CHAPTER NINE（Untitled）Naomi

CHAPTER NINE

Naomi

Wranth disappears into the trees before I can ask him for the magical cleaning cloth he told me about. My bladder gives an insistent twinge. I don’t know how long it’ll take him to hunt, but it’ll be too long. Besides, there are only two saddlebags, so how hard can it be to find?

I lift the leather flap of the one closest to me, only to find another huge piece of leather filling the top so tightly I can’t get it to budge. I stand on tiptoes and poke all around it, but I can’t feel how to get past it. “What even is this thing?”

Zephyr turns her head. “That’s the tent. It and his sleeping furs fill most of that bag.”

“Thanks.” I reseal the bag and cross to her other side. This one’s also packed with military precision, but it’s a lot of little items this time. I grab a white cloth and a leather waterskin and dart into the trees. When I find a good log, I pull up my skirt, shove down my jeans, and sit so my thighs rest on the wood, my butt hanging off the back. It’s an old camping trick that keeps my calves from being splashed.

As soon as I’m done, I waddle forward several feet to use the cleaning cloth. When I pour water on it, a zip of magic shivers through the air. It tingles as I wash up, and another splash of water leaves it pristine and sparkling.

“This thing is the best!” I go ahead and wash my face, removing the last traces of mascara and eye shadow, then I refresh the cloth again and strip off Hannah’s cardigan to have a look at my forearms.

A firm body tackles my back, and I plow forward into what will be the face plant to end all face plants. But strong hands grip my shoulders, keeping me upright, and the press of firm muscle moves away from my back.

“Naomi,” Wranth growls, his voice hoarse.

Oh, god! Here I am, still squatting, my freaking butt hanging out, because I wanted everything to air dry.

With a squeak, I shoot up to standing, bending over to yank at my jeans and panties. The thick denim gets caught on my thighs, like always happens when I’m in a hurry.

Wranth makes a strangled sound as I get stuck, leaning over, my butt in the air.

My face heats. I’ve got a great ass, and I’m not ashamed of my body, but I also don’t usually go waving it in the guy’s face on the first date.

Though, is it even a date if he’s my husband? Dear god, is this our honeymoon ? A slightly hysterical laugh escapes as I tug at the jeans.

Big hands cover mine, the fingers strong and sure. “You’re making it worse.” His voice is a deep rasp that slides over my skin like a caress, leaving goosebumps in its wake.

He untwists the fabric and tugs it up my thighs and hips.

I reach down and give my panties a quick adjustment. Then I zip up my jeans. Squaring my shoulders, I spin to face him. After all, I’m not the one who just tackled a half-naked woman. If anyone needs to feel embarrassed around here, it’s him.

“What were you doing? Couldn’t you see I was…” I fling out a hand in euphemism.

“I didn’t bring myself here.” He frowns down at me. “Your magic did.”

I rub at a spot in the middle of my chest, feeling some kind of connection to him.

Instead of answering, he glares at my arm. “You’re hurt!”

“Yeah, those birds got me a few times.”

Crouching, he picks up the dropped waterskin and cleaning cloth, wetting the fabric so its magic reawakens. His huge hand is amazingly gentle as he takes mine to lift my arm. A fierce scowl furrows his brow, but he dabs at the cuts so softly I barely feel any pain. When he finishes with one arm, he moves on to the other. “Damned soul stealers. You’ll be more susceptible to them now. Did they get you anywhere else?”

“I don’t think so. I held up my arms to protect my face.”

“Lift your hair and turn slowly, so that I may make sure.”

I scoop my hands under my curls and lift them from my back and shoulders, then I do a slow spin.

By the time I make it back to facing him, Wranth’s no longer frowning and warmth fills his eyes as his fingers brush over the bare skin of my shoulder. “There are no further injuries. Come. I have medical supplies in the saddlebags.”

I lean over to pick up the cardigan and follow him back to where Zephyr stands, still eating leaves.

Wranth plucks a smaller pack from the saddlebag and drops to his knees in front of me. Then he lifts my arm and uses the softest of touches to apply a light-purple salve that smells of flowers.

He does it all so easily, as if it’s nothing for a big guy like him to want to take care of me. His concern makes my heart skip, a little twist in my chest that has nothing to do with magic and everything to do with the tender touch of his fingertips.

“What’s in the salve?” I ask, looking for a distraction. “It smells so good.”

“It’s elderflower and other healing herbs. Moon Blade Village has an expert herbalist.” He uses a knife to cut a piece of heavy white cloth into small squares and smoothes them over each injury. They seal to my skin with a tingle of magic.

I pull on the cardigan as he packs everything away, wrapping its cozy warmth around me and trying to not miss the feel of his hands on my skin.

“Now, about you showing up back there,” I say. “What happened?”

“I set off in that direction to hunt.” He points opposite the way we just came. “I’d just picked up the faintest trail of a rabbit, when—” He slams his palms together. “I’m yanked through the world to you.”

“Was that me?” My hand goes to the crystal on my chest. “I didn’t see any glow or feel any tingle of magic like when I teleported before.”

“I don’t know.” He frowns, his dark eyes narrowing. “I do know that it’s going to make hunting impossible.”

My stomach takes this as an invitation to growl, which only makes Wranth scowl harder. He pulls a leather-wrapped packet from the saddlebag and thrusts it into my hands. “Here. It’s not the fresh breakfast I envisioned providing for you.”

I nibble at the hard cookie inside. Instead of being sweet, it’s pleasantly nutty, and I’m not a picky eater. “It’s fine. I like it.”

