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I tried to move, thankfully it didn’t hurt that much that time, but with the way pain coiled around my spine I knew I wouldn’t be able to get off that wagon let alone travel more than a few steps without help. Even then, I couldn’t go anywhere without my weapons.
“I need my blades.” I was back to snarling.
“You will have them when you leave us,” he waved his hand to the side as though it was nothing. “But you cannot leave us yet.”
“I can.” I winced in yet another attempt to rise, my damn body having to make its own point.
“Perhaps. But I propose another option.” He paused, again I said nothing. “Travel with us while you heal. Help with the horses, the wagons, whatever we need. Call it a payment for helping you. Then when we reach our destination, I will retrieve your blades and you can be on your way.”
He sat there, leaning in his chair with that damn grin plastered on his face. He knew I had no choice; I could barely move as is and with my magic as weak as it was, I was truly trapped.
“What is your destination?” The words snarled through my clenched teeth.
“The Temple of the Sister.” He leaned closer at my answer. “I hear there is to be a wedding. I dare say you might find both of what you seek there.”
His eyes darkened as he sat, staring into me. I had only seen that look once before, in the Fae King right before he had struck. Still, there was nothing from him. Nothing but the insanity of a religious zealot.
“Why should I trust you?” I snarled, pushing his hand away that time and sending water sloshing over his stained breeches. “I don’t even know who you are.”
“I am called Ryndle,” he said, leaning back over to wipe at my wound. “It means Truth.”
I nearly laughed at that. Somehow the name seemed fitting with how he was able to pull answers from me. Pull truth that I had never given.
“Truth as in you tell it, or truth as in you steal it?” I made to push his hand away again, but he shifted back before I could, the smile that had been plastered on his face shifting to something devious. The look was gone in one swing of the lanterns’ light.
“I told you, Caspyn light bringer. Names have meaning. It is how you choose to wear them that their power becomes clear to you. Perhaps when you accept your name you will see that. But for now, you may make of my name what you see fit. For me? I dare say it means you can trust me.”
“Why? Because I have no choice?” My attempt at a laugh came out as a growl.
“No, because fate has led you to us.”
I didn’t shift fast enough to hide the shock and pain that lanced over me at that.
Chapter 25
Caspyn
Everything hurt when I woke up the next morning, although not as much as it had before. Thankfully, the damp smell of wet food and sweat had been replaced with soil and an herb I had smelled far too often through my years. It was the same one Jayse had used to patch me up on more than a few occasions. Of course, just thinking of her brought with it a whole different ache, the hollowness in my chest ripping open. I winced as the same cold cloth ran over my wound.
“Oh my,” a woman gasped, her voice soft as though she was talking to me, but also trying not to wake me. “It doesn’t hurt that much, does it? I’m sorry, I’ll be more gentle.”
“You would think with all the scars on him that nothing would hurt him,” another voice piped up, this one noticeably younger and male.
“Look at this one,” the young male whispered as he ran his finger over a particularly long scar that stretched across my chest. With how fast the touch left and the hiss from the woman his hand had clearly been batted away.
“Shhh Ziah, he could hear you,” she hissed, as though she hadn’t been talking to me.
“Hear me?” the boy, Ziah, chuckled. “He’s slept through everything you’ve done to him so far. I doubt he’d wake up from me touching a scar. Besides, look at it…”
“Ryndle said to guard, not touch.” A soft cloth moved over my abdomen, her hands tugging and pulling as she removed the bandage that was there. Her fingers were warm as they grazed over my abdomen, each touch sending waves of heat right to my core. Right to where my magic was lying in wait.
It was the same as before, the low rumbling of my power circling through my body under my skin. I could feel each power individually, feel the heat, the cold, and the darkness of them. They were stronger than before, even if the sensations were still muted and healing.
Her fingers slid over my side, her hands warm against my back as she shifted and rolled me.
“You seem to be doing a fine job of touching, regardless,” my voice was as scratchy and rough as it had been before, the snap hollow in my lingering fury. The woman yelped and jumped back, leaving me to flop to my back after she had lifted me to wrap the bandage around my abdomen.
I hissed, grinding my teeth together as pain lanced through my gut. Still, it was not as bad as it had been, the ripples dissipating almost as soon as they had come. I could work with this.
