Page 67 of A Touch of Poison
Once I’d made camp, I checked on her—still sleeping soundly, curled up by the fire. I could have carried her into the tent, but I liked having her in sight.
I found the most uncomfortable position I could against a fallen tree, with a broken branch digging in my back, and kept my eyes on the darkness.
A few times, I jolted upright as my eyelids drooped. But I made it through the night and welcomed another dawn.
Kat’s eyelids fluttered open, and her gaze fixed on the lightening sky above. “Shit. Bastian?” She sat up, glaring at me as I rose and stretched. “You absolute fucking…” Her hands fisted.
“I can sleep when we get home.” I tried to smile, but it was too much effort.
My feet dragged as we broke camp, and I confess Kat did most of the work, muttering about me being an idiot the whole time.
As we set off, a brutal headache buzzed in my forehead and behind my eyes. It was all I could do to keep my stag on the road.
Stay awake.
Awake meant no dreams. Awake meant no nightmares. Awake meant no more of those awful memories.
I fixed my eyes on the hills ahead. Tenebris stood on their other side. We would make it before sunset.
Awake.
Stay awake.
Stay…
26
Bastian
There was a soft kind of darkness and something warm wrapped around me. Something warm that smelled good, like the first sunny day of spring. Something I could sleep against.
Sleep.
Wait.
I jolted upright. The stag pranced to one side. I grabbed for the reins, but found a pair of hands already on them. Gloved hands.
“Kat?”
“You’re awake then.” Her voice hummed into my back. That was the thing wrapped around me—her thighs around mine, arms around my waist.
When I looked over my shoulder, I found her craning around me to peer at the road ahead.
She caught my eye and shrugged. “Not exactly convenient, since you’re too tall for me to see past, but as you nearly fell off, I didn’t have much choice.”
I rubbed my aching head. The pain wasn’t as bad as earlier, but my eyes stung. “Thanks. I’m fine, now, though, I can ride.”
“That’s nice.” She made no move to hand over the reins or dismount and return to her stag, which limped along beside us.
“I said I can—”
“I heard you.” She flashed me a sweet smile when I looked back. “But you’re going to fall asleep again, if I leave you—fallbeing the operative. And in case you hadn’t noticed, my stag is lame. It’s better if we rest him.”
I gave a wordless grumble Faolán would’ve been proud of.
“I’d have stopped and tucked you in if tonight wasn’t a new moon.”
“Then I’m glad you realised.” If we stopped, we’d never make it to Tenebris before nightfall. “Still, I think your neck would thank you if you moved in front of me so you can, you know,see.” I cocked my head as she flexed her neck side to side with a wince. “I’ll even let you keep hold of the reins.”
