Fortune Favors the Cruel - Kel Carpenter Page 0,74

gone and passed them by and Lazarus hadn’t slowed for even a second of it.

“We’re only a few hours out now,” Lazarus replied. He’d been stoic since they had stepped foot on the rough but worn trail. She wasn’t sure what brought on this dourness of his—whether it was the dream-not-dream or the things that occurred the night before that made him so short with her now—but he was keeping his distance. And she didn’t like it, not one bit.

“I’m exhausted,” Quinn panted, sluggishly dragging her legs upward. The burn in her thighs was real and made the hurt from riding a horse feel downright tolerable. “Can we break for a little—”

“No,” came his reply. Quinn bit out a curse in N’skaran, not noticing the small rock that caught the toe of her boot and she went down. Her hands came up, protecting her face as it met gravel and stones. The scent of copper made her scrunch her nose as she groaned and rolled over. Despite the faint traces of pain in her hands, she was content to lie there for just a moment. Even with the pulse of discomfort and the slick feel of blood on her skin, it couldn’t lessen the relief her legs felt as they were finally given the break they had been screaming for.