27. Saved Her Life

twenty-seven

Saved Her Life

Alessia

“ A t this rate, we won’t arrive at Wyrville until sundown,” Tynan grumbles. “Can we go any faster?”

“If you save energy on complaining, you might be able to,” Ken says.

Sera walks between them, openly laughing at the barbed exchange. They’ve been at it for a good hour now.

We keep a steady pace, journeying further inland, away from the coast, through Bear Valley. The landscape is a breathtaking mix of hills and rivers winding their way around us. Farmland stretches on the horizon to the east. There’s less tree coverage here, though, and the summer sun beats on our backs, slowing us down. It’s borderline unbearable without the cool sea breeze, even with bespelled leathers.

"There are no bears here," Ken says, disappointment lacing his tone. "Why name it such a lie?"

"Because humans." Tynan grunts. "It's probably named after a man—not a bear."

"A man named after a bear?" Ken asks, confused.

The two continue to debate the origins of the valley's name while we press onward. Zephyr follows behind us, his hair drenched with sweat .

“Arriving after sundown is preferable,” Rainer says, leading the group alongside me. “Less people, less light, less attention.”

“Yeah, yeah, you and your feckin logic,” Tynan mutters. “I wanted to get there earlier.”

“Why?” Rainer takes a chug from the flask hanging from a leather strap across his chest. He offers it to me after and I accept, doing the same, even though I have my own water.

“Maybe I wanted to explore now that I’m away from the damn bog for once,” Tynan says.

“The less time we spend in town, the better,” Rainer says.

“It’s not even a bog anymore, actually,” Ken adds, perky as ever. “It’s a really pretty place now.”

He grins at me, slowing down to plant his hand on a trembling Zephyr’s head. I snicker to myself, knowing exactly what the human must think—because I was also afraid of Ken when I first met him until I got to know him.

“Doesn’t mean I want to stare at the same few trees the rest of my damn life,” Tynan says.

“If you weren’t such a liability, maybe you’d have more freedom,” Rainer deadpans.

“You wanna go there, little brother?” Tynan’s voice hardens, and he wipes the sweat from his brow. “You’re not my keeper—I stay in Shgya because I take my responsibility seriously. I stopped drinking because I don’t want to be like our piece of shite father—”

The males continue to bicker, so I fall back and match Seraphina’s pace, zoning them out. She forces a smile, and adjusts her grip on the bag she’s carrying.

“The heat is getting to them,” I say, sighing.

“It’ll take the rest of the day to get to Wyrville, and another whole day to get to our destination?” she asks.

I nod. “Ryalle. Yes.”

“Have you ever been?” she asks.

“Never.” I’d spent most of my twenty-three years with the lord and lady, puttering around their estate. “Even trips into town were rare, let alone traveling out of Lyson.”

She glances upward at the sky, and I follow her gaze. We’ve been walking for hours, and the sun is barely cresting over the midpoint, beginning its descent. We must be about halfway to Wyrville by now.

“I can make something to help,” Seraphina says. “With the heat.”

My gaze whips to hers so quickly that I stumble over a rock. A hand wraps around my arm, steadying me, and I blink up into Rainer’s face. My heart skips a beat.

My brows shoot up. “How did you…?”

“Quick reflexes.” He winks, then releases me and darts back to his brother, a scowl in place as he seamlessly integrates into their conversation.

My arm tingles where he touched me, as if my body is begging for him to come back.

Seraphina smiles as she keeps her eyes straight ahead. “I’m jealous,” she says. “Of your bond.”

The air whooshes from my lungs as a small piece of my heart breaks off. “Don’t be,” I mutter. “We’re not completing it.”

“No. Not that bond—your bond in general. Your relationship.” She jerks her chin toward the males. “He really would do anything for you.”

My cheeks heat. She’s not wrong, but the fact she can see that so easily refills my deflated heart with a touch of joy. “You can see auras, right?”

She nods, glancing at me from the side of her eye. “Energy and intent, yes.”

“What does his say about him?”

She chuckles, shaking her head. “You already know what’s in his heart, Alessia. You don’t need my insight on the matter.”

“Not as pure as Ezamae, eh?” I tease, knowing damn well that Rainer has a good soul, regardless of what Seraphina reads of his energy.

She bites her lip and a look of longing flashes across her face. “I wish he looked at me the way Rainer looks at you.”

“Who… Ez?”

Silence hangs between us until Sera lets out a long, defeated sigh.

After her words sink in, I realize two things: one, she’s definitely in love with the Aer Prince. Two, she will be utterly devastated when she learns he’s soul-bonded to someone else.

Shite.

Now isn’t the time to tell her. Especially since I’m not entirely positive that’s the case.

