Page 79 of Heart of the Hunted
CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
Taredd
Taredd didn't want to let Natalia go, ever. Even when she was fast asleep in his arms, completely worn out from crying, he held on to her tightly.
Only when there was a light tapping on the bedroom door did he finally move out from under her. Gently rolling her onto her side, he pulled the covers up around her and tucked her in.
He quietly made his way over to the door and opened it to see Dain standing on the other side, with a tray full of food in his hands.
Holding his finger up to his lips, Taredd whispered: "Shush, she's finally asleep."
"I thought you could both do with some more food to eat," Dain whispered back.
"Thank you," Taredd said, opening the door wider for Dain to enter. "Come in, but be quiet because I don't want Natalia to wake up, she needs to rest as much as she can."
"I promise not to wake her, especially not on purpose," Dain said as he carried the tray in and placed it quietly on the table.
"Cheers for bring some more food, I'm starving," Taredd said as he sat in the chair from the night before.
Between Natalia's crying, and then her sleeping in his arms, hours had passed since they had last eaten..
"You're welcome," Dain said, as he sat on the only other chair in the room. "I didn't think you would want to leave her to get it yourself."
"And you were right," Taredd told him.
Dain waited until Taredd had eaten some of the food, before asking anything about the plans to find Arun. But now Taredd had to fill him in on Natalia's friends as well, making both their lives more complicated, but he didn't care.
He would do anything to make Natalia happy, and finding her friends would definitely make her happy.
"So, what's the plan for tomorrow?" Dain eventually asked.
"We need to track down Arun, and then find Natalia's friends,” he said, looking at her sleeping form in the bed.
"Her friends?" Dain asked.
"Yeah, apparently there's eight of them."
"Shit," Dain said. "What are we going to do with that many of them?"
"To be honest with you, I don't have a fucking clue,” he said, shaking his head. "But she says she can't leave without them, so we've got to find them."
"I take it that she doesn't know where they are either?" Dain asked.
"That's correct."
"Wonderful. Nothing like a mass man hunt to start the day," Dain said.
"Don't bitch, I know you enjoy it," Taredd told him. "It's not much different than being on a hunt."
"Yeah, it is," Dain said. "I get to kill my prey once I've found it when we're on a hunt."
"Well, you can't kill these ones," Taredd said sternly.
"I know that. I'm not stupid," Dain said, shaking his head. "That would just upset Natalia, and I know you would kill me if I did something like that."
"Yes, I would," Taredd agreed. "And, I would take great pleasure in doing so."
"Don't lie," Dain told him. "You and Arun would be lost without me."
