What Lies Beyond the Veil (Of Flesh & Bone, #1)(105)
“The Mist Guard we kill, but if we encounter the Wild Hunt, the only thing you do is run. None of us stand a chance against them.” That elusive thought danced through me again, the reminder that the Hunt was one more thing Caelum had survived that was supposed to be impossible.
All because they’d been looking for me.
I did the only thing I could do in the face of that, protecting the secret of their interest specifically in me that even I didn’t understand.
I kept my fucking mouth shut.
33
The cold sank into my bones despite the warm clothes designed to protect me from it. After spending days in the humid warmth of the tunnels, I didn’t know if I would ever be able to tolerate the cold again in the same way. I’d spent my entire life being well-acquainted with the winter and never having enough warmth, but there was something about it now that reached inside me much more easily, as if that cold hollow at my center called to the wind itself.
We’d been walking all day, first in the labyrinth of narrow tunnels that extended through the entirety of the Hollow Mountains. They weren’t the same as the tunnels within the Resistance camp itself, but far smaller and more suffocating. Only wide enough for us to walk in a single-file line, the walls pressed in on us as we passed through. I’d taken in a deep, shuddering breath of frosty air the moment we’d emerged into the sun, more grateful than I could explain for the space at my sides and above my head.
We’d emerged on the other side of the Hollows from where Caelum and I had traveled, the deep chasm of the strait between the Main Continent and the Isle of Ruin at our side. The pathway between the mountain range and the rapidly flowing body of water that stretched on and on left just enough space for us to walk comfortably, without fear of slipping on the snow-covered ground. It was only a dusting, the first hint of the coming cold season that lay atop the grass, but it was enough that we would leave footprints for any who found themselves on the mostly abandoned side of the Hollows.
Caelum walked ahead of me with some of Melian’s personal team, discussing strategy about infiltrating the city. I followed behind at a slower pace with Melian at my side, trying not to walk funny from the unfamiliar feeling of pants covering my legs.
“There’s something off about this Caelum of yours,” she said, knocking into my shoulder with hers as the front row of men walked further ahead. There were still guards of Melian’s at our back, protecting their leader from all threats as the others led Caelum away from whatever she needed to say to me. As if they’d prepared for the conversation she knew we needed to have.
In the time since coming to the Resistance, I’d had a few moments where I’d bonded with Melian despite Caelum’s protests. She was blunt to a fault, but I found I appreciated the fact that she didn’t play games. I always knew where she stood on an issue, for better or worse, and while I didn’t always agree with her stance, I could respect it was one she’d taken for the safety of everyone she was responsible for.
“I’m sure that has nothing to do with the fact that you know we’ve been intimate, and that I’ve not taken any of your men to my bed, despite your warnings about getting too attached,” I said, turning a saccharine smile her way.
She snorted, huffing back a laugh as she lifted a hand and flicked me on the nose. “Such a smart tongue. It will get you into trouble one of these days.”
“It already has,” I laughed.
“But I am serious, Estrella. I don’t trust him, and I’m not certain you should either,” she said pointedly, watching as Caelum guided one of her men through a move he used often in their sparring sessions, continuing to walk as he did it with a coordination I envied.
“You don’t have to, because I do. He sacrificed himself to save me multiple times. How could I not trust him after that?” I asked.
“Have you ever known a man who could single handedly destroy a cave beast? You didn’t see the carnage after that fight, but I did. There was nothing left, Estrella. He reduced the creature to strips of meat not even fit for a stew,” she argued.
A cool wind kissed my cheeks as we strolled through a break in the tree line. We wouldn’t arrive in Calfalls until the next day, and the prospect of enduring another one of her lectures sounded more exhausting than trekking through Nothrek itself.
“His Viniculum protected him, and he’s gifted with a sword. Those are hardly crimes, and you don’t seem hesitant to use them to your advantage when it suits you. Otherwise, we wouldn’t be out here accompanying you to Calfalls,” I said, glancing over at her. “If you don’t trust him so much, why did you bring us?”
“Better to keep an eye on him myself than leave him with my people,” she said, kicking the snow with her boots as she walked. “If anyone should suffer the consequences of trusting the wrong man and allowing him into our midst, it should be the ones who made the choice in the first place. It should be you and I.”
I reached out, gathering a clump of snow off the stone side of the mountain. It melted against the fabric of the gloves Melian had lent me, the unique flakes disappearing quickly. “What is it that you think he’s going to do exactly? Kill me? He’s had hundreds of opportunities. Give me to the Mist Guard? He could have easily done that before we arrived at the mountains. There is no other purpose or ulterior motive. He just wants to be with me. Is that really so hard to believe?” I asked, letting a rare moment of vulnerability shine through.