Instead, I refocus on what she said a few minutes ago. “If you can make something to help with this heat, why not do it earlier?”

She sighs. “There’s no nefarious intent—I simply hadn’t realized it would be so warm here.” She points at a thicket of trees cascading down the hillside ahead, past a wide river. “We can stop there for lunch—it’s fairly hidden away, and I’ll whip up a cooling salve.”

After crossing the river, we spend nearly thirty more minutes going uphill, then descending on the other side, until we’re nestled deep within a serene, wooded area. The trees offer tangible relief, blocking the harshest of the sun’s rays. We keep moving until we come upon a small stream.

We collectively let out a chorus of sighs as we toss down our belongings, all needing a break.

Ken shifts into his bear form and secures us fish from the river for lunch in an impressive manner. Tynan sets up a fire, and the two work to skin and debone the fish, cooking it on a makeshift spit. Rainer scouts the area, trekking to the top of the hill to gather intel. Sera and I forage for berries and fresh herbs to complement our meal. I follow her lead, allowing her to teach me which plants are edible and which should be avoided.

Honestly, I don’t remember a single thing. As much as I love the beauty of flowers, plants aren’t my thing.

It makes me respect her that much more. It’s a skill, being able to identify them with ease.

We gather fresh rosemary and bring it back just in time for Ken and Tynan to put out the fire.

“Done!” Ken booms, a broad smile on his face. “Get your sweet, sweaty arses over here and eat up.”

Rainer descends the nearest hill expressionlessly. “Still no sign of anyone as far as I can see or hear.”

“Is that normal?” I ask Ken since he previously scouted the Wessex Peninsula with Viv. For some reason, I expected the entire realm to teem with soldiers, searching for escaped Tradelings to drag back to their owners. I’d always harbored that fear, instilled by the lord and lady .

“From all the recon we’ve done the past couple of months, yeah,” Ken says as he hands me a flat rock with a chunk of fish on ir. Sera reaches over, ripping the rosemary and sprinkling it across the fish.

“I wish we had some lemon,” she murmurs.

“Be grateful you have fish,” Rainer hisses.

Sera rolls her eyes, flicking a piece of rosemary at him, then stomps away. I giggle, finding enjoyment in her sassy attitude. Rainer seethes, but he quietly folds into a cross-legged seat on the ground instead of giving her shite back.

I know it’s for me that he keeps his attitude tame, which doubles my joy.

We eat, relieve ourselves, and refill our waters.

“Sera can make a cooling salve,” I announce as the males pack up.

This grabs their attention. I half expect them to complain about her not doing it sooner, but instead, Ken fist-pumps the air with a whoop.

“Gods love me!” he says. “What do you need?”

She bends over, rummaging through her bag. “I have everything I…” Suddenly, she goes still and peers into her bag with a frown. “In my other bag.”

With a furrowed brow, she drops her cloth knapsack to the ground and begins searching through our bags.

“Where is it?” she murmurs.

Concern prickles along the back of my neck. “Sera? What is it?”

She hesitates, dropping the bag she’s holding and meeting my gaze. “My other bag… it’s not here. ”

At the start of our journey, she had two bags. I hadn’t even noticed one was missing. When I think back, I vividly remember her placing one down to gather herbs in the Lyson woods.

“I think I left it,” she confirms, her face falling.

“What was in the bag?” Rainer asks, stepping forward with a stony look in his eyes.

Sera shrinks down, her natural confidence withdrawing as she suddenly looks scared. “Some ingredients… healing salves…” Her voice lowers. “The blood.”

“The blood,” Rainer repeats flatly. “You just so happened to lose the most important thing you were carrying.”

I glare at him. “Rainer—”

“On accident ,” he says, raising his voice. “Despite knowing that Tynan needs it to glamour us.” He scoffs, narrowing his eyes. “It wasn’t an accident.”

Ken remains quiet, his lips pressed into a tight line.

Shame creeps onto Seraphina’s face, and I know she didn’t do this on purpose.

“Rainer,” I say carefully, not wanting to challenge him in front of the others but also wanting him to understand that it was an accident.

But he doesn’t look at me. Instead, he keeps his icy scowl pinned on Seraphina, crossing his arms arrogantly.

“You’re pissed about Ezamae being soul-bonded to someone else, and now you have no real reason to help us,” he says. “Is that what it is? You’re taking it out on us now?”

“Rainer!” Concern blazes through me, and my mouth drops open. “She didn’t even know about that! ”

I turn to Sera, bracing for her reaction to the news. But instead of shock or fury, she wears a blank expression, holding Rainer’s stare.

“Ask her, Alessia.” Rainer inclines his chin at her. “Ask her if it’s true.”

