Bounty Hunter (The Black Tulip Chronicles #1)

32. Ikar

Chapter 32

Ikar

I stay awake long into the night, my thoughts keeping me company as I guard our small camp. The magic that increases my hearing ability may be blocked, but I’m gifted with excellent abilities even without it, and I know I heard what I heard. She’s doubting that I’m a mercenary, she even said something about Tulips, and that topic hasn’t been spoken of since the night she arrested me.

I’ve been waiting to get more information from her, but I’ve resisted the urge to ask since she believes I’m out to kill them. Any curiosity from me will only reinforce her wrong belief about me, so I’ve kept my questions to myself, but as we near the end of our journey, I find myself feeling antsy. If she really does drop me off in the hands of the officials like a common criminal and disappears, I will be at square one. I’ll have to track her down again or find information somewhere else—so much time wasted.

On the other hand, maybe I shouldn’t worry over it yet. If she’s beginning to believe I’m not a mercenary, or a killer, the odds are swinging in my favor that I can convince her to let me go before we get to Moneyre. Maybe she’ll even work with me long before then and all of this will be resolved, but that seems a lot to hope for when I’m still cuffed.

Vera shifts in her sleep and draws my gaze. My eyes freely trace the curve of her nose and pause on her lips, lingering on how her bottom lip is a bit fuller than the top. She’s so different than any woman I’ve been around before, especially Nadiette. At first, I considered her somewhat of a scrawny tomboy, dressed in her overlarge men’s clothing and her face framed with flyaway hair. She comes with enough attitude to make up for the fact she had no idea how to wield a weapon. In fact, she seems almost the complete opposite of Nadiette in every way I can think of, which is why I’m surprised that I find myself more attracted to Vera than I have ever been to any other woman. I drag my gaze away and run a hand through my hair. This can’t happen. This attraction. The almost-kiss. None of it. Not when I am looking for a Tulip to be my future wife. Guilt swarms my chest.

I sheathe my weapons and force myself to shut down my thoughts for the night. Never before in my life have I been blocked from my magic, been forced to fight without it, and it’s more physically draining that I would have thought. I lay down, knowing I need sleep more than ever if we’re to make it through this journey alive, but I lay there for a long time before sleep comes.

When I wake, my eyes burn, but we waste no time preparing to set off in the morning. Rupi returned sometime in the night, and Vera woke up overjoyed to have her nestled against her chest. I admit I am relieved as well—the small bird has grown on me.

“How’s your arm?” I ask, sinking to my haunches near where Vera sits as she struggles to braid her hair with her injured arm. If I knew how, I’d help.

“It’s fine,” she says, finally tying the end off with a wince.

“That’s my line.” My lips twist wryly.

My words have their desired effect, bringing a small smile to her face and easing the tension at the corners of her eyes. I snag her hand in mine and turn it over, revealing the side of her arm that I stitched last night. She doesn’t say anything as I remove the bloodied bandage. Being this close, I can feel her light breath on my neck as I work, and she smells good. It makes it difficult to focus. The stitched wound is swollen, and it looks painful. I can’t hide a frown at the sight of it, but it’s normal for this stage of the healing process.

“You stitch as neatly as any Healer,” she says with appreciation in her voice, as I begin to wrap a clean bandage around it.

“A necessary skill on the battlefield,” I mutter.

I chance a look at her eyes and see that my comment has triggered that fearful glint again. Probably for the best.

I stand and step away, needing distance. I busy myself by opening the map and scanning it, estimating where we are before we set off. “I think we can make it out of this forest in two days, maybe less. Then we’ll be on fae land. If we make good time, we should be to Moneyre in five days.”

Vera merely nods as if she barely heard me, trusting me to navigate as she croons to Rupi. My, how things have changed—she’s beginning to trust me whether she recognizes it or not. I refold the map and pocket it once more, feeling renewed motivation to quicken my pace today. Vera keeps up, even as she’s busy with Rupi for the next while, until finally Rupi swoops into the air and disappears into the trees.

The silence is comfortable between us until Vera snort-laughs through her nose, and I throw her a questioning frown.

“What?” I ask, not sure if I truly want to know.

She bites her lip in an attempt to stop a grin from turning into a full-blown smile, but it doesn’t help. “Nothing… just thinking about yesterday.” She giggles again.

“I don’t recall anything particularly humorous about yesterday.” My frown deepens as I think about the everwisps again, trying to figure out what she’s talking about.

She laughs out loud this time. It’s genuine and light, and I think I’d like to hear that sound every day of the rest of my life.

“Just say it.”

She takes a moment to press her lips together and steady her laughter before she says, “Pretty impressive that she was able to pick up the scent of your… virility…” she snorts again, “over a mile away.” Then her restraints fail, and she ends up in a fit of laughter.

I rub a hand over the back of my neck, shaking my head a little, unsure how to respond. I found that more terrifying than funny, but her laughter is so natural and warm that I can’t help but smile because of it.

She continues, seeming encouraged by my embarrassment. “That’s got to boost your confidence a bit, right? Attracting all the ladies without even trying.”

And then she slams her mouth shut as if she knows she’s gone too far, and I can’t help but take advantage of the moment.

“ All the ladies?” I ask in a drawn out voice.

Now it’s her turn to be embarrassed—her cheeks pink in a flattering way.

“Well, I don’t know.” She stumbles over her words, looking everywhere but at me. “I mean, I assume… you know, that ladies like—you know…” Her eyes drag from my boots up to my face, and the pink deepens to red in her cheeks.

I smile, amused at how flustered she’s become.

She abruptly stops walking and whips her pack off her back as fast as she can with her injured arm. “Hungry? I’ve got some jerky left in here,” she mumbles, as she digs through for an extra long time, long enough for her blush to fade, I assume. She hands me some without meeting my eyes again and acts as if I burn her when our fingers graze, the way she yanks her hand back toward her. Then she hefts her pack back on and takes a bite big enough that she couldn’t converse if she tried.

My smile grows wider, but I duck my head to hide it, aware that I’ve pushed her enough already. I feel the attraction between Vera and me. I’ve seen the battle of her will in her eyes as she thinks herself attracted to a criminal she’s arrested. Sometimes I can see she’s afraid of me—of what she doesn’t know—and she should be. It’s times like this, when she has practically admitted that she’s attracted to me, that worry me because I have been fighting the attraction as well. I’ve noticed too many feelings toward her that lean toward affection, and that isn’t acceptable—I can offer her nothing in regard to a relationship.

We walk in silence a little longer. I still feel frustrated that we fell into that everwisp trap in the first place, but I had no idea everwisps could sense virility. Since that is the case, they probably would have caught us somehow, even if I knew to watch for them, but the truth is, without my magic, my senses are as dull as a flat quill. It’s frustrating beyond belief. As far as I know, everwisps only live in the Shift Forest, which is why I haven’t had a lot of experience with them. I’ve seen some scary creatures in my life, but those ones top my personal list—never has a creature been after my manhood. A shiver creeps up my spine, and I shake my head to clear my mind. I’m left wondering—what else do I not know about in the Shift Forest?