He grunts, and his tusks crunch through his biscuit as he glares into the trees around us. “We need to test this thing that happened, determine if we’ll always be pulled together. But not here. We need open lines of sight.”

“I know I can’t wait to watch,” Shadow says, his tone amused. His disembodied smile hangs in the air, the rest of him becoming more opaque with each step as he emerges from between two pines.

“We need a meadow,” Zephyr says. “You can do your tests, and I can have a proper meal.”

“I know the perfect one,” the cat says, flashing a wide grin.

With two more chomps, Wranth finishes his breakfast. His concerned gaze rakes over me. “Can you eat and ride?”

“Of course.” I’m only a third of the way through the hard cookie, and I totally get why he doesn’t want to wait for me to finish gnawing on it. These things clearly aren’t made with human teeth in mind.

His hands are firm and steady as he effortlessly lifts me into the saddle in a way that sets my heart skipping. Then he’s up behind me, his body engulfing mine in muscle and strength as Zephyr leaps forward to keep up with Shadow.

Lunch is wild gooseberries plucked straight from the bush, their little spines stinging the tongue, and tiny tart apples bursting with flavor. Wranth offers me another biscuit of hardtack made from hazelnut meal, apologizing again. “I would hunt for you, if I could, my bride.”

“It’s fine, really,” I say. Or at least the food is. The bride thing is still weird.

He scowls over at Shadow. “I thought you said you know where a meadow is.”

“I do.”

“So why aren’t we there yet?”

“I said I know where it is.” The cat’s green eyes laugh at us. “I never said it was close.”

A growl rumbles through Wranth, and he takes a step forward.

I press my hand to his chest to stop him and glance at Shadow. “Is it far?”

He gives one paw a slow lick and drags it across the side of his face. Then he grins. “Not far if one walks the shadow roads. For a unicorn, though...”

The vibration under my palm returns, the growl more felt than heard as Wranth bares his tusks.

“Humph. Race me without cheating, and I’ll show you who’s truly fast, cat. And I’ll do it carrying two others on my back!” Zephyr’s hoof strikes the now-bare ground of the small glen she’s already cleared of grass. “Let’s go. I’m hungry.”

We run and run, Shadow flickering through the trees beside us. I can’t tell whether he uses his magic or if it’s the camouflaging abilities of his fur that make him so hard to see. Probably both.

When the way ahead lightens, the unicorn puts on an additional blast of speed. “Finally!” She bursts from between two pines onto the muddy bank of a river. “Dammit! That’s not a meadow!”

Shadow’s ratcheting laugh cuts off, only to return much fainter as his smile appears on the opposite side of the river.

I gasp. “How’d he do that?”

“Sneaky cat cheating.” Zephyr snorts. “That’s how.”

Now that we’re no longer racing the sound of rushing water fills the air. The river’s so clean and clear, the rock-covered bottom shows, with the occasional flicker of silver-scaled fish darting around.

Then the surface froths, and a few humanoid creatures made of water rise into the air. Long locks of liquid hair pour down, sheathing their body in “clothes,” and they stretch foam-flecked fingers toward us. “Come, unicorn,” high, burbling voices cry out. “Come dance with us!”

“What are they?” I ask.

“Water nymphs,” Wranth says. “They’re harmless.”

“You only say that because I carry you above the water,” Zephyr grumbles. She turns to spear me with one sharp blue eye. “Can you take us across? Fast like the cat?”

Funny how Shadow’s “cheating” has turned into something she now wants to do.

Can I teleport other people on purpose? And someone as large as the unicorn? Won’t know if I don’t try. I grab my crystal and squeeze, concentrating on the far bank. Fire races down my nerves, and I give a small whimper of pain as I release the pendant.

“Are you all right?” Wranth’s arm tightens around me, and he pulls me back into him.

The burn halts as soon as I stop pushing. “I’m fine. I guess my magic’s still fried.”

“Of course it is,” he growls. “It’s far too soon for you to use it, and you shouldn’t have been asked.”

Zephyr flips her mane. “I wasn’t trying to hurt Naomi.”

“I know you weren’t.” I attempt to lean forward to pat her neck, but Wranth’s holding me too tightly. I squirm a little, but he refuses to loosen his grip.

He reaches forward, tugging at my legs until I pull my feet up to the saddle. Now the only thing keeping me in place really is him. His feet remain anchored in the stirrups as Zephyr starts forward.

“Aren’t you going to get wet?” I ask.

“The leather of my boots is bespelled to be waterproof.”

“Oh.” All the little things magic does in this world. But are any of them really so little? To be clean and dry, to have magic bandages, to be able to find food—it’s all the trappings of a comfortable life, even if it’s one lived without technology.

Zephyr splashes into the river, and the nymphs give delighted cries, bounding through the water like a pack of aquatic puppies. They surround us, water-foam fingers trailing along the unicorn’s sides and over Wranth’s boots.

“Yes! Yes!” they sing, their voices high and light. “Dance with us!”

A laugh bubbles from me, and even though his arm remains rigid around me, holding me firmly, Wranth lets me lean over enough to reach out a hand.

The nymphs’ touches whirl over my skin in a tickle of sensation.

“That’s it,” Zephyr says, the skin of her sides twitching. “Go play with the human instead.”

“Unicorns don’t like to be tickled,” Wranth says, his voice low and close to my ear.

“How right you are,” she says, fording through the deepest part of the river. “Who likes being tickled?”

“I do,” I say.

Wranth’s fingers flex on my stomach, and his voice becomes a heated promise that steals my breath. “I’ll remember you said that.”