Page 10 of Shadow Kissed
“Hold tight, little Asen,” their Lord Commander whispers in my ear, making me jump. He orders his mare to move, and it takes off at speed through the forest, causing me to lean back into his chest. I try to keep my spine ramrod straight so I’m not touching him, but the speed these mares travel at makes that impossible.
“They’re fast,” I comment, my hands twitching at my sides with the need to grip on to something. I jerk in surprise when he takes my hands and places them on the reins next to his. These mares are nothing like our own. They are at least two feet taller, and their fur is the darkest shade of black I have ever seen. It glistens and moves as if made from shadows.
“They can go faster than this,” he tells me. “This is nothing compared to what they can do.”
“I’ll take your word for it,” I reply with wide eyes. This is more than fast enough for me. Any faster and I think I may havebeen leaning over the side and bringing up last night’s food. We remain silent for the rest of the journey to their camp. I’m tired, but the speed of the mares and the unnerving presence of the man behind me keeps me awake. I’m shocked when we arrive at the camp at the sheer size of their travelling party. There are well over a hundred men, some shadow borne soldiers and others, young Asen men who have enlisted in their army. No one really takes any notice when we enter the encampment. Raegal jumps down from his horse. Before I can protest, his hands wrap around my waist, and he lifts me down and deposits me on my feet.
“Tafar,” he shouts out to one of his men. “Fetch a blanket.” The older man bobs his head and returns a second later with a thick woollen blanket, handing it to his master. “For the cold,” he says, offering it to me with a frown.
“Thanks,” I say begrudgingly as I drape it around my shoulders and embrace its warmth. My eyes linger on a warm open fire, and I long to warm myself by it.
“Sit by the fire,” he gruffly suggests. “I’ll get Jasiel to bring you some warm broth.” With one last frown my way, he turns and strides away into a large tent guarded by two soldiers. Benefit of being the boss, I guess is you get the biggest tent.
“Take a seat, miss,” Jasiel says, coming up beside me and guiding me to a log by the fireside. He offers me a bowl of steaming broth and I gladly accept it, and cup it between my hands, savouring the heat. My fingers feel like icicles.
My eyes are drawn to the tent Raegal entered. No doubt he eats alone in there, not willing to slum it with his soldiers. Of course, he chooses that moment to exit his tent and catches me staring. I quickly avert my eyes and concentrate on my broth.
He comes and takes a seat beside Jasiel, who hands him a bowl of broth. Other soldiers gather around the campfire, and I listen quietly as they all talk amongst themselves. “Is the brothwarming you, miss?” the young soldier who was part of my rescue party asks me. He looks to be around seventeen. Far too young to be fighting in a war.
“It’s perfect, thank you,” I tell him. “I’d been in the woods for hours before you arrived, so the cold had chilled my bones.”
“You will give me the name of the person who did this to you,” Raegal says, not lifting his eyes from his food. “They left you out there to die and they must pay for their crimes.”
“I survived. Let’s just leave it be.” The last thing I need is all of Terleigh finding out I was tricked because I thought I was meeting Arkynn, and he was going to declare his love for me. Who is he to demand I give him a name?
My eyes snatch up to meet his when he snickers. “Survived? Without our rescue, you would have been killed. That dagger in your back pocket wouldn’t have saved you, either.”
How did he know about my dagger? My hand subconsciously touches the side of my hip to check it is still there.
“I could feel it against my thigh when we were riding,” he explains as if he somehow knows what I am thinking.
“It’s just someone with a grudge. Who doesn’t like that someone like me was chosen to be Shadow Kissed,” I offer him.
His eyes meet mine across the fire, the light from the flames making the paleness of his eyes glisten. “Someone like you?” They almost look silver in this light. They are mesmerising.
I bob my shoulders. “You know, a person who would not exactly be considered as being beautiful.”
I look up when I notice the surrounding silence. Jasiel mutters something under his breath and shakes his head whilst Raegal just stares at me with an unreadable expression on his face.
“Jealousy is a nasty trait,” Jasiel says, placing his empty bowl down and stretching out. “Finor, fetch a jug of ale, will you? It’sbeen a long day and I’m ready for some ale and some music. Orym, play us something.”
Finor gets to his feet and rushes off in search of ale. “He’s young to be fighting,” I say as I watch his retreating figure.
“He wanted to enlist at seventeen. No one made him,” Raegal informs me. He’s finished his broth, and he stands up and takes off his cloak. Revealing muscled arms, decorated with intricate black swirling tattoos up his biceps. I wasn’t wrong about my initial assessment of his physique. He is a wall of solid muscle.
Finor returns with the ale and offers out cups to everyone. When he offers me one, I accept it, curious to try their own ale. I swirl the drink around in the cup and sniff.
“Its good ale, trust me,” Jasiel says with a grin as he takes a large drink and sighs in satisfaction.
“It’s from your realm?” I ask. It’s definitely not one we’ve ever served in Terleigh.
“It is. Much better than the crap you Asen’s drink,” he teases, lifting his mug in the air. “You’ll never taste better.”
I take a curious sip of my drink and swirl it around in my mouth before swallowing. Jasiel looks at me expectantly. “It’s good,” I agree.
Orym returns with a small wooden flute and starts up a lively tune, and some soldiers around the campfire sing along. Soon, they’re up dancing and enjoying the merriment. Jasiel jumps to his feet and stands in front of me, offering out his hand. “Miss, we can’t have a pretty girl around our fire who isn’t dancing.”
I decline, shaking my head, but he arches a brow at me as if to say he won’t take no for an answer. I begrudgingly slip my hand into his and allow him to pull me up. He places an arm at my waist, his other holding my hand in his, and we dance around the fire. He twirls me and has me laughing as we dance faster. I catch his commander watching us with a strange expression onhis face. I look back up at Jasiel to see he caught me watching his commander.