The Underworld Crown (Series)

Chapter 22

"Oh, I'm sorry to hear that," I said softly, still unable to determine what he was thinking. His eyes were tight and his jaw locked, as though he was fighting hard to suppress a memory.

"Don't be," he said, surprising me. "My mother had other things to worry about, and, well, my father got himself into a lot of mess."

I stayed silent, shifting my weight back and forth between my feet. Alek seemed completely unfazed by the fact that he didn't like either of his parents, but I'd spent my whole life worshipping my father and dead mother for all that they'd given.

"Anyway, it gave me a lot of free time to improve my fighting skills. There were always plenty of opportunities for action on the outskirts of Pride City." A small smirk appeared on his face. "I've always been good with a sword and crossbow, but after more training, word quickly spread through the city about my talent. It was then I started to accept payments for..." he glanced at me, "well, you know."

I crossed my arms over my chest, remembering just how precise he'd been in his murder of Marnix and any guard that got in his way. The raw memory of his strength and ability sent a chill through me. I subtly took a step away from him. Calista swung her head around to stare at me with her glowing eyes, as though she could sense my fear. I sidestepped her, too.

"Before I knew it, people started to recognise me in other cities and asked me for their services. I needed the money, so I've been accepting job offers as they come."

I cleared my throat, dislodging a huge knot there. "Sounds...lovely."

He scoffed. "It's no palace life, that's for sure."

Silence fell between us and he looked up at the sky, lost in thought. For the first time since we'd met, I got to really look at him. I noticed small details about his face that I hadn't been able to see previously – like the fact his nose was slightly crooked and looked as though it had been broken at least once before, and the small scar above his left eyebrow that had previously been hidden behind his hair. The strength in his eyes made me realise he wore his battle scars with pride. He was surer of himself than I would ever be.

It made me insanely jealous, which was ridiculous.

"Okay," I interjected, taking a deep breath. "I can help set up camp. What should I do?"

He cleared his throat. "You said you'd been camping? I guess you can help set up the tent, then."

"Of course," I said, using the opportunity to grab the materials and poles, then move as far away from him as possible.

Ten minutes later, my enthusiasm to help died down. This tent was more complicated than anything else I had ever seen in my entire life; it was as though I was trying to solve a gordian knot. The metal poles were now somehow tangled up with each other, and I had to be careful not to rip the material. I huffed in frustration as the material threw me into another bout of confusion.

Alek sat with his back turned from me, cutting up ingredients and throwing them onto a portable heated pan. There was a loud sizzling noise as they hit the surface. He hadn't turned around yet to see what I was up to, but I had a feeling he knew exactly how much I was struggling. I was tempted to ask for his help; but reminded myself that I needed to be able to figure this out on my own and also didn't want Alek using my failure as ammo for future teasing. I was grateful that he didn't say anything, either.

After what felt like a long time, I got the tent poles positioned across the ground in such a way that I could finally see it all coming together. It took me a moment to come to terms with the fact that there were no pegs to stake into the ground, since apparently there was no wind in the Underworld, and so therefore no chance of the tent being blown away. Finally, all I had to do was rearrange the tent's frame.