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“Good thinking,” I muttered, annoyed I hadn’t thought to suggest taking such precautions.
“A slightly better idea than trying to pick a fight with the man who was our only hope of getting out of Máros,” Ren retorted wryly, but his expression was amused. Maybe he’d finally given up on being exasperated at what he liked to call myreckless, impulsive, so-called decision making, Mathias.
And then he sighed. “But this isn’t going to get us far,” he added, hefting the coins in his hand once more before dropping them back into the pocket of his thin coat. “Certainly not enough to charter a ship at Naledo.”
“A terribly good thing we’re not going to Onn then, isn’t it?” I said, and my lover winked at me. “Think this is far enough?”
“Reckon it is,” Ren said, and we turned left from the road, ducking into the undergrowth and veering back to the east. When the captain inevitably talked, either as a brag after one too many ales or under interrogation when Navar and Welzes realised we’d left the city, they’d hopefully waste some time following a false trail to the south coast. And as tempting as fleeing across the ocean to Onn and the sanctuary that Ren’s other sister may have been able to offer was, it wasn’t an option either of us had considered.
While Riehse Eshan had fucked us both over, it was still our home, and we’d be damned if we’d be leaving it without a fight.
*
Chapter Four
When we’d set off from Máros, full of the high from having the last laugh over the corrupt captain, I’d been feeling rather optimistic about it all. Out of the confines of the capital, taking a jaunty stroll across the best country in the world, and able to fuck Mathias whenever I liked, free of any interruptions? Even the looming worry of Welzes on my throne felt distant, banished by the gentle rays of the rising sun and the lyrical birdsong around us. I’d threaded my fingers through Mat’s, declaredallof the filthy things I planned to do to him before night fell once more, and proceeded to drag him over to investigate every mildly interesting tree or patch of moss until he was cursing my name in three languages and I couldn’t see from laughing so hard.
Yet half a day later, all of that felt like a decades-old memory, and the fun had long worn off. I was hot, sweaty, and tired, suffering the pain of a dozen blisters which had formed in my cheaply made shoes, and near aboutdyingof thirst. I couldn’t even play with my boy, because it required a level of mental and physical flexibility to jerk him off while we were both traversing uneven terrain that unfortunately even I couldn’t achieve.
Mat was clearly as uncomfortable as I was, scratching incessantly at the mosquito bites that lined his neck and wrists – fucking thieves – and walking with a limp that belied similar ankle blisters, but the resilient bastard hadn’t whined about it once. I’d compensated for it by complaining each and every step of the last twelve hours, naturally, and my northerner had ferociously bitched about me bitching, yet hadn’t said a word about the excursion I’d dragged him on.
“For fuck’s sake, Ren,” he said now, when I repeated my comment about my parched throat in case he hadn’t heard it the first eighteen times. “Don’t make me find something to gag you with.”
“That’s not fair,” I objected, even though it was unequivocally, indisputably, fair. “I haven’t threatened to tie your hands behind your back to stop you scratching, even though that would also be for your benefit, have I?”
“No,” he agreed. “Other than the four times before now. Do those not count?”
I sighed, not having the energy to continue our banter. “What are we doing, Mat?”
“Returning tola Cortina,” he said instantly, nudging his shoulder against mine as he parroted the lie we’d frequently told ourselves merely so we’d have a vague direction to walk in. “Where we can pick up money, horses, and hopefully some allies.”
“We both know that’s bullshit. Neither of us are going to get within ten miles of the place: Navar and Welzes likely had men posted there the day we went missing. We need a plan.”
“No,” I said, stopping in the middle of the path. It had been too risky travelling on the main road from Máros, and the cost was having to pick through the bordering undergrowth and farmland instead. “Ineed a plan. You need to go home: what the fuck are you still doing here, anyway?”
I’d been completely blind, so addicted to his reassuring presence that I hadn’t evenconsideredthat it wasn’t necessary...other than keeping my heart and soul from breaking into a hundred thousand painful shards, of course.
“Eh, someone made me realise I’m a masochist,” Mathias drawled, shooting me an accusing look tinged with fondness. “So passing up the chance to torture myself with his insufferable company and being hunted down by a whole country for treason just seemed like a waste.”
“Ren,” he added gently when I screwed up my face, not impressed with the reminder of what he risked. “We’re in it together to the end. You told me that, remember?”
I tried to swallow past the lump that had formed in my throat, but the damn thing refused to cooperate. Temar wasn’t the wisest place for my lover either, considering he’d outed himself in front of its entire army, but there had to besomewherehe could go that would be safer than at my side.
Mathias swatted me on the arm. “Try sending me away again, and the grovelling you had to do last time will seem like a pleasant dream, you prick.”
I winced, remembering how hard he’d made me work for it in the ruins that night after I’d attempted to break us apart. My knees and jaw had ached for two days straight.
A flash of light had us both glancing skywards, and a few seconds later the accompanying thunder rumbled through the air. We continued to stumble through the darkening field, but Mat blew out a breath as raindrops began to pelt our shoulders minutes later. It didn’t even have the decency to cool us down, the humidity only worsening as we bowed our heads to the weather and ploughed forward.
“We need to find shelter,” he muttered. “I don’t much fancy trying to sleep in the rain.”
“How about the convenient village just over the next hill?” I offered, and was met with a narrow glare.
“You can fuck off with that dry sarcasm, Ren, I know we’re not-”
“It may be hard to believe,” I interrupted, beaming back to show him just how fucking grumpy he was being, “but I am occasionally capable of speaking without being facetious. Look.”
He followed my outstretched arm and squinted at the hazy orange glow emanating over the curve of the hill in front of us.
