no pull in any direction when I searched the land.
I had no magic, not even a spark when I’d almost been raped. Maybe just maybe, I was only a farm girl from Alger. The one thing that had changed was hairy. And that would be back before I knew it.
I was still weak. I was admitting that against my own wishes.
I’d hoped I could get rid of the naive, but that was to be reviewed at a later date. And I still had that nasty word tacked on, the one that gave me a bad taste in my mouth: killer.
I knew it was silly to feel guilty about something I didn’t do. But I was softer than I ever knew until this journey. Although I had a feeling that side of me wouldn’t last long. The deaths—they were because of me; there was no disputing that.
Every step we took further from Undaley, the larger the cold sweat covering my skin spread. Maybe I wasn’t playing the damsel in distress the best.
Her mind as strong as her body weak.
I had a plan.
One I wouldn’t think about with the ears in my head.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
AN ASSASSIN’S AMUSEMENT
“Why do we always have to go off the path?” We once again took a detour that nobody else seemed to be taking. “It never ends up being any good,” I told Weston as we stopped at the end of the forest to water the horses.
“I think that’s mainly because of you.”
I scoffed. “You’re the one forcing me on this sadistic trip of yours.”
“Does it look like I’m forcing you?” he asked with some amusement and something else in his eyes that I wasn’t going to lie, frightened me.
I raised a brow. “Oh, so I can leave then?”
“The world is your oyster. Go ahead, Princess.”
I watched him for a moment in a heavy silence.
“I don’t like this,” I said uneasily.
“What?” he asked with mischief lacing his voice.
I shook my head. “I’m not playing whatever game this is.”
“No game. Go on.” He gestured towards the field in front of us.
“Weston . . .” I growled. I was going to kill him for dangling the fruit in front of my face, just to pull it away.
“You couldn’t make it out here alone, admit it, Princess.”
“Stop calling me Princess!” He made me so angry that I could scream, but not from that stupid nickname he called me; that was just an annoyance. I was angry that he was right. And because I might have had anger issues—which I was sure ran in the family—which I would be chastising Grandmother about if I ever saw her again. Because those pesky issues might have made me make some decisions that didn’t have self-preservation anywhere near them.
“Your thoughts give me a severe headache,” he said with a sigh.
“Yea, well, you give me a severe headache.”
Real mature, Calamity.
He crossed his arms. “I’ll tell you what. If you can make it across this field, then I will escort you to Undaley myself.”
I blinked, not believing it. “What?”