Page 86 of The Death King
I threw the matches at him. “Fuck off.”
“You have no wilderness skills—and there’s nothing wrong with that. Take this opportunity to learn. Why is that so hard for you?”
“It’s not.” It was just hard to accept my teacher. I’d never learned these skills because I’d lost my father at fifteen and my mother even younger. My father would have taught me how to take his place once he was gone—but I never got that chance. I was at the mercy of the men I encountered—including the one who took everything away.
He picked up the matches from the ground. “Then can I teach you?”
It was so hard to accept his help. To accept that I needed him. To accept the fact that I was outfitted in beautiful armor and a powerful weapon because he gave them to me. That sex was the most enjoyable thing I’d ever known…and no longer the most heinous thing I’d ever suffered. “Yes.”
“First of all, we need to build a bed for the campfire. If you leave the logs directly on the ground, they’ll absorb the moisture from the soil. Grab a couple rocks.” We broke apart and gathered all the stones we could find before we piled them on the ground. Talon placed the logs on top and then prepared to light the match. “It’s not about the speed of the strike—but the pressure.” He swiped the match across the edge in a smooth glide, and the tip caught a spark. “It’s about the friction.” He tucked the match inside the logs and watched the fire slowly rise until it was ablaze.
I didn’t say thank you. Couldn’t bring myself to do it.
He didn’t seem to expect a display of gratitude because he turned away. He looked up into the trees, the sky gray from the blanket of clouds. Despite the cloud coverage, it was still bright enough to make my eyes wince. “No sign of him.”
“You think he’s still here?”
“Not sure. He may have been passing through…or he calls this place home.”
“It’d be a good place for a dragon to hide, with the overcast skies and the fog.”
“I had the same thought.” He turned back to me. “Are you hungry? I can hunt.”
“No, I’m fine.”
He moved to the log and took a seat, arms on his knees, his cape falling elegantly behind him. His spine was as straight as if he sat on a high-backed throne. His hands came together, and he stared at the fire, immediately lost in thought. For a man used to the luxuries of a king, he fit into the wilderness perfectly.
I moved to the other log he’d brought and sat down. “Where did you learn all this?”
He lifted his chin and looked at me.
“Make a fire, hunt, fell a tree…stuff like that.”
He watched me for a while as his eyes glazed over. Then he looked at the fire once more. “My father. He said a king should be able to stand on his own two feet with nothing, that it’s not the crown that grants him power, but who he is as a man. I didn’t want to learn his teachings, would resist him every time he tried, but he dragged me from the castle into the wilderness for days at a time. I resented him for it. But then one day, my world changed…and I’d be dead right now without everything he taught me.”
It was the first time he’d told me something so personal, and I squeezed those words like a sponge, desperate to savor every drop. “You’re a descendant of kings.”
He stared at the fire. “Yes.”
I wanted to know more. To know everything. But I was afraid to push him too far. “Where is home to you?”
“South—across the Northern Sea.”
“How far away?”
“Very, very far away. The journey by boat lasts months.”
“And how did you end up here?”
He stared at the fire, the silence falling.
I could tell by his energy that the conversation was over, that he’d shared as much as he was willing.
I looked at the fire too, feeling the cold air against my neck, smelling the drops of moisture with every breath. It was a different kind of cold than I’d felt at the castle. It was dry there, but here, it was humid, like the humidity after a warm shower…except it was cold.
“Do you eat bear?”
My head slowly turned back to him at the question. “Sorry?”