Chapter 14
I looked at the three Plegian pegasus riders, my brain quickly coming to terms with the new revelations of the past few hours. A passable plan formed in my head, and I stepped forward to start issuing orders.
"Okay girls, we need to- HURK!"
Raven latched onto my arm, dragging me back towards her and cutting me off…
"You need to go and help the locals with whatever they need," Raven said quickly. "Anna, you help them get settled, but don't give out any of our water. The three of you can do exactly what Anna says. My lover and I are not to be interrupted for anything short of fire raining from the sky, am I clear? Good."
… and dragging me back towards the tent Anna had set up. I caught a glimpse of the predatory gleam in her eye, and a genetic fear impulse activated in my brain.
"Oh god don't let her take me!" I wailed. "Anna! Anna, save me!"
The redhead just snickered and waved a little as the three new members of our company watched on in confusion.
"Nooooooo! I do not consent! I DO NOT CONSENT!"
"Shut up and get in the tent," Raven growled.
She flung me into the tent and onto the row of bedrolls, and I spun to land on my back. As I looked up Raven was already closing the canvas flaps, and I could hear Anna laughing in the distance.
"Please don't do it on my bedroll!" she called.
Then Raven was on top of me, straddling my hips as she pulled her desert robes off over her head. She'd taken off her shirt at some point during our travels, and wore only her chemise under the robes. Not surprising, I reasoned, considering she hadn't been able to use her cooling spell in the last few days…
My thoughts were derailed as she began tugging at my shirt, and I had to swat her hands away.
"Hey, hey! This is my last shirt, be gentle!" I huffed, pulling the shirt over my head and tossing it into a corner of the tent.
As soon as the shirt was clear of my head, Raven shoved me back down smiling ear to ear.
"Oh god…" I groaned, half in arousal and half in terror.
"Yes?" Raven asked innocently.
"Just… be gentle…" I sighed.
"Mmmm… no," she said.
And then, just to make her point, Raven raked her fingernails down my chest to my stomach.
"OH GOD!" I half-screamed.
"I like to think," Raven said tugging her chemise over her head. "that I've been very patient these last few weeks. I haven't begged. I haven't pressed the issue. But I also haven't fed in weeks, aside from that little snack earlier today, and I hunger."
The way her eyes flashed red as she said the words 'I hunger' almost got me off alone, I swear to god…
"Wouldn't you agree?" she asked.
Raven sat on my hips, looking down at me with her top half bared, lit from behind by the firelight coming in through the loose weave of the canvas.
"See, now I feel like the asshole for depriving you," I said.
"As well you should," Raven chuckled.
She leaned down to trail kisses up my shoulder and neck, stopping at my jaw.
"Pants," she demanded, her voice a husky whisper in my ear.
And my pants were around my ankles before I knew what I was doing. I blinked a few times in amazement, not even remembering undoing my belt, it striking me once again that although she was often lazy about it, Raven did technically have the charisma of a god. And Robin, which had always been super-effective against me.
Raven just grinned, her eyes actually glowing now in the dimness of the tent just above my face, and I gulped heavily as she began to very slowly undo the buckle of her own belt.
"Oh my god just have your way with me!" I half-shouted.
Raven chuckled, the sound a low growl in her throat as she slithered out of her pants above me, holding herself up with a hand on my chest the entire time.
"Well then, if you insist," she grinned.
And then we fucked.
Or, to be more accurately, she fucked me.
I… honestly wasn't used to being the one on the bottom.
It was awesome.
I yawned as I settled in next to the fire, wearing only my black vest over my bare chest, the scintillating scent of roasting meat making my mouth water after nearly a month of road rations. The sun was just starting to crest the horizon, meaning that the mountain plateau we were camped on was still bathed in darkness, a strip of sky the color of an old bruise being the only indication of the oncoming dawn.
Around me, the rest of my little travel party sat or stood, with the exception of Raven, who was still passed out in her bedroll with a contented smile on her face. Across the fire from us, a few of the local nomads sat around pots and portable grills as they prepared breakfast for the rest of their tribe, happily roasting flatbreads to go with the meat we'd supplied them.
Sitting beside me, the youngest of the three Plegian defectors, Deneia, gave a pitiful sniffle as she eyed the hunk of meat on the plate in front of her. Tear streaks reflected the firelight on her face, the poor girl only just having stopped sobbing.
