The War of Two Queens (Blood and Ash 4)

“We were trying to catch fish with our hands,” he finished for me. “Malik had dared us. I don’t even know why I thought about that. Just popped into my head.” He paused. “That’s not all you saw.”

“No.”

There was no hint of embarrassment in his features. No shame. “You’re going to be irritated.”

I didn’t think I was capable of feeling that at the moment. “Why?”

“When I realized you were in my head, I changed what I was thinking about,” he said, and I wondered if those rapid, brief images I couldn’t catch was him flipping through his memories. “I thought of the beach on purpose. Figured it would shock you.”

“Jerk,” I muttered.

“But the thing is,” he continued as if he hadn’t heard me, “I don’t think it shocked you at all. I think it intrigued you.”

I’d been wrong.

I was capable of feeling annoyance. I started to let go of his arm when I noticed that his wound still seeped blood.

Sliding my fingers closer to the cut he’d made, I felt a kind of tingling warmth dancing down my arms that wasn’t all that different from how his blood made me feel. A soft, silvery glow radiated over his forearm, seeping into the cut he’d made.

Kieran jerked a little. “That feels…different.”

I realized I had never healed Kieran before. “Does it feel bad?”

“No.” His throat worked on a swallow.

“Let’s hope you never have to feel that again.” I let go of his arm, and he looked down at his wrist. There was nothing but a thin line of blood that he quickly wiped away, revealing a faint pink mark that would likely be gone by morning.

“You’re not going to acknowledge what I said about you being intrigued?” he asked.

“Nope.” I scooted back on the bedroll and lay down on my side.

Grinning, he looked up from his arm. “You going to pretend that you don’t know I was watching the both of you and that you and Casteel were watching us?”

“Yep.” I closed my eyes. My heart was slowing, so was the thrumming in my blood. “You’re welcome, by the way. For healing your cut.”

There was a soft snort as I felt him move. I heard the click of the lantern turning off and then the sound of him undressing. A few moments later, I felt him lay down beside me in his wolven form. Then I fell asleep and slept deeply.

But I didn’t find Casteel.

Chapter 22

The gray of dusk had long since given way to the sun as we continued riding west and to the south. The sunken earthen road known as the Western Pass was nestled between heavily wooded land that bordered the outer Rises of both Three Rivers and Whitebridge.

Kieran and I rode beside the wagon led by Reaver. We’d been silent most of the morning. All of us were alert, our muscles tense. We’d already passed one group of Huntsmen. I kept my head down, the wide-brimmed hat and cloak shielding my face as I kept my senses open, searching for any signs of suspicion. There had been none as they nodded and hurried on, more focused on getting to their next location than looking at us too closely. No one wanted to linger outside a Rise, not even with many hours of daylight left.

I glanced over at Kieran. He was staring into the woods. Nothing had been awkward or weird between us when I woke that morning. It wasn’t like I was pretending I hadn’t fed from him. It just wasn’t a thing. Following his gaze, I squinted as I searched through the glistening leaves. It had rained that morning. Not long, but enough to leave puddles in the road. Through the trees, I saw that land had been cleared at the foot of the Rise for farming. We caught glimpses of people, their backs bent as they worked the fields.

“Are they children?” Reaver asked, having checked out what we were looking at.

They were too far away for me to tell for sure. “It wouldn’t be uncommon if so.”

“Should they not be in some sort of learning institute?”

“Not every child receives an education,” I told him, realizing that Reaver would have no knowledge of what life was like in Solis. “Only those who can afford to send their children to school do, and that’s not many. So, a lot of the children take on work, some as young as ten years of age. They end up in the fields until they can learn a trade or enter training to guard the Rise.”

“That is…” Reaver trailed off.

“Awful?” I supplied for him.

“And Atlantia? Is it no different?”

“It’s completely different,” Kieran answered. “All children are educated.”

“No matter their wealth?” the draken questioned.

“There’s not a wealth gap like there is here in Solis. Atlantia takes care of their people, whether or not they can work or what skills and trades they have learned.”