“Sera?” I whisper, looking at her.

“No,” she says quickly. “Of course it wasn’t on purpose.”

I shift, glancing at Ken and Tynan, who wear expressions matching Rainer’s irritation.

“You knew about Ez?” I ask her.

“She was eavesdropping at our tent while Ezamae was there—I sensed her,” Rainer responds, not giving her a chance to. “She knows.”

“But…” My features scrunch as I focus back on her. “The conversation we just had about him…? You lied?”

This time, Sera presses her lips together in anger and meets my gaze. “Lied about what? I do wish he looked at me the way this bastard—” she waves a hand at Rainer “—looks at you. That wasn’t a lie. I never lied . And I didn’t lose the gods-damned bag of blood on purpose.” Her confidence returns as she squares her shoulders and snags her single bag from the ground. “I never meant to eavesdrop. I heard Ez’s voice and was coming to say hello…” Her voice cracks, and a tear streaks down her face. “Forget it. I don’t owe you a single thing, Rainer.”

A sob breaks free, and the strong female cracks. But before we can see her crumble entirely, she turns the way we came and takes off into the trees.

My mouth drops open as I stare at her retreating form.

This isn’t good. She’s upset and alone in an unfamiliar realm, far from the Gleam.

Let her go , my shadow-self says. She can handle herself .

I shift my weight, feeling uneasy about the situation.

“Good thing we got this guy,” Tynan says, snagging my attention. He pulls Zephyr to a stand, placing an arm over his shoulders. The guy practically buckles beneath Tynan’s meaty bicep.

“You can’t drink Zephyr ,” I say, appalled.

The man in question squeaks, his eyes popping open almost humorously. He pales, his body going rigid.

Rainer sighs, rubbing his forehead. “Unbelievable.”

Tynan smirks. “Whaddya say, flesh-sack? Pay your dues for the journey?”

“Sh—sure,” he stutters, flinching when Tynan tugs him closer.

“No,” I growl. “He’s innocent.”

“I never said he wasn’t,” Tynan repeats.

“Alessia,” Rainer says softly, stepping closer to me. His expression is still stern, but the wrinkle in his forehead smooths out. “The fresh blood might be better for him—stronger glamour. We might need… Zephyr’s help.”

“Not you, too,” I say, shaking my head in disbelief.

He’s right, my shadow-self adds.

I groan, pressing the heels of my hands into my eyes. “ Now you side with him!?”

Tynan is a full-blooded vampyr in a realm full of humans. He needs to feed. Especially if he’ll be using his magic. It’s better this way than the alternative.

“What’s the alternative?” I ask, fearing the answer .

Rainer sighs, running a hand through his hair. He glances at his brother.

Felix , my shadow-self says, reminding me of the ex-lover of mine that Tynan killed. We’re all the same. You, me, Rainer, Tynan . We all have needs . Stop standing in our way. You’re making it harder for everyone by pretending you’re better than them.

“You pick the best times to become chatty,” I say sarcastically.

We’re the same , it repeats, you and me.

“I get it!” I yell, growing increasingly irritated.

Gritting my teeth, I glance up at the canopy of leaves overhead. Then, I turn back to Zephyr. Sheila’s face flickers through my mind. This is her brother. He doesn’t deserve this. The Tradeling mark on his face mirrors mine, filling me with a sense of kinship.

These are the very people I’m trying to look out for.

I won’t agree to this.

“No,” I finally say. Then, without looking back, I jog in the direction Sera went. Something tells me she didn’t lose the blood intentionally, and she’s been through enough.

Despite her heartbreak, she was suppressing her misery to continue helping us. Adding to her pains is the last thing I want to do.

She deserves it for—

“Shush!” I say exasperatedly, increasing my pace. “Shut the feck up already.”

I don’t care if she deserves it. I’m not going to be the one who adds to her troubles—just like I won’t allow Sheila’s brother to be harmed.

Up ahead, I catch sight of Sera, her back to me as she storms away in the direction we came.

“Sera!” I call. “Wait!”

She turns around, and I catch the surprise—then relief—flashing across her face. It dawns on me how similar the two of us truly are. We both understand the importance of making sacrifices for those we hold dear, often risking our hearts.

The difference is that her heart has been thoroughly crushed—her hope smudged out.

And leaving someone alone when they’re utterly devoid of hope is the cruelest thing we can do to another.

She takes a step toward me, but before she can take another, a dark blur bursts from the trees, tackling her to the ground just as an arrow shoots through the air where her head was a moment ago.

A scream rings out, and it takes a moment to realize two things:

One, the person screaming is me.

Two, it was my shadow that just saved her life.