"Hey, you had to know this would end up happening," I shrugged, taking a big bite of the pegasus meat I was holding. "The same thing's gonna end up happening to the other two, too, so don't feel too bad. We just don't have the resources to take care of them."
Deneia nodded slowly, sniffling again and not looking at me.
I'd killed her pegasus and butchered it at the edge of the plateau. So she wasn't overly happy with me right now. The nomads, on the other hand, were ecstatic at the thought of fresh meat. In fact, a knot of the tribe's women were still cutting hunks off the carcass to dry as jerky while we travelled. It was fascinating the way they wrapped the cuts of meat and just left them hanging off the sides of their carts, but I digress. We had breakfast. It was no bacon, but it was fresh and juicy, if a little tough.
"For what it's worth, your mount tastes pretty good," I said.
"Not helping," Anna snorted.
"Not trying to," I shrugged. "We're trying to survive here. Sacrifices gotta be made."
"I… I understand, milord," Deneia said softly. "It is just… something of a shock."
"Pegasai are a status symbol in Plegia," the older Layne explained. "The air corps is a very prestigious posting. Our… mounts are our lives."
"And they will continue to be your lives as they feed and sustain you," I said. "Be grateful I didn't suggest we drink its blood, too. Waste of good water, letting all that blood just soak into the ground…"
"Ugh, what is it with you and the blood!?" Anna gagged.
"Water! Desert! Do you not see the connection?" I said. "We're not that desperate yet, but we may well be before we get to the capital. According to the locals, there's one more oasis on the other side of the mountains and then that's it! Sand dunes as far as the eye can see until we hit the capital. And with so much of the army milling around, we can't risk going on the main road, so we gotta take a longer side route! So get used to the idea of a little vampire play, or get used to the idea of dying of thirst."
"I think I would rather die of thirst," Deneia muttered sulkily.
"Deneia, hush," Layne chided. "We all agreed we would do what we must to survive."
"Yes, but I thought that would mean allowing him to have his way with me, not murder my pegasus!" Deneia snapped.
I yawned again, using the movement to fill my mouth with more pegasus.
"Did you not sleep, sir?" Sune asked from behind me.
I glanced back at her, frowning a little.
"I'll sleep while we're moving," I explained. "I like to keep watch at night."
"I really don't pay you enough…" Anna muttered from my other side.
"You don't pay me at all," I scoffed.
"Yet," Anna grinned. "I don't pay you yet."
"I will take the watch tonight, sir," Sune offered.
"And you I don't trust yet," I shot back to her.
Sune actually wilted under my glare, her gaze dropping and her shoulders drooping as she tried to make herself look as small as possible.
"And I'm really not on board with this whole 'milord'-'sir'-honorific bullshit," I went on. "I'm not helping you from the goodness of my heart, you're gonna fucking work for it. So sit down, shut up and drink your goddamned tea."
"What tea!?" Anna asked exasperatedly.
"Sorry," I said, clearing my throat. "I got a little carried away there. Everyone eat their breakfast. That includes you, Deneia. Eat up."
"I can't eat my friend!" she cried, looking up at me. "I'm sorry, but I just can't! He wasn't just a mount, he was my friend!"
"And now," I said slowly, taking a big bite of my own meat for emphasis. "He's breakfast. And probably lunch and dinner for the next day or two, depending on how we cook and ration him. Circle of life."
Deneia gave a choked sob, burying her face in her hands.
"I should have stayed with the army!" she wept.
As Layne moved over to hold the weeping girl's shoulders Anna leaned over to me, whispering conspiratorially.
"You're being kinda harsh," she pointed out.
I spared the girl a glance while Layne reminded her that they had all agreed on this course, no matter the cost, before looking back to Anna with a shrug.
"One, they tried to kill us," I pointed out. "Twice. And two, we can't coddle them the way the Plegian Army did. We just don't have the resources. In fact, I was gonna trade you to the locals for food before they came along."
"But we still have rations!" Anna gasped.
"And I'm sick of them," I deadpanned, turning back to my breakfast. "I'm also kidding. I think you underestimate just how dire a situation you landed us in. This isn't an easy crossing at the best of times, and these are clearly not the best of times. The salt flats were the easy part, Anna. The Dune Sea is going to be bad."
Anna went quiet, leaning away from me. For a moment we continued to eat in silence before she spoke again.
"I really screwed up, didn't I?" she asked.
"Yup," I nodded.
"Well, don't sugar coat it," Anna snorted.
