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Now, she needed to go now.
Her steps were soft and skilled as she made her way through the thicket with little sound to give her away. To move so quietly though was a slow approach. She slipped into the shadows, her footprints getting swallowed by fresh snow as she went. Their voices grew louder.
“We can’t move him!” Someone was shouting. “Not quickly.”
“She’s here, Merritt. Do you not understand? We’re all dead if we can’t get out of here.” That was Remis.
“Leave me then.” A third pained voice.
“I’m not leaving you!” Remis snarled, a dark threatening anger that sent a delighted spark of warmth through Meira’s body. Dragons, her body lit up like a bonfire, her core tightening with the sound. It’s only the curse, she tried to tell herself.
Meira pressed against another tree. Her chest rose and fell with the quickening of her breath. She’d heard three voices, including Remis. And she was only yards away. Peeking around the tree trunk, she caught a slight flicker of movement. The cloak Remis wore billowed behind him as he began pacing, his gaze flicking up into the woods a moment later. She hid herself behind the tree, not certain if she’d been seen.
“What do we do then?” Remis asked, his voice filled with defeat.
Good.
“Fight her?” the one he’d called Merritt said softly.
“You think you can fight a witch? Her magic might have you bound before you can even pull your sword.”
The trio was quiet once again. There was a rustling as though they were moving, shifting against the brush, but the sound of the movement never went far.
With her heart hammering in her chest, Meira took the last few steps that separated her and these men. She didn’t bother to mask these final footfalls because as quickly as she’d slipped around the tree she was at Remis’ throat, the tip of her blade poised against his flesh.
He pierced her with the never-ending depth of his gaze, his hands lifting from his sides. Behind him, both of his friends had gone utterly still. Meira only spared them a quick glance, to evaluate what sort of threat they might pose. One had thick bits of branches tied to his leg and leaned into the other man. The uninjured one let his hand stray to the hilt of a sword at his hips.
Her attention flicked back over to Remis, a sword resting against his belt. The worry that had tinted his words only moments before melted away from him as he stared at her, his eyes tracing her features as if he were memorizing them. Heat flooded her cheeks and suddenly she wanted to pull her face cover down, to hide from his curiosity and…approval?
Remis’ lips tipped up into a smile. A smile. She frowned in response.
“I was wondering when you might show yourself.” His throat bobbed, nearly catching against her blade, but he continued. Gone was that panicked tone from moments ago. “My name is Nikremis but my friends call me Remis. Though you know that. And your name is?”
“We are not friends.” Meira scoffed.
“We could be.” His smile widened as he leaned forward, letting her sword dig into his neck until a trickle of blood welled. “Or will you cut this friendship short and have me dead now?”
His arrogance threatened to pull a smile from her. She fought the urge by sinking her teeth into her lower lip and his attention flared as he followed the movement.
She should kill him. That was the entire point of the curse, wasn’t it? But with the majority of her memories still evading her, she couldn’t know why she ought to kill him. So close to him now she could feel life thrumming through him as surely as she could feel the magic coursing through this planet.
“If I kill you now that will end all of this fun we’re having.” She let the tip of her blade tip his chin upward giving her a pleasant view of the cut of his jaw. “Isn’t this fun, Remis?”
He let out a slow breath. “Almost more than I can bear.”
Now that she’d finally caught him, she wasn’t exactly sure what she should do with him. Did she actually want to kill him or was that strictly the curse telling her she should? The bigger question was why the curse existed in the first place. She couldn’t turn off the wheel of thoughts that warned her that there was more to this, that she was missing vital information.
“You’ll live. For now.” She lowered her sword. “Try anything and you’ll not get a second chance.” Tilting her head she motioned toward his friends. “Who are these two?”
“My friends.” A muscle in his jaw flexed.
“Do your friends have names?”
“Not ones that should matter at all to you. I’m the one you want, aren’t I?”
Meira narrowed her gaze on him, prowling a step closer. Remis stood taller, squaring his shoulders but didn’t reach for his weapon. To his credit, he didn’t look as fearful as he’d sounded when she’d seen him before. Men had pissed their pants in front of her knowing that she was a scale rider but the fear of witches was often triple that. She expected him to quiver at the end of her sword. Instead, he’d leaned into the blade as if begging her to slit his throat.
She swallowed, hating that flutter in her gut. Did she find this insanity attractive? Dragons, why was her skin so flushed? Why was he watching her with such intensity in those wicked onyx eyes of his? This was not a man afraid of death. This was a man who came to face his destiny.
