than a little enticing. The thought crossed my mind that I wanted to see every side of her, every flash of emotion, every thought she was willing to share.
But that wasn't our future.
Sun kissed and moon marked did not interact outside of court.
They certainly didn't have relationships.
I led her toward the stables, moving at an achingly slow pace compared with what I had been doing to get around here. There were usually some bandages and a general healing kit in there for people who arrived injured and couldn't wait to get inside.
The horses were quieter as we came in, clearly sensing that the threat was gone. A few of them still whinnied at our presence, the smell of blood probably setting them off, but for the most part, they were quite happy to go back to munching on some hay or taking a nap.
Senara still seemed dazed as I sat her down in the tack room. Saddles and bridles lined the walls, but there was a medical kit just under the weapons rack that was laden with bows, arrows, swords, and axes. I pulled it out and began cleaning up her wound.
