A Dawn of Onyx (The Sacred Stones, #1)(41)

“So, what is the purpose of today’s excursion?” I tried.

“Why did you even ask to come if you didn’t know?”

A fair question. I tried for half-honesty. “I needed to get out of the castle. I was feeling a bit cooped up.”

“You get that way a lot, don’t you?”

So, the self-involved king was observant. “Yes. I don’t like to be trapped. I have an… unpleasant response.”

“I remember—your first night in the cells.”

I tried not to spasm from the weight compressing my chest that accompanied the memory. Or of Kane when he was pretending to be someone else. It was infuriating, still not understanding why he had lied to me for so long.

Agreeable, agreeable, agreeable.

Ryder had been charming for nineteen years. I could do it for a single afternoon.

“I never thanked you. For moving me into the servants’ quarters and letting Barney off his post.”

“Seemed a smart punishment for trying to run away.” I could hear the wry smile in his voice.

“In all fairness, I did warn you I was thinking about it.”

“No,” he chided. “You were looking for help. You told me as a friend.”

The reminder of my foolishness was like being doused in ice water. And something else… a small, strange hurt pinched in my heart. For the closeness I had felt to him that final night before I fled, and learned the truth.

“Yes,” I admitted. “We were almost friends, weren’t we?”

“Mhm,” he murmured. “Friends.”

“Why did you come to my cell that night, still hiding your true identity?”

His voice took on a razor’s edge. “Maybe I wanted to see if you were still planning to run.”

“If you had wanted me not to, you could have kept me better guarded,” I snipped.

“Right. How easy it is to keep someone who is deathly afraid of being confined from escaping.”

Traitorous surprise bloomed in my chest at the thought of him struggling to keep my anxiety at bay. I looked out at the forest ahead of us, the sunbeams filtering through emerald leaves. If there was an ounce of kindness in this man that I had missed, I’d have to find a way to use it to my advantage.

“Didn’t matter, anyway,” he continued. “You never even made it to my sentries.”

“Sentries?”

“I had guards waiting at the perimeter of the woods each night after your confession in the infirmary. If you had made it there, they would have stopped you. But, of course, you didn’t.” His knuckles went white with tension on the reins, while his body stiffened behind me.

“Right.”

Minutes of piercing silence stretched while we rode through the towering trees, branches entwined as if woven together.

“Dare I ask where Bert is now?”

“I wouldn’t,” he said, his low voice like a dagger’s caress against my cheek. But I felt him shift even closer, his hand splaying taut across my stomach, holding me to him.

The ride was long, and I was growing tired of our proximity. But I couldn’t hold myself ramrod straight any longer—my back was beginning to ache, my knees and thighs sore from gripping the horse to hold me upright. I gingerly leaned back into Kane, just a little, and let my head rest on his chest.

He flinched and I wanted to say, I don’t like it any more than you do, but feared his undoubtedly cocky response.

Finally, Griffin’s horse overtook ours. He shot a pointed glare my way as he passed and I sat up self-consciously, my back aching in protest.

When Kane spoke, his voice was a little hoarse. “Don’t mind him.”

“I think he hates me,” I joked, but it came out without humor.

“It’s not you he’s upset with, bird.”

I wanted to ask what he meant, but we had arrived at a clearing.

The open glade was brighter than our journey to it—bathed in rays of sunlight that highlighted insects and fluttery things lazily drifting through the breeze.

But Kane had gone stiff behind me, and in the distance, I saw why.

It looked to be the aftermath of some kind of attack. Dirt and rocks were flung about as if someone had been dragged back and forth. We drew nearer, and I noticed blood coating the grass. I prayed the muddied, fleshy masses amid the leaves weren’t viscera, but I had worked with war injuries long enough to know it was a waste of a prayer.

Kane reined our horse in, while Griffin dismounted. The other men came to a stop behind us.

“What happened here?” I breathed.

“That’s what we’re trying to figure out,” said Griffin, stalking closer to the scene amid the tall, muddied grass.

Kane and the rest of the men climbed off their horses to get a closer look. I followed suit, listening as the men assessed the scene in hushed tones.

My stomach fell further the closer I looked at the gore below us.

Mari hadn’t been kidding about creatures lurking in these woods. I had no idea what could have mauled a person so thoroughly to leave a sight like this behind.

I shoved the thought from my mind.

While the men were distracted, I needed to survey the woods for the burrowroot. I hadn’t seen any residue on the ride here, but I could probably locate it much better now that I was on the ground. How hard could it be? Find the residue, remember the spot, find a way back here safely for the eclipse.