Warrior of the Wild(64)

“I thought you liked a challenge.”

“I have a feeling you’ll be challenging me a lot.”

I smile, even though he can’t see it. “Of course.”

He kisses me again.



* * *



I WAKE TO FIND Soren already watching me. His lips curve into a smile as soon as he sees I’m awake.

“Good morning,” he says.

It only takes a second for last night’s kisses to come back to me.

I go warm everywhere.

“Morning,” I say.

“How did you sleep?”

“Aside from the fact that I got less of it than I did yesterday, rather well.”

“Not me. I slept way better.”

He won’t stop looking at me. My eyes flit everywhere. Everywhere but at him. The discomfort is astounding after how nice last night was.

“Rasmira, look at me.”

I manage it.

“Do you regret what happened now that it’s daytime?” he asks.

“No,” I say hurriedly. “You just keep looking at me.”

“I’m staring. I’m sorry. It’s just—”

“What?”

He leans down and presses his lips to mine. “Now that I’ve kissed you, your lips are all I can think about.”

Despite our less-than-comfortable sleeping arrangements, it would be far too easy to stay in this lean-to with him all day.

“I think I have a solution for that,” I say.

“Let me guess, climbing?”

“You’re so smart.”

Today’s trip is less productive. Soren trips more than once because he’s looking at me instead of the ground, and I laugh at him.

Then there’s the fact that our climbing keeps getting interrupted with kisses.

I could blame Soren, but it’s not always him. I put a halt to our progress just as often by pushing him up against the nearest tree.

At one point, we stop to refill our canteens. Soren is bent over the stream while I take in the scenery below the mountain.

“I can see the villages from up here. There’s Seravin. And Restin is only a bit more north, right?”

“Yes.”

“So there it is. Then there’s Mallimer and the rest sprawling northward. And the wild! It goes on forever. Come look, Soren!”

“I may have overcome my fear of heights, but I don’t think I should see just how high up we are. I’ll settle for listening to you describe it.”

“The trees grow thicker more to the north. And—they’re greener. I wonder what we’d see on the other side of the mountain! Do you think the wild continues on in an endless expanse or would we see something new?”

“When we discover the otti bird to be only a myth, we’ll have all the time we want to explore it.”

My heart drops a moment. What if Soren is never allowed to go home? What if he is doomed to stay in the wild forever?

I won’t let that happen.

I pull Soren to me in a fierce hug. “You won’t be stuck out here alone. I will earn my place back as my father’s heir, and I will change things. I will find a way to bring you home.”

He returns the embrace, and we stand like that for a while, just holding each other.

But over his shoulder, I see a hint of movement. It blends in almost perfectly with the surrounding trees. If it weren’t for its open eyes staring fixedly at us.

I whisper, “Don’t move.”

My hands go to the sheath at Soren’s back. So very slowly, agonizingly slowly, I begin to slide the ax upward.

The mountain cat doesn’t blink as it watches Soren and me. I wonder if it’s the same one from before. Perhaps the goat got away and it followed our trail until it caught up with us?

Its haunches sway back and forth, steadying, readying to pounce. In a decisive move, I rip the ax the rest of the way from the sheath and sidestep Soren. I feel pressure on my back, but I ignore it. Because as soon as I decided to move, so, too, did the cat. It leaps forward and sprints the few yards to us, before leaping again, this time with the intent to pin me.

My mind works at an impossible speed. I should dodge the strike and go for one of the clawed legs, but sidestepping leaves Soren open. If only I had my ax, I could activate the spike and get the cat in the neck as it lands.

Instead, I shove Soren’s ax straight ahead of me and brace myself for impact. The two tips of Soren’s double blades pierce the cat’s chest, but only just. That thick skin holds against the force of its own pounce. Its back legs land on solid ground, but the front—

They go to my shoulders and dig in.

At first, I think my armor will hold, but there’s a chink sound, and then needle-sharp pain. The cat bends at the neck, trying to bring its gaping jaws closer, but I hold my arms steady, letting the weight of the cat dig deeper against the ax. My arms tremble from the force of it.

Out of the corner of my eye, a slice in the air, a blur of a blade.

My ax in Soren’s hands.

He embeds it deep in the cat’s back. Trapped with my blade beneath it and Soren’s above it, it can do nothing except extend its claws, digging them deeper into my shoulders.

I set my teeth, let a wisp of air snake through, as I hold back a scream.

Soren dislodges the ax, and the cat releases me, backs up so it can take us in, readying to strike again. Brown-black blood drips from its chest onto the ground.