The Weaver's Source

Part Three: Chapter 27

He didn't respond. I thought maybe he'd grown bored of the conversation, he did that sometimes, but when I looked up at him, wanting to ask what the charms were, I went quiet. His whole body had stiffened and his jaw had tightened. I thought for a moment he was angry until I saw that dangerous glint in his eye and how his gaze roamed over me, swallowing me up heatedly and with such hunger that I felt naked. Abruptly his magic was everywhere, filling my mouth, swelling over my tongue and singing in my ears. My magic responded in kind, heating my blood and quickening my pulse, making my lips burn for his, before I could push it aside.

We both remained fixed on that spot, watching each other heatedly. Then, quite abruptly, Grigore's expression shifted. Irritation began to creep up, smothering his swell of desire. He stood and stepped towards me, making my face turn pink and flustered, but he simply gripped Ursus' hilt. I quickly let go and he lifted Ursus, his physical strength showing when he made it look no heavier than a stick, and sheathed it.

"Eat." He snapped, his voice oddly husky, and he left me where I was.

I didn't know where he went or why but I didn't follow him as I tried to calm my fluttering heart and purring magic. It had been a while since we'd been like that and I didn't understand why. I thought maybe I was the cause, but my magic hadn't set off, only responded to Grigore. Red faced, I ate and waited for his return. When he failed to come back, I simply curled up in a ball and slept.

When I woke, I found myself covered in Grigore's cloak and no longer alone. He sat on the other side of the camp fire, leaning against a large rock and his focus on the horizon. The moment he noticed I was awake, he got me moving hurriedly, making it clear his bad mood was still there. I hoped it would vanish by the afternoon but, if anything, it grew worse. More often he would answer my questions as blunt as possible and would seem to avoid looking at me or being close to me. It didn't help that my magic was growing a little more restless, responding to his scent eagerly and making him clamp with and scowl at me irritably.

I woke slowly on the tenth day after Grigore found me. I had slept in a barn that a farmer had allowed us to borrow in return for slaying a few giants. Grigore slept outside after making it clear that I was to sleep in the barn as offered and not with him. He seemed determined to have more space from me recently. With straw in my nest like hair, I sat up and blinked wearily in tiny barn. I heard the snuffling of a horse and the couple cows the farmer kept. The goats were quiet now. I glared at them as they chewed cud, wondering why they couldn't have been quiet last night when I was trying to get to sleep.

I stood and let the scratchy blanket fall then pottered to the barn door. I pushed it open and slid outside, closing it firmly behind me. It was a bitter morning as late autumn was beginning to settle in, but the weather had been worsening the further north we went, making me dread how bad it was going to be in a few days' time. I softly glared at the horizon and spied nothing much. Recently we'd passed only small farms, hamlets or huts hunters used but no large towns, let alone anything that resembled a city. On the horizon stood a vast mountain range where snow coloured the iron tips white, while its feet surrounded by thick tundra scatted with stone, little grass and the odd barren tree but not much else. Apparently this land was scarce but there was a forest beyond, closer to the moutain's base.

I glanced about the grey farmstead in search of Grigore, hoping he'd let me close to him today. I pottered around the tiny bland farm, noting there were a few crop fields but they were tiny, showing the earth was stony and hard and not particularly easy to farm. The sky was also dim, still early dawn. That was another thing I noticed the further we travelled. The sky would darken earlier and lighten later and grey clouds were a constant presence. I stared upwards, trying to find the sun behind the clouds. I could see beams of dawn light bursting through but the sun itself was hidden well.