Curse Breaker (2)

1

"Try anything and I'll do it again," I snap.

He mumbles something to Lei beneath his breath that makes her glance at me and smirk. I pretend not to notice.

Killian ignores the exchange, rising to his feet and wandering over to me with one of the hares on the stick. I stare at the stick and back up at his face, keeping my expression blank.

"No thanks."

He frowns. "You should eat something. You must be starving."

"I don't want anything from you."

If the harshness in my tone affects him, he doesn't show it, his expression stoic. It only serves to fuel the burn of his betrayal. What he did threatens to paralyse me, and yet he seems utterly unaffected by what it's done to whatever friendship we had formed. Whatever feelings I'd formed.

Did I really mean so little?

Draigh calls out to Killian in his language. Whatever he says makes Killian frown, but he places the hare down before me and moves back over to sit with the two of them. My stomach rumbles, but my pride is far larger than my hunger.

I avert my gaze to the sky. Stars prick through the thick canopy. If it weren't for the mumbling of Draigh, I could almost believe I'm lying atop Casimir's cabin arguing about the bird calls around us. When we left the Palace, Killian had no doubts Casimir and Elex got out safe, and I haven't allowed myself to consider any other possibility. But in the dark of the night, the fear creeps in.

I have no reason to believe anything Killian says to me. Everything I knew about him was a complete lie, a fabricated story to gain my trust and ensure I was exactly where he needed me. And I played right into his hands. How can I trust him when it comes to Casimir?

Killian rises to his feet after finishing the food, murmuring something to Lei before glancing at me and then disappearing into the trees. I watch him until the darkness swallows his figure.

"Get some sleep," Lei says, hoisting a sac behind her head and stretching her long legs across the ground. She folds her arms across her chest, tilting her head to look at me. "We should arrive before midday tomorrow."

They haven't said anything more about where exactly we're going, and I haven't asked. Back at the Palace, the documents Killian and I found said hundreds of Torinnians had migrated to Elel. But based on what Killian told me, it seems the war has never truly ended like we've been led to believe. I can't imagine that wherever we're headed is somewhere easily accessible.

I brush Samu's hair back, watching the steady rise and fall of his chest. "And you think there will be someone who can help him?" I ask. "Where we're headed?"

Draigh raises his brows. "If there is any helping him."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Draigh," Lei scolds before turning back to me. "What he means to say is that his heart is beating, he looks healthy, and from what we can tell, there's no reason why he should be unconscious right now. We haven't seen anything like this before."

"Well, what do you know?"

"Her mother is a healer, she knows quite a lot, actually," Draigh says.

Lei shoots him a look. "He was with Ereon for more than a year. We have no idea what they did to him. My mother will do what she can. But she can't perform miracles."

I look back to Samu, swiping a smudge of dirt from his arm. Her gaze pierces every single movement.

"Did he know he was adopted?" she asks.