Her face paled, and she spun away. “This place is sacred and the Outlander’s don’t come here. They won’t find us. They can’t.”
“Cassie.” I touched her arm, but she shot up from the cot, brushing me off.
“Don’t.” She sniffed, and wiping her eyes on the back of her hand, swept out of the tent.
Flinching, I fell back onto the soft blankets and stared up at the canvas ceiling. I wanted her words to be true. I wanted to live in the fantasy world she’d constructed in her head, but I couldn’t. No matter how badly I wanted to, I had obligations to fulfill and promises to keep. I couldn’t stay here.
The last thing I’d wanted to do was hurt the person I loved most in the world, but no matter how much I wanted her dream to be true, sooner than later we were all going to have to wake up.
21
Needs and Understanding
Istaredacrosstheash-filled fire pit, watching Ryker work on whittling arrow shafts. The bright afternoon sun filtered through the canopy of green leaves overhead, painting strokes of light across his skin, but offering little warmth against the chill of the mountain air. Ryker’s hands moved in deft, precise motions, sloughing the excess wood off and finishing the piece in his hands. He placed it into the neat stack of perfect shafts on his other side. My gaze moved back to the pile of gathered wood beside me.
“This is hopeless.” I sighed, trying not to let my irritation at my own inadequacies show. I set down the half shaved stick I’d been working on for the better part of an hour. Ryker’s lip quirked up at the corner, but I ignored it. Stabbing my borrowed knife into the ground, I stood up from the log I was sitting on. I stretched my arms over my head and shook some feeling back into my tingling legs.
“Did you do a lot of this type of stuff back home?” I pulled my fur-lined cloak tighter around my shoulders and shuffled around the campfire to stand beside him.
Ryker stopped whittling and used his hand to shield his eyes from the sun. “I did when I was younger, but when I was old enough to scout and hunt, I didn’t have a lot of time left to devote to more idle pursuits.”
“What was your home like?” I crouched next to him, using one of his untouched sticks to draw divine symbols in the dirt.
He tilted his head, watching me for a moment before turning his attention back to the wood in his hands. “Why so many questions all of a sudden? You can drop the act, Princess. There’s no one around to watch you pretend to care or show interest in me.”
Heat rushed to my face, and I sighed. Would he ever call me by my name? “I’m not acting. Is it a crime to genuinely want to know more about who you are?”
Ryker lifted an eyebrow, but didn’t look up. “I’m not sure what the point is.” His words were like a blow to the stomach, and I pushed down the pain they caused.
“Thepointis now that we’re no longer enemies, maybe it wouldn’t hurt to try and be friends?”
Ryker’s lip twitched as if he were amused, and he shook his head. “It’s not like I’ll be here long enough to find out—”
“Wait, what—”
“Kaleah!”
I shot Ryker one last confused look—our discussion far from finished—and glanced up. Cassie and Alex approached through the white woods astride Coal. “How was your little scouting trip?” I straightened, meeting them at the edge of the clearing. Alex hugged Cassie from behind, offering me a brilliant smile as my sister rubbed her mittened hands together, eyes gleaming.
“Besides cold? It was amazing. This place is beautiful!”
That was the understatement of the century. There wasn’t a fit word to accurately describe the fascinating wonders surrounding us. The pure white trees, their lofty branches overflowing with peculiar fruit of every color under the sun. The crystal clear river, its bed lined with chunks of gold and rough gems of staggering proportions. The animals, the imps and pixies, the mini fire lizards—I’d even spotted a pegasus. Although they kept their distance, they didn’t seem to fear us.
“I’m glad you enjoyed yourself. Did you find whatever it was you were looking for?” I asked.
A sly grin curled her lips. “As a matter of fact, we did! Come see.”
“Don’t you want to take a break first?”
“Nope.” She chuckled.
“If you can’t tell, she’s excited.” Alex brushed a loose strand of gold hair from my sister’s face.
“Alright, let’s go see what the big deal is.” I sidled up to Arrow, who’d appeared on the edge of the clearing to greet her other feathered companion, and she nudged me with her beak. “Will we be flying much?”
“Just up the side of the cliff,” Alex said. “Not fast or far enough to worry about a saddle if you don’t want to.”
A thrill of excitement threaded up my spine, and I ducked back into the tent, grabbing just my griffin’s bridal. Arrow accepted the bit like a champ, and I fastened the headpiece behind her ears. I slipped to her side, her broad withers higher than my head and took a deep breath. Bending my knees, I gripped a clump of her neck feathers and attempted to vault onto her bare back like I’d seen Marshal and Alex do a million times before. I fell pathetically short of my mark and struggled to throw my leg over her back. Arrow squawked in reproach as I yanked on her feathers, shying away and sending me sprawling in the dirt. All breath left me, and I sat up, gasping for air.