Page 82 of Whispers of Ruin
He didn’t know what this was between them, but he wasn’t going to let it go for the memory of a dead man. If she told him he didn’t make her happy, he’d move on, but only then.
The idea of losing her made his fangs tingle. Possessive instincts he hadn’t known he possessed roared to the forefront. He’d let her go to make her happy, but if anything else tried to come between them, he’d tear this jungle, the realms, and anything in his way apart to keep her.
He didn’t understand his extreme reaction to the idea of losing her, or his increasing need for her, but he couldn’t deny it. She was his.
Brokk wanted nothing less thanallof her, and one day, if she let him, he’d make her understand it was okay to love again. With that set determinedly in his mind, he focused on the prize ahead.
They were so close to finally claiming what they’d come here for, and once he got his hands on the crudue vine, he’d get it to Dragonia. They’d have to come back here to help Ryker free his king, but first, they would save Lexi.
He wiped the sweat from his brow and adjusted the grip on his sword as he shoved aside some of the already chopped foliage. The broken leaves tickled his skin, leaving a wet trail across his arm.
A muttered curse from behind drew his attention back to Kaylia as she pulled a vine from her hair. It had entangled in her braid.
He returned to help her remove the vine entangled deeply. In the end, he cut it and tossed it aside.
Over her shoulder, he spotted the witch who had stopped behind them. Her forehead furrowed, and her lips pursed while she watched them. Sensing his attention, her gaze met his; her expression cleared before her eyes darted away.
Brokk scowled as he finished pulling the vine from Kaylia’s hair. He didn’t give a shit what the woman thought of him or his relationship with Kaylia. He’d take on all the witches too, if that was what it took to keep her… but that would only upset Kaylia more.
He released the vine. “You’re free.”
She offered a tremulous smile. “Thank you.”
Unable to resist, he brushed her hand with his. When their fingers entwined, he squeezed hers before letting go as the rise and fall of excited voices carried back to them.
Lifting his sword, he hurried to catch up with the others. When he went around a turn in the makeshift path, he spotted a row of backs. Within a section where the trees were a lot thinner and the foliage wasn’t so dense, Ryker and his men stood in a line before him.
Brokk made his way to the end of the row of amsirah and stopped at the edge of a clearing choked with thick, neon red vines. It grew up from the ground at the base of the trees, entwined around their trunks and limbs before climbing across to other branches.
The canopy of vines creeping from tree to tree was so thick it blocked the sun; only small rays of light pierced through to illuminate the jungle floor nearly devoid of vegetation. Thorns that could shred the flesh from any immortal covered the vines.
“There’s so much of it,” Kaylia breathed.
“It’s in the trees this time,” Ryker said. “The last time we encountered the vine, it covered the ground. Before that, it grew straight up from the middle of the clearing to wrap around the limbs. The vine is always changing.”
“As is the jungle.”
“It enjoys keeping us on our toes.”
Brokk eyed the tree next to him and the vines as thick as his wrist encompassing it. Carefully placing his fingers between some of the vines, he rested his blade against it, but before he could start cutting, Kaylia rested her hand on his arm.
“If you cut it from there, it will kill all the vine. We don’t need that much of it, and it will go to waste as we’ll never get it all out of the trees,” she said. “We can’t have that. It’s too precious and rare to waste.”
Brokk released the vine. “How else are we going to get it?”
Kaylia looked around before pointing to a tree outside the clearing. A single vine had crept high into the tree to encircle the end of a branch. “I’ll climb up there.”
Because the trees’ thick canopy blocked the sun, the lower branches had all died off. The first thirty feet of the tree was nothing but a trunk so wide he couldn’t wrap his arms around it, but he wasn’t about to stand and watch while she scaled the tree.
“I’ll do it,” he said.
“I can climb a tree,” she replied.
“I know, but I’ll do it.”
She looked about to protest but stopped herself and nodded instead. Her hand fell away from his arm as she stroked the vine he’d been about to cut.
“We finally have it,” she murmured.