"Hey, we're sitting here eating a pegasus, how am I supposed to sugar-coat this?" I scoffed.
"Please don't remind me I'm eating the animal on Ylisse's coat of arms," Anna sighed.
"Well, what's the animal on Plegia's coat of arms?" I asked with a chuckle. "We'll go looking for that next."
"I think it's actually a dragon," Anna pointed out.
"Shit, dragons are sentient here," I muttered.
We continued to eat in silence, the crackling of the cooking fire we shared with the nomads the only sound for a while as I absently contemplated the morality of eating a manakete. Whatever Anna was thinking was lost on me as I slowly chewed my pegasus meat, and I was content to leave her to her thoughts.
As I finished the last bite of the meat, I set my plate down on the rocky ground, looking up at the sky again as I rose with an old-man-sigh. I ached all over from Raven's 'feeding' last night, the familiar fatigue making me wonder if she was actually shortening my lifespan by draining me.
"I'd better go wake Raven," I said, shelfing thoughts of my own mortality. "You play nice with our new friends, Anna. The rest of you… at ease? I guess? Ah, I don't care… continue loafing or whatever."
I strode away from the fire, back towards the tent we'd set up next to Anna's cart. On the way, I was met by Mikhail as he made his way back from where they were still picking the pegasus carcass clean, the nomad still wiping the creature's blood from his hands as he walked.
"Thank you again for your gift," he said brightly as we crossed paths. "That beast will feed my entire tribe for a week."
"I'm glad you're happy," I nodded, stopping. "I wish I could say the same for all of my group, but such is life."
"Ah yes, the young woman did not take her mount's death well?" Mikhail nodded.
"That's putting it lightly," I snorted. "But, like I told her, we didn't have the resources to waste to keep it alive."
"I understand," Mikhail sighed. "It is hard enough just keeping our camels alive."
"I hear that," I chuckled, nodding to the two camels resting next to Anna's cart. "Ornery creatures spit at me one more time and you'll have even more meat."
Mikhail gave a laugh, slapping me on the back as he stepped past me.
"We are planning to move out as soon as the women are done harvesting the meat and have eaten," he said. "I trust you will still be joining us?"
"Sure," I nodded. "Just need to break camp and we'll be good to go."
The older man nodded and smiled before he turned back to his caravan, and I let out a sigh as I went to go wake up a literal sleeping dragon.
"Wonder what she thinks about eating dragon?" I muttered to myself as I went back to our tent.
I ducked under the canvas flap that Anna had left open, stepping into the still-dark tent. The only other person that had actually used the tent was Anna, and all her stuff was already packed up. The pegasus knight trio had slept with their mounts under the stars with only their thin sleeping bags, and I'd kept watch all night.
Raven lay on her side, curled up around my shirt. I hadn't been able to detangle it from her grip that morning, so I'd just left her to cuddle. She still wore that satisfied little cat-like smile on her face, though, and I felt almost bad about having to wake her up. Deciding that just kicking her awake would be a dick move, I knelt down and placed my hand on her shoulder, gently shaking her a little.
"Hey," I said softly. "Raven. Time to wake up."
Her brow furrowed as she turned her face deeper into my shirt, curling up tighter with a slight, muffled groan. A small smile rose to my face, far gentler than any of the grins or smirks I'd been wearing lately, and I reached down to brush some of the hair from her face. Raven gave a small sigh, and I continued to stroke her hair.
"You'll miss breakfast," I chuckled.
Raven sighed again and cracked open one red-irised eye to weakly glare up at me.
"But this is the best sleep I've had since we started this crossing," she mumbled.
"Sorry," I said, leaning down to place a kiss on her forehead. "If it were up to me, I'd let you sleep, but we're travelling with a group now."
She groaned again, closing her eye and throwing an arm around the back of my neck to pull me down to her bedroll. I laughed as she did so, laying myself out next to her. Raven instantly curled up around me, her bare legs darting out from under her bedroll to wrap around one of mine as she buried her head into my chest with a contented sigh. She was still in a glorious state of undress, having decided to only wear her shirt for warmth.
"Yes, this is much better than your shirt," she mumbled.
"You realize that this is the opposite of getting up, right?" I pointed out.
"Don't care," she sighed, nuzzling against me. "Let them leave without us."
"C'mon, we promised to get Anna safely to the capital," I reminded her.
"Then she can wait for us for a change," Raven moaned. "You're so comfy…"
"You are making this really hard right now," I groaned.
