Isolde tried her best to ignore her acute observation that he looked…menacing,but in a nice way, standing there in the dappled sunlight.
Luella sighed. “Yes. They are perfectly friendly; there’s no risk. Besides, we’re a small group. They might not notice us at all.”
“Theymightnot notice us; how comforting.” Felix said sarcastically. “And what about supplies? What we have with us will last two weeks, three maybe. You might enjoy living on air and river water, but I’m less inclined toward chewing bark. Are we stopping in towns? Outposts?”
“No towns,” Garren said. “With Lady Isolde’s condition, we cannot risk it.”
Isolde felt a small stab of irritation, and her jaw tightened. She was standingright here. Why did Garren talk about her like she wasn’t?
Luella nodded. “We’re staying inland. It’s summer, we can hunt and forage if needed.”
“Bark it is,” Felix muttered. “Though I suspect the lady won’t enjoy that very much either.”
“Thelady,” Isolde blurted out, “can speak for herself!”
As one, the others turned their heads to her. Felix had the decency to look sheepish; Luella grimaced. Garren merely frowned.
The magic swirled inside her once more, reacting to her feelings. Perhaps it was because it had all burst out of her at the unfortunate lantern earlier, but this time it was not as strong. Isolde closed her eyes and took several deep breaths, steadying and grounding herself.
When she opened them again, both Garren and Luella were eyeing her anxiously. Felix’s expression, though, was harder to read. It was something between curiosity and appraisal, like he was trying to figure her out. But when she caught his eye, he looked away and busied himself with his pack.
***
The first days of their journey passed without incident. They followed trails that were narrow and uneven but manageable enough, and although it was the height of summer, the thick canopy above kept the temperature cool.
Luella was polite to Isolde, but no more than that. Isolde had hoped, perhaps naively, that she would forge a friendship with the only other woman in their group on their long and isolated days of travel, but Luella did not seem inclined to let her in to that extent, and remained focused on their journey and her tasks instead.
Garren, of course, was a reliable presence. He had known her for most of her life, and she considered him practically family. Despite their history though, she could tell he saw her as his charge, as a child, not as his equal. He was pleasant to her, and supportive, but he was also her father’s man through and through.
Luella and Garren were loyal and kind, and she was so grateful to have them. But what she wanted, what sheneeded, was a friend. Not that she’d had a lot of friends back home, but there had been Otto, and Leni, and she supposed some of the ladies she attended balls and gatherings with were friends, in a sense. And she’d had her books, her writing, her projects. Now, she had nothing and no one. That left Felix. He rarely spoke to her, though.
She was quite used to that – most people spokeather rather thantoher. But there was something about Felix’s silence that made her feel like he was staying away from her on purpose. So she decided she’d have to make an active effort to change that.
The fact that her breath caught every time she spied him changing his shirt, or stretching out after dismounting his horse, or smirking at some barb Luella threw his way, had nothing to do with that decision, she told herself.
7
Aether lilies
All things concerned, the start of their journey was not a bad one. Luella, snippy as she was, turned out to be a more than excellent guide and tracker. She made it clear she considered him a bit of an idiot, which he thought was highly amusing, but they worked together well enough.
Garren proved to be decent company too. He didn’t pry or push – he simply shared the occasional story of a good fight or a good horse, which Felix was not required to respond to beyond a nod or a hum. The group quickly settled into a rhythm. They rose with the sun, broke camp, and covered as much ground as they could before dusk while the forest stretched endlessly around them. Even Isolde adapted, helping wherever she could. To Felix’s mild surprise, she was capable enough to handle her own horse, and she never complained about the long hours or rough conditions.
As Felix was setting up his tent one evening, a handful of days into their journey, light, hesitant footsteps approached, and he glanced up to see Isolde. She stopped a few paces away, her fingers intertwined, shuffling her feet.
“So, where in the Medraj are you from?” she asked, her voice curious.
Felix paused, his hand tightening on the stake he was holding. He’d assumed she needed help with something, and her question caught him off guard. He wasn’t used to people asking him about himself. “I’m not,” he replied after a moment. “As far as I know, I was born in Azuill.”
Her brow furrowed, and her head tilted. “As far as you know…?”
“Yes, as far as I know,” he said, a hint of impatience creeping into his voice. He sat back on his haunches, brushing dirt off his hands. “I never knew my parents.”
“You… Oh! That’s why you don’t have the accent.” Realisation dawned on her, and her eyes widened. “You’re an orphan! But they did name you? They must have been from Medrajium. It is a Medraj name, after all. And you look… Well, you look like the people from the south. Did you know it means luck? I always found it a very fascinating language, if difficult. Do you speak any of it?”
Felix blinked at her, caught off guard by her babbling. Was she making fun of him? Her tone didn’t suggest malice, but he couldn’t help being wary. “I didn’t,” he said flatly. “Must be some kind of joke from the universe.”
She frowned. “A joke? Why? It’s a nice name.”
