Since the end of the Great Lowden War, King Ignatius had been systematically hunting down every last Graykey and ordering them to be eliminated. With the curse hanging over their heads, and the destruction they caused throughout the entire Outer Realms, it wasn’t safe to let any of them run free.
I glanced toward Quilla with just my eyes, realizing that meant her, too.
“You have an unhealthy obsession with my neck, you know that?” I asked, returning my gaze to Melaina.
“I swear to God, you High Cliff piece of shit…” Grabbing my hair, she tugged my head back so that the blade dug in deeper. “If you don’t start talking, I will keep pushing this in until your head rolls across the ground.”
Damn. Maybe I should stop her. This was beginning to hurt.
And bleed.
A lot.
But from the other side of camp, Quilla exhaled an impatient sound. “Melaina,” she muttered. “Cut it out.”
“Cut out what? His windpipe?” Melaina's eyes glittered wildly with rage as she watched me. “Gladly.”
Well.
I guess we weren’t friends anymore.
“Put the knife down,” Quilla ordered, her voice brooking no room for discussion. Setting aside the bread, she rose to her feet, squaring off with Melaina.
As she spoke, I felt a quiver of fear shimmer through her. My gaze sought hers, surprised. Was she perchance worried? About me?
The idea made my insides flare with cozy warmth. Worrying about me had to mean she cared, right?
Well, I thought so. And I liked it. So I let her aunt threaten me further.
“Sure,” Melaina shot back, flashing her teeth at me while she spoke. “I’ll put the knife down as soon as this fucker talks and tells me how he figured out where my children and the love of my life are.”
“My God!” Quilla flung my book she’d been holding to the ground with force and growled, “Why does it matter how he knows? He knows! So what?”
“My book,” I whimpered, hoping it wasn’t hurt.
She pierced me with an incredulous glance. “Are you serious? You are literally bleeding from the throat right now with your life about to end, and you’re worried about a damn book?”
“It’s the only one I have.”
She shook her head and drew in a sharp breath before clutching her temples and rubbing them soothingly.
“If he knows,” Melaina started. “Then that dipshit king of his must know they’re on Earth too.”
“Again…” Quilla countered. “So what?” She marched forward, her glare centered on Melaina. “Only Graykeys can travel through the portal. No one from High Cliff can reach them there; they’re safe. Now, will you stop threatening his life already? You’re the one who insisted we keep him alive. And I sure as hell don’t want to have to kiss him again if you give him another mortal wound.”
I could tell the exact moment Melaina decided to relent. The pressure on my neck lessened and her voice took on its usual mocking, sarcastic tone that dripped with amused disdain once again. “But it’s simply too much fun to torture you so, sweetling.”
“Fucking bitch.” Quilla yanked the dagger from her aunt’s hand and away from my jugular so she could wave it in Melaina’s face. “You make me kiss him again, and I’ll cut out your throat.”
The sudden freedom of my airway caused me to cough and sputter with an overabundance of oxygen. Quilla sent me a quick, questioning scowl.
I returned it with a grin and managed to rasp, “My hero.”
“Shut up,” she spat and kicked me in the shin before spinning away and storming off.
“Ouch.”
“You know, I think you’re actually growing on her,” Melaina mused, suddenly my pal once again as she patted my shoulder companionably.
“Of course I am,” I said, still wincing as I rubbed the spot she’d kicked. “Soon, I’m sure, she won’t be able to help but love me.”
Melaina snorted. “Want to wager on that, boy?”
“Hell, no,” I answered immediately.
In all reality, my true love would probably still be threatening me for quite a while to come.
As Melaina laughed uproariously, I slid a cautious glance Quilla’s way, hoping she hadn’t heard that last bit between her aunt and myself, because I could only imagine which body part she’d come back and kick next if she had. But she merely sent us a curious, if not irritated, scowl and went back to cooking.
And I was left with more questions than answers.
Chapter 13
Indigo
The rest of the bread baking continued in silence.
I offered to give Quilla some assistance, but she snapped at me to leave her alone, so I returned to my bedroll, where Melaina had completely abandoned her task of going through my things and “thinning out” my pack.
After quietly putting all my possessions back in the bag, where no one said a word about me getting rid of anything again, I sat back against a tree, rested my bound wrists against a propped-up knee, and waited. No idea what I waited for, but I thought I deserved a reward for my excessive patience.
I tried to strike up a friendly conversation—I really did—but Quilla didn’t quite get my jokes about Sir Render, the knight who was afraid to fight, or his friend, Sir Prize, the knight who liked to jump out from behind bushes and startle people. She told me to stop talking or she’d finish the job her aunt had started on my throat. I touched the wound on my neck, discovered it was still quite tender, and I decided to shut up.
My reward finally came about an hour later when Quilla finished the bread, and they packed it for travel so Melaina could leave me alone with my true love for the first time since we’d been properly—or the closest thing to proper as we were going to get—introduced.
“Okay, I’ll be back later,” Melaina announced as she climbed onto my mare.
“Have fun,” Quilla told her with a glare. “Don’t fall off your horse and die or anything.” Across the opposite side of the campsite as me, she plopped herself onto a tree stump, looking perfectly content to stay here, watching over me.
Alone.
The very thing she’d adamantly refused to do just last night.
My eyebrows lifted with curiosity. I glanced toward Melaina, who frowned suspiciously until her gaze met mine. Then she waggled her brows and waved her hands toward her niece as if encouraging me to woo Quilla to my heart’s content while she was gone.
I rolled my eyes, letting her know that was probably the last thing that was going to happen, no matter how much I’d prefer to do just that.
Quilla no longer being averse to the idea of staying alone with me was still a deep chasm away from her actually falling in love with me.
She would probably stab me if I went anywhere near her right now, and I’d say I had already filled my being-stabbed quota for the past two days. In fact, if I never saw a blade again, I’d probably be okay with that.
As soon as Melaina rode out of sight, Quilla pulled my journal from her pack.
I sat up straight, immediately on alert. So this was why she had wanted to stay behind. “What’re you doing?”
She ignored me. I huffed out a disgusted growl, which caused humor to spark from her emotions.