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His insistence was becoming offensive. We’d been at odds since the morning after the attack, but the bullheaded attitude he thrust out to the human now was beyond interpretation. I couldn’t make sense of it, not that I could ever make sense of anything when it came to Kalen.
“The other is in disarray,” the keeper explained. His voice shook, and his eyebrows trussed up into the rumple of his forehead above them. “I am ashamed to say we have had a few bad run-ins with the Shadowfaders stationed in this region. Many come and go, tearing up the businesses and insisting the Shadow Sage will compensate for their debauchery. Yet she does not come. Many others who could tell you the same.”
Kalen blew air out from his nose and relaxed his stance a bit. His Light dimmed and he said gruffly, “I don’t need to hear of the damage the Shadows have done to you. I know that story well enough. Give us the one.”
The key was tossed into his hand quickly and we made our way up the stairs without any more incident. I made it a point not to comment on his little temper tantrum as I passed through the door he held open for me. Kalen had already focused the Light on the cabin and warmed the musty yet strangely comfortinglodge.
Slinging my cloak to the ground, I began to peel off my snow-wet clothes and curled up into the bed. My hair had escaped from its braid and I shook out the tangled lump of waves, brushing it through with my fingers. Waiting for Kalen, I stared down into the fireplace, which had been raging before we came in.Thank the Mother for competent innkeepers.
Minutes passed and his shuffling quieted. I turned around slowly, slightly afraid of my own reaction to a dressed-down Preserver, but Kalen was not there. I shot up, terrified, clutching the sheets tight to my body.
A thump sounded from the foot of the bed and I crawled towards it, only to find Kalen lying in a heap of furs and skins, shivering on the floor. “By the Light, Kalen, what are you doing?”
He jerked his attention to me, giving me an odd look for calling the Light by its name. “I am going to sleep,” he replied and rolled over so I was talking to the peach face of his broad shoulders, “which is what you were begging to do just an hour ago, so I’d suggest you try it.”
“Kalen, the floor must be freezing,” I hissed. “Come here.”
“I won’t die. I have a much stronger will—and cut of skin, apparently—than you do.” He raised up so I might take his demands more seriously. “Now, sleep.”
“Could you get over yourself for two minutes? Sleep in the bed with me.”
“Gwyn. I don’t want to lay beside you.”
“What?” I didn’t expect him to give in easily, but this was more than our usual sparring. It reached out and sliced at my skin, biting.
“I don’t want to,” the words were muffled against one of the furs. “I would rather take the floor.” When I didn’t say anything, he absorbed the Light, leaving only the glow of the fireplace surrounding us. He retired with a brief, “Goodnight.”
There was no coming back from that kind of declaration.
I flopped into the bed, cold again. After a while, I could hear his ragged exhale of breath between my bitter thoughts. I was still yelling at him from the safety of my mind, for being so stupid and cruel. The silence hanging in the air was a living thing. I let it envelop me as Kalen would not and hoped that Silverwood, like water, grew in its chill. Maybe whatever drops of poison were still left in his wound would reach his heart and teach him a valuable lesson about survival. Like the one I’d been taught tonight. Sometimes surviving is impossible, especially when you care so much.
I REFUSED TO TALKto Kalen for the rest of the next day’s ride. He grumbled a few times and tried to stir up idle conversation, but I brushed off each attempt. It made for a rather boring day, but it did allow for my attention to be taken up with all the details of a completely new world.
We crossed the border into Grovsney a few hours into the morning, and I was beyond grateful. This faction, it seemed, was far less polarized when it came to the weather. Somewhere in between spring and summer, I guessed, because the trees were ample with their blooms but looked mature. The birds flitted into them, settling into neatly laid nests of twigs which meant they’d be ready to sit and bear life soon. My heart grew heavy to look at them.
They reminded me so much of my friends in the Binding and I wondered how they may have fared after I left. If no one was there to hear their songs, did they sing at all? It felt like so long since I’d been there, miserable and alone. Though here I was, still miserable and alone in theory. I tried not to let my anger bore a hole into the back of Kalen’s head.
The sun had crested above us to mark the half-day when Kalen put out his right hand, urging me and my mare to stay put.
“Stop,” he said in a low voice of authority. He looked far ahead into the forest and got down from his mount, stepping into the brush and disappearing from my sight for a few seconds, before circling back around. “We need to secure our horses,” he shouted from the trees. “We go on foot from here.”
“What? Why?” This trip had been horrifying enough, even with a quick-footed getaway between my legs. The prospect of trekking through who-knows-how-many miles of dense and possibly beast-ridden forest was not one I wanted to materialize.
“The ground is too soft and too steep. The next few miles to the clearing is a rough hike with a lot of narrow ridges. It’s safer to leave them here and go on our own.”
“Can you project us?” I asked, tying my horse to the large oak that stood just inside the forest’s edge.
“What?” He asked loudly. I could hear the smile curving around his words. For some reason, he was trying to draw my attention. I kept my focus on the knot of straw rope in front of me. “You don’t want to walk or are you just afraid of being stuck with me as your only company for the next five hours?”
“Five hours?” I tried not to whine.
“Give or take.”
“Well then,” I sighed, securing my belongings in the hidden pockets of my cloak. “I don’t know what will overwhelm me first: the hike or having to keep up with you and yourvery attractivemood swings.” I let myself give him a sarcastic grin. If we were going to be at this for hours, let it not be unbearable.
“Careful,” he said in response to my smile. “I have half a mind to think you are flirting with me.”
It was my turn to roll my eyes. I’d never figure him out.
