issued in a clipped voice. He did not so much as look back at her even then.
She didn’t understand why he was even bothering to drag her up the mountain in his wake. He should have just sent her with Raskyuil. The injured troll at least would have been better company. Silvas did not appear to need her assistance or desire her presence. She could have fallen off the mountain and he wouldn’t have noticed since he didn’t deign to glance her way.
As much as Diana hated to admit it, that hurt. It made her angry, and she cocooned her heart in those feelings to protect it from the dismissal. The more she struggled to follow him up the mountain, the more resentment began to burn in her belly.
Eventually, she noticed that she was lagging farther and farther behind. Silvas walked so far ahead of her that he often disappeared into the landscape, visible only by the strands of white hair blowing on the wind. Not only could she barely see him most of the time, but the strange awareness between them had vanished as well, leaving her feeling even more alone on the mountainside.
Something was different the day before. Yesterday, they traveled through the forests without saying more than two words together when they stopped for breaks. Each time, Silvas shapeshifted into an enormous white crocotta that put Keena and Keech to shame.
It was perhaps a good thing that he was so large since she ended up having to strap the bundle of his armor to the saddle harness that Dagani had worn. Diana hadn’t seen him go to retrieve it, but when he produced it for her with instructions on how to put it on him and strap down his armor, she had felt a new rush of sympathy for him.
Not that she gave to voice to it or acted on it. The hard look in his eyes as he spoke made it clear that any softer sentiments would be unappreciated. His expression told her all that she needed to know about his expectations. He expected compliance and nothing more. He didn’t want her sympathy or any comfort, despite what little he had offered to her when she was scared. At that moment, she understood just how much a stranger the ageless lucomo was.
This perception was reinforced every time he regained his true form. He hadn’t been inclined to speak, and Diana was left to her own thoughts more often than not. Truth be told, she wasn’t certain what she expected him to say to her. What did they even have to talk about? She snorted as she recalled Raskyuil’s concerns that the lucomo would want to keep her.
Not fucking likely when he seemed to be happy to forget that she was even there.
The last words he had spoken to her were when he had allowed her a rest break just before they began their ascent. He had explained in as few words as possible that they would need to climb the mountain rather than fly up. He didn’t know where the strix was nesting, and if he took the form of a griffin or roc to approach, she would be forewarned of their presence.
Diana didn’t have a clue what a roc was, and since he had seemed to be in a hurry to convey information and depart, she held her tongue and fell into step behind him. The hope that she would find some kind of companionship with him—even if it were a peculiar brand, like what she had found with the troll—vanished.
With a disgusted click of the tongue, she kicked the loose stones in front of her. Why was she allowing this to affect her so much? So what if he was ignoring her presence? It was no different than how most of the guys in her town behaved toward her once she showed no interest in sacrificing her freedom for the promise of safety and comfort—as much of it as they could promise—that they offered.
Diana wasn’t even sure when she began to look at her captor as any sort of companion. She had to be crazy to even consider it! She had to depend on Silvas to survive, nothing more. As long as he didn’t let anything kill her, he could walk miles ahead for all she cared. It wasn’t like she even noticed how far away he was when his pale form disappeared.
It was ridiculous to feel such unease with the distance between them.