"Now where does that sound familiar from…" Raven chuckled.
"Hey. No," I said. "Bad. Bad former goddess. No morning whoopie. We gotta get on the road."
"I hate you," Raven moaned. "You're so mean to me."
"No, I'm mean to the others," I said, kissing her on the top of the head. "I treat you like a princess."
"Will you dress me so I can have a few more moments in bed?" Raven asked.
I laughed, genuinely laughed, then for the first time in weeks before kissing her head again.
"I said princess, not goddess," I told her with a wide grin.
Raven moaned again swatting my shoulder a few times in weak protest before finally pulling back from me with a sniff.
"Why do you stink like blood?" she asked.
"Killed a pegasus," I answered plainly.
"I'm sure there's a story there," she sighed as she sat up.
With a wide, adorable yawn, Raven began to rake her fingers through her hair, trying to get it into some semblance of presentability. She gave up after a few moments and began reaching for the rest of her clothes.
"Sure," I said, propping my head up on my fist. "It involves me wanting real food for breakfast, and wanting to make sure the new girls knew who was boss."
She smirked over her shoulder at me as she pulled her panties on.
"I love it when you abuse the authority you borrow from me," she said.
"Shut up and put your pants on," I laughed, sitting up now, too.
I moved into a cross-legged position to get comfortable and make sure she didn't try to go back to sleep while I was gone. Again. Raven smirked and turned over onto her hands and knees, crawling towards me with a playful grin and only stopping when her hands were resting on my thighs, pressing her lips to mine in a slow, sultry kiss.
"Are you sure you want me to do that?" she asked when she finally broke the kiss.
"Very sure, princess morning-breath," I laughed. "Now c'mon before Anna comes looking for us."
Raven sat back on her haunches with a pout.
"You're no fun sometimes," she said.
"One of us has to be the responsible one," I grinned. "Amazingly enough, it's very rarely me. Let me enjoy this."
Raven just gave me a knowing grin as she pulled her shirt off, leaving her sitting in nothing but a pair of panties as she reached for her chemise and the rest of her clothes. I swallowed heavily, my brows shooting up almost to where my hairline used to be.
"Admittedly, you don't make it an easy task," I added.
During the day, I found myself lounging on the driver's seat of the wagon next to Anna, my eyes heavy and burning with sleep deprivation and my mood sour. I've mentioned before that there's very little wind in the canyons of these mountains, meaning that it was stiflingly hot. Which, in turn, made it damned near impossible to sleep during the day.
It was sometime after lunch now, and we'd been following the nomad caravan due north all day. There were multiple paths through these mountains, apparently, but, according to Mikhail, this was the quickest. Which also meant this was no doubt the one we would face the bandits on.
Deneia sulked on the back of the wagon, her knees up under her chin as we trundled along. The other two pegasus knights followed on their own mounts, grounded to conserve their strength. Raven just lounged atop the barrels like an over-sized cat, as per usual, leaving me to 'discuss' the plight of the nomads with Anna.
"… and soap, too! No one likes to stink," she went on excitedly. "Or maybe just the stuff to make soap with? But there's not really a lot of fatty animals out in the desert, so that might make making soap a little harder. Oh! What about cheese!? I could sell them cheese-cloth! Camels give milk, right? I'm sure they do!"
And obviously by discuss, I meant that she was just salivating about the thought of selling them the essentials they needed.
I was honestly kinda drifting in and out of consciousness at that point, wondering if I could somehow convince Raven to take the watch tonight so that I could get some sleep for a change. I let my head loll back on my neck, Anna rambling on and on undeterred, and saw a flash of movement out of the corner of my eye.
Sitting up, forcing my eyes to focus, I caught a glimpse of a form disappearing around a rock above us.
Stifling a curse, I turned to Anna and snapped my fingers to get Deneia's attention.
"Don't stop talking," I told Anna quietly. "New girl, here, take my seat."
"What's happening?" Raven asked, looking up.
"Scouts," I said. "I'm gonna take em out."
I silently swapped places with the young pegasus rider, the girl not meeting my eyes as I moved onto the tray and stopped next to Raven.
"Okay, so killing bandits is kosher, right?" I asked.
"Well, they are villains, are they not?" Raven asked, sitting up properly now. "Is that not what the heroes do?"
I shook my head, motioning her to wait.
"You stay with the cart," I told her.
Raven's face fell into a frown, and I leaned in to place a small kiss on her brow.
