AllFreeNovel
Share Us
His dreamy smile vanished. “She was the victim of a mugging. On the way to the capital, some thieves attacked, and she was…she was stabbed.” I noticed his grip on the reins tightened, his knuckles turning white.
I didn’t know what to say.
“Maybe that’s why I like you.” Patrick twisted my way, his eyes glimmering. “You’re just as brave and hardheaded as she was. If not more so. And definitely just as defiant.”
“Me? Defiant?” I arched my brows in mock affront, eager to bring back his smile. “Good sir, I am the pinnacle of obedience and respect.”
“I’m sorry, did Ki just say she was obedientandrespectful?” Nic trotted in between us, his long brown hair poking out every which way.
“But of course,” I protested, a hand held to my chest. “I would never lie.”
“Yeah, right,” Jake called on the breeze, just behind us all. I peered over my shoulder, staring him down. His russet skin glowed with amusement, the look on his face challenging me to argue. I didn’t.
“Fine, I’m impossible,” I relented, swiveling back to the front, my eyes finding Jude. He rode beside Isiah, the pair seeming to be deep in conversation. What I would give to hear their hushed exchange.
“And that’s why wetolerateyou.” Nic leaned across his dappled mare to playfully poke at my ribs. “You’re certainly never boring.”
“Don’t poke me unless you want me to cut off that pretty hair of yours while you sleep,” I threatened. “And you definitely can’t rely on your sparkling personality.”
“He brushes it every night!”
“Shut up, Jake!” Nic hissed, absentmindedly tucking a loose strand behind his ears. “My girlfriend loves it, and I gotta keep the girl happy. But you wouldn’t know anything about relationships, would you?”
Jake scoffed. “It wouldn’t be fair to the world if I settled down with one man. People would get jealous, and I am forever aiming to please.”
“Yeah, Jake, I’m sure the boys were just dying to get their hands on you back home. Well, more specifically, their hands around your neck.”
Nic snorted, a mischievous glint illuminating his eyes. “She’s not wrong, brother. Evan tried to throttle you a week before The Calling. And before him, there was Michael—”
“I’m definitely cutting off your hair,” Jake threatened.
“Jealousy doesn’t suit you,” Nic scoffed, but I noticed how he angled away from Jake. I was sure he’d keep an eye on his friend’s blade.
The boys continued to tease and goad one another for the next four hours.
It was an easy conversation, one that didn’t include the Mist and the threat of death. It was apparent that they took considerable pleasure in the art of insults, a pastime I found to be immensely entertaining.
Sometimes I would join in on their fun, but mostly I kept my focus trained ahead.
For all my boasting, I was terrified. Not that I regretted my decision to follow Jude and my friends on this suicide mission, but my confidence—which was usually genuine—was now forced. Every smile and eye roll took great effort.
For the first time in my life, I doubted my ability to survive. The Mist wasn’t a living entity I could fight with shiny blades and closed fists.
And that was the problem.
I’d been gazing at the back of a certain commander’s head, obsessing over my doubts and all things doom, when the man in question turned around. It was as though he’d felt my eyes upon him, his fiery gaze as penetrating as it was raw.
Bringing two fingers to his lips, Jude let out a high-pitched whistle, his onyx steed slowing. Carter and Isiah came to a halt, the rest of us pulling on our reins.
So lost in my own dour thoughts, I hadn’t realized where we were.
Looming one hundred or so feet ahead was a monstrous cave, its gaping mouth framed by spindly branches and coal-colored ivy.
The fine hairs on the back of my neck rose in warning, a hint of bile rising in my throat.
We were about to enter the cursed lands—
And there would be no turning back.
