The Silver Siren (Iron Butterfly, #3)(3)

“I’m sorry, Thalia. I was angry that you left, that you would believe the worst of me without confronting me. But then Mona made me return to the party and that’s when everything went downhill…and you saw the rest.”

“No, Joss, I need to apologize to you too, about the kiss with Kael.” I felt awful that I was saying I was sorry for something I enjoyed. “He surprised me, and I didn’t comprehend fast enough to pull away.”

Joss was quiet, thoughtful, and then he nodded his head in understanding. “So are we good?”

I grinned back. “We’re good.”

Joss looked at me and started to laugh again as he pulled a stray twig out of my hair. “You look a mess.”

I made a face and reached up to feel for other items that may have gotten caught in my long hair. Yep, there were other twigs as well. Joss also had a thick twig on his shoulder and when I went to brush it off, it didn’t move.

Frowning I reached up to brush it off again and it only squirmed. That’s when I realized it wasn’t a twig.

“Leeches!” I squealed in horror and ran out of the water as fast as I could and dove behind a huge rock as my clothes clung to my body. I began to rip my shirt off to pull off the offending leeches but Joss was right behind me.

Our screams brought Kael and Darren running—Kael with his knives drawn, his face a mask of death. They both stopped in their tracks when they saw our frantic dance to remove the leeches.

Kael’s eyes locked onto me and looked at my wet clothes and then glanced to Joss’s similar state, his mouth turning down in disapproval.

Darren ran over to Joss and began to pluck the leeches from his body. Kael looked at me awkwardly and then, turning his back on me, headed back to camp. A few moments later, Fanny came running down the same path with something in her hands.

Fanny arrived with a pouch full of salve. After she plucked all of the leeches from my body, she applied it heavily to their bites. I groaned in protest as the pungent order reached my nose. It was hartswood, a salve that smelled similar to cat urine, and it belonged to Kael. He knew how much I hated the smell of it, and I could just picture him in my mind heading back to camp grabbing the pouch and throwing it to Fanny with instructions.

He knew I would argue with him if he tried to get me to use it. So he sent someone I wouldn’t argue with. Kael was beginning to figure me out.

Cold and miserable, I made it back to camp with the others and grabbed my spare clothes out of Faraway’s saddlebag. I glanced around for Kael so I could give him a piece of my mind, but he wasn’t there. So I took out my frustration on Faraway.

“Why didn’t you warn me?”

You weren’t in danger.

“Leeches, Faraway. I was attacked by bloodsucking leeches.” I hissed.

Okay you weren’t in any real danger, he chortled. I wouldn’t say attacked. You were the one who invaded their home. They were just hungry. Like I am right now.

“You’re always hungry.”

Exactly, so I don’t blame them.

“But I blame you!”

He snorted and went silent on me.

Once I had changed and laid out my wet clothes to dry by the fire, I sat and combed out the snarls in my wet hair while surveying the rest of my traveling companions. Darren had challenged Fanny to a game involving tossing small stones into a tin cup. Their contagious laughter filled the camp and soon Joss and Hemi were calling out bets as to who the winner would be.

Darren bowed comically whenever his throw rang true and fell to his knees in dramatic sorrow when he lost another game to Fanny. “Woman, you’ve stolen my pride, my dignity,” he crowed, throwing his arm over his face.

“Nonsense,” Fanny snorted drolly. “You would need to have a speck of dignity first for me to steal it. Which you don’t.”

Joss slapped his knee in laughter at the obvious look of mock dismay that crept over Darren’s face. Hemi’s stoic face cracked a smile beneath his red beard, and even Mona had to cover her mouth with her hands to hide her laughter. Overall, the tension from earlier had been alleviated. The fire died down and we settled in for the night, each of us taking a turn on watch.

I couldn’t sleep. Lying in my bedroll, I stared at the fire until I saw Kael come back to camp. It was the same as before. I felt that I couldn’t fall asleep outdoors unless I knew he was near. As if his presence alone kept the bad things away. Or maybe I knew that if Kael was near, the Septori wouldn’t be able to take me.

Only Kael didn’t put his bedroll anywhere near mine. He set it up on the far side of camp and actually turned his back on me to sleep. I must have angered him. I was frustrated by the fact that for the last three days he’d slept near me, but now he refused. Sleep never came.

A few hours later, a hand touched my shoulder and Darren whispered that it was time for my shift. Wide-eyed and tired, I nodded and stood up. I walked the perimeter of our camp and listened while Darren settled into his bedroll. Within minutes he was asleep.

No one else in the camp stirred. Mona was chained to a tree that was relatively close to the fire. Hemi and Fanny were sleeping around her but out of reach. Joss and Darren snored lightly, and Kael—on the other side of camp from us—never moved. Not a single sound of sleep ever came from him.

I scanned with my senses to see if anyone was near. A badger was digging a burrow, and an owl circled overhead searching for dinner. Other than a few small animals, I couldn’t sense anything larger within a half-mile of us.