"Keep move-"
"Did you hear that?" I asked cutting him off. My voice had risen a pitch in urgency as I turned to face him as we neared the treeline again.
It didn't take much to plaster my face with fear, not when I had so many sources to choose from, one of them staring me down with contempt-laced suspicion. I wasn't looking forward to the tense journey back. I wasn't sure if him trying to engage in conversation would have been worse than the suffocating silence his presence brought. It made me uncomfortably hyperaware of each sound and movement I made.
I didn't let him faze me as I looked past him in the detection I had last seen the man's shadow move. "There!" I said, pointing at a random tree in the distance. "There's someone there!"
Instead of looking in the direction, I was pointing in, his eyes dropped down to his arm. Making me doubt my acting skills. I followed his gaze to where I had grabbed his arm to make sure I had his attention.
I quickly let go before he could shrug my arm off. I had learned early on that as much as the bond reacted in appreciation when they were acknowledged, they also shrivelled up and dimmed when they were rejected. Zev wasn't shy about how much he hated my touch. He had nearly dropped dishes of food one too many times while passing it to me because our fingers accidentally grazed one another's.
His eyes remained on his arm for a few more moments before finally turning in the direction I had directed. His eyes scanned across the dark depths of the forest only illuminated by the few beams of moonlight that found their way past the treetops.
"It must have been your delusions. The same ones that had you wandering out here all alone," he scolded as he turned back to narrow his eyes on me.
Was it just me, or were they angrier than before?
I couldn't help but be taken aback, shrinking into myself.
Maybe it was what I deserved for lying...
His heavy sigh cut through the sounds of the night. "Come on. I'll alert Cassius when we get back. He'll send guards to survey the area for intruders or any disturbances. If you did see someone, they'll find them."
"But-" I cut myself off before I could air my worry for Axel's wellbeing. I still wasn't ready to admit to Zev that his numbing ice had a weak point.
Not if I wanted to try to find Axel again.
The slight knowing glint in his eyes as he raised a questioning brow had me swallowing thickly.
"What if they get away?"
"They won't." He didn't offer anything else as reassurance. The silence that hung in the air was filled with his dare to continue the argument.
"O-okay," I stuttered out as I rose my chin. I wasn't going to let him see his effect on me. I had seen others fear feed him enough to know mine would be no different. He loved it when he was able to elicit a reaction from another. The bigger the better.
His lips curled up at one end as he gestured behind me. "After you."
Sniffling my nose which was growing numb from the cold night, I turned and began the short trek that would take us back to the castle, careful to aim for soft patches of moss to cushion my steps until we reached the grass. When we reached the end of the grass, I hesitated before stepping foot onto the cracked brick.
"Need me to carry you?"
I looked up from my filthy feet to find he had stepped past me and stood looking down at them in concern. He glanced back in the direction we had just come from, realizing I had been barefoot the entire time.
