The Traitor Queen

Chapter Thirty-Two

As dawn broke through the trees, so did the realisation that my time for getting a wink of sleep had ended. My eyes opened grudgingly to Sabre's sleeping face, making me freeze in panic. She was so close to me that I could feel her soft breaths against my skin. At least one of us had been able to get some rest.

I resisted the urge to stroke a finger against the cheek of her peaceful form and sat up to find Lorella watching me. She cast her gaze towards Sabre and then back at me, shaking her head.

"What?" I whispered, noticing Auron was still asleep too.

"Nothing," she replied. "You should still try and get some sleep. They haven't arrived with our horses just yet." In fact, the whole village still appeared to be under the blanket of slumber.

"I think I'll pass." No matter how much time we had remaining until it was time for us to set off, I doubted I would make any further progress toward falling asleep. "What about you? Can't you sleep either?"

Lorella frowned. "I got a little, but then I woke up to the fact that nobody was keeping watch, so I took over that job."

My eyes widened. None of us had thought about watching out just in case the fae that lived here tried something. They didn't seem like they would do anything, but appearances were not always the same as what laid underneath.

"You should have woken me up, I wasn't doing much else. We all could have taken turns."

Sabre sat up, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes, before I could continue. "Good morning." She stretched her arms out in front of her and noticed Auron was still sleeping, causing her to wince at the fact she could have woken him.

"Morning," I greeted back with a smile. Her hair was mussed from the turning she had done in the night, but that didn't deter from her beauty. My heart thudded loudly in my chest at the thought. What was I doing?

"Good morning," a grumpy voice sounded from behind us. I turned to see it was Ralnor standing with his usual serious expression. "Our trackers should be back at any moment with your horses, so I thought I'd let you know so you can prepare yourselves." If they came back at all. With the warnings we had been given about the dangerous creatures that lurked in the forest, I had to wonder how these trackers were easily able to come and go during the night.

Sabre shook Auron awake gently. "Auron, it's time to go. The horses will be here soon."

He jolted awake, panic filling his eyes and then settling once he realised where he was. "Sorry, I must have overslept."

"There's no need to be sorry." Lorella placed a hand on his shoulder, her fingers caressing the fabric of his shirt. "We should get as much rest as we can."

After we packed up our measly belongings of nothing but air and our preparedness, we followed Ralnor to the outskirts of the village. When we got there, we only had to wait a few moments before we heard strained whinnying and the snapping of twigs underneath heavy weight. Our horses.