"We need someone to protect the water," I told her. "And the Anna. And I don't trust the new girls yet."
"Fine," Raven pouted.
"I'll make it up to you," I told her. "I promise."
Raven sighed and flopped back into her lounging position, waving me off.
"Go on, then," she said. "Go play hero while I babysit."
"You can have the next one," I grinned, moving to the back of the cart.
I glanced around, making sure we weren't still being observed. Satisfied that we weren't being watched, I waved Layne over to the cart. The older pegasus rider urged her mount closer with a confused look as Sune, clearly having caught on a little faster, began to study our surroundings.
"Sune, stay with the cart," I said in a low voice. "Layne, are you combat-ready?"
"Yes, sir," Layne said with a nod.
I nodded, then hopped across the gap onto the pegasus behind her. Layne actually jumped a little, scooting forward in the saddle even as I wrapped an arm around her middle. I pointed up to the rocks I'd seen the scouts at with the other arm, ignoring her reaction.
"There's gotta be a path or something up there," I told her. "Fly us up, but stay low. I don't want them to know we're coming."
"Y-yes, milord," she said.
I ignored her wooden reaction, but it wasn't unexpected. Unwed women didn't take well to physical contact with men in Plegia. Ylisse, either, come to think of it, but it was worse in Plegia. Despite being closer to my age than the other two, Layne's reaction made me think she was either some kind of local nobility that had fallen from grace, or otherwise a lifer in the army that hadn't had time for a family. Irrelevant, but that was the kind of stuff I thought about to distract myself from how much I hated flying.
With a nudge from her heels, Layne's mount brought us up towards the wall of the canyon. As soon as we were level with the rocks, I spotted the thin path that the bandit scouts had been using, and leapt down to it from the back of Layne's pegasus. She brought the creature to a much more sedate landing as I crouched behind the boulders that had shielded the scouts. There were some tracks in the dust, but that was all I could tell; I was no tracker like Lon'qu or To'shi had been.
"Someone was definitely up here watching us," I said quietly, standing back up. "If we move fast we can probably catch them. Can you send your pegasus back to the others?"
"You… want me to come with you?" Layne asked cautiously.
"Can you not fight on foot?" I asked snappishly. "Your flying horse makes too much noise, and if we have to hide, he's too big. Either send him back or go with him. I'll do this alone if I have to."
"No, I can fight," Layne assured me, slipping out of her saddle.
She stroked her mount's neck a few times as she softly spoke to it, before patting it on the flank and nodding. The creature took off with a gust of downdraft, circling the canyon a few times before gliding back down to where Sune was still following the cart and leaving Layne and I alone on the small ridge.
"Come on, we need to move fast," I told her.
Layne nodded, tightening the sword-belt on her hip and moving behind me. Her dark copper-colored armor was reflecting the light, though I hoped the shadows in the canyon would keep her hidden.
I only took a few steps before I stopped, throwing back my head and groaning.
"What? What is wrong?" Layne asked, her hand already drifting to her sword.
"I still don't have a fucking weapon," I growled.
I shook my head, starting down the shadowed path again with a dark glower on my face.
"Never mind, I'll just man-mode this shit," I muttered.
Once more, I regretted ditching my old daggers.
We ran as quietly as possible down the path through the cliff-face, and I actually had to give Layne credit, she could move pretty damn quietly. I was never one for stealth, though. I'd done a little training, done some ops in Valm and Plegia, but I'd never been particularly good at it.
After only a few minutes, we found a trio of lightly armored bandits making their way back down the path. They didn't notice us, and rather than duck back into the shadows, I redoubled my pace. I wasn't wearing any armor, no weapons, and my boots were the old rubber-soled ones I'd originally come to Ylisse in. I closed damn near silently, quiet enough to make To'shi proud, and opened with a kick to the back of the closest man's knees. I covered his mouth as he fell, the bandit only getting out a strangled yelp, and punched at the nerve cluster at the base of the next one's neck so hard I felt a flash of pain in my wrist. He went down with a gasp, and I brought my hand back to jerk the first bandit's head around and up, snapping his neck. I jerked it the other direction, just to be sure, as I glanced up at the third man. To my relief, Layne had run him through from behind with her hand over his mouth, and he was flailing about even as she pulled her sword free. He dropped, giving a gurgling groan, and Layne let out a breath.
"We're clear," she said quietly.
I shook my head, moving over to the one I'd dropped with the nerve punch earlier, and nudged him over onto his back before I crouched down next to his head. He gave a strangled gasp, looking up at me with wide eyes.
"Nasty, isn't it?" I asked him. "There's a nerve cluster right at the base of the neck. Hit it hard enough, you get a lovely temporary paralysis."
"P-please…" the young bandit gasped. "Gn… gn… gn… don't… kill… m-me…"
"If you start talking, I may consider it," I told him lightly. "How many of you are there? Where are you camped? What kind of equipment are we dealing with?"
The bandit gasped through gritted teeth, and I realized how young he looked. He couldn't have been more than sixteen.
"M-maybe… thirty… of us…" he managed. "C-c-camped… camped two ridges over… urgh…"
"Weapons? Armor?" I prompted.
"I c-can't… feel my legs…" the bandit boy groaned, tears starting to gather in his eyes. "What… did you do to me?"
"Answer me," I demanded quietly.
"Ugh… n-no different… to what… we have here," the boy said, stifling a sob. "P-please… it hurts… b-but I c-can't feel… my… legs…"
"Why were you attacking the nomads?" Layne asked over my shoulder.
I shot her a warning glare, but before I could cut him off, the bandit coughed out his answer.
"N-need supplies… we're… out of food…" he said.
"But… not water?" I asked.
"Got… a source…" the bandit boy gasped. "U-underground… underground spring… in a cave…"
I nodded, an excited grin rising to my face as I stood again.
"This could solve so many problems," I told Layne.
"We just have to get through the bandits," she reminded me. "I don't feel like they would share."
I quirked a brow, turning back to the paralyzed bandit on the ground behind us as he looked pleadingly up at us with wide, terrified eyes. Taking one step, I brought my heel down hard on his throat, crushing his windpipe, and turned away as he slowly started to choke to death.
Layne jumped back a little, eying me warily as I turned back to her.
"I thought you said you would let him live," she said quietly.
"I said I'd consider it," I pointed out. "And I decided not to. Problem?"
"No, sir," she said, her gaze dropping.
"Good," I said. "Now. Let's go and find this bandit hidey-hole."
As I spoke, I brushed past her, moving in the direction that the dying bandit had indicated. Layne hurried to keep up, sheathing her sword as she did.
"Just the two of us?" she asked.
"I just want to get eyes on it," I assured her. "When we attack them, I want people I can trust at my back. No offense."
"You are cautious," Layne sighed. "I understand that. But you must admit, we three have flung ourselves on your mercy. Betraying you would be a death sentence for us."
"I've heard of assassins doing more with less," I shrugged. "Besides, I didn't live this long by being trusting."
"But… you cannot be older than twenty-five," Layne said, her brow furrowing slightly. "You look about the age of my younger brother."
I stopped dead in my tracks, running a hand over the top of my head. In a brief moment of surprise, I realized I had grown hair again. There was nothing to shave with out here, after all, but I still grimaced and glared at the dirt and oil on my hand as I pulled it away.
"God I'd kill for a shower," I sighed.
I started walking again, Layne hurrying to keep up.
"I'm actually older than I look," I told her over my shoulder. "Raven and I both are. If you aren't in your early thirties, I'm older than you."
Layne just blinked a few times, following me silently for a few moments before speaking up again.
"Who exactly are you two?" she asked.
"Seems a little late to be asking that question now," I shot back.
"All the same," she insisted.
I stopped again, turning and stepping right up into Layne's face. She flinched back, and I stepped forward again. Unfortunately, she was one of the majority taller than me, but not by much.
"I'm your meal ticket," I told her darkly. "So until I feel comfortable enough with you lot to trust you, I suggest you shut up and do as I say."
I glared at her for a few more moments until she averted her eyes and nodded.
"Very well, milord," she said quietly.
I shook my head and turned away, starting down the path again.
"Don't take it too hard," I sighed. "We've known Anna for more than a month, and only just told her who we are. Against my better judgement, I might add."
The sound of Layne hurrying to catch up with me made me glance back, just on the off chance she was moving to attack, but her gaze was still averted as she fell in at my shoulder, a respectable three paces back.
I sighed out my nose, turning away again.
This was going to be an awkward mission.
With another sigh, I couldn't help thinking that I used to be better with people than this.
AN: I would like to remind everybody that my stories update on a 'when it happens' basis right now due to health problems. You can keep up more frequently on (P)atreon for only a buck, which makes me feel all warm and fuzzy on the inside.
Thanks for reading, and Nagaspeed!
