IMPERMANENCE

chapter thirty one - the hybrid

Dagger slept through the remaining hours of the night and woke just before sunrise. The liquor he had consumed coupled with the exasperating battle made sleeping difficult that night. The tavern bed was stiffer than his bed back in his village, if that was even possible.

Dagger tiptoed down the creaking hallways of the tavern out into the main room. He slipped on a dark brown tunic Roo had packed for him along with a fresh pair of leather fighting pants. He made sure to keep his pendant tucked inside of the shirt just in case Zachariah made another surprise entrance.

No one else had awoken yet, he noticed. The tavern was still and quiet. With the owner dead, no thanks to Zachariah, the place was left to operate on its own. The group could spare some daylight today seeing as they'd arrive at Dagger's village by sundown. It would be another place for them to rest if they could all remain hidden.

The battle took a toll on everybody, because it appeared that Dagger was the only one awake.

As sunlight broke through the tall trees, Dagger's eye caught something out of the window. The bodies from the battle had been cleared by Zachariah last night before he slithered off into the shadows again.

Still clothed in her sleeping attire, Thea lay on her back in the middle of the clearing, basking in the rising sun.

Dagger slipped out the tavern doors and stalked over to her through the grass. Zachariah's clean up job had been done well, there was no blood coating the shriveled grass, no signs of fighting in sight.

Dagger was sure he had seen Thea head into her own room in the tavern after Naomi made a few adjustments to her wound on her leg. Her leg was left exposed to the sun as she was wearing tiny black shorts that hugged against her muscles. Her skin appeared paler than Naomi's as the sun cast its gleam off of it. Dagger hoped he wasn't interrupting something personal as she lay on the grass with little clothing. Her arm was perched behind her head, and her long dark hair was out of her usual braid, something Dagger hadn't seen before.

"What are you doing?" Dagger asked her awkwardly.

Without so much as looking at him, Thea said, "The healers say the sun is good for my skin."

Her eyes remained closed so he was unable to inspect her glistening, silver eyes.

"Healers as in Naomi?" Dagger teased.

"Is that a joke I hear? Congratulations, assassin. Now I'm intrigued."

"Intrigued by what?" Dagger asked.

"I can tell when someone is aching to say what's on their mind. You've won my good graces. Proceed."

"Then may I ask a question that may come off as invasive?"

Thea gave an annoyed sigh. "I've heard them all, so get on with it before I change my mind."

"Alright," Dagger trailed off quietly. Without clear invitation, he decided to kneel down on the crisp grass next to her, hoping he wouldn't be stabbed in the gut for doing so. The sun's rays were hardly strong at this hour of the day, but the slight warmth beamed across his skin comfortably.

"Were you born without your sight?"

"I don't think so."

"You're not sure?"

"I don't remember anything from my childhood."

Though she still hadn't opened her eyes yet, Dagger nodded. He didn't pry simply because there was nothing to pry into if she didn't remember. It reminded him of himself and his lack of memory regarding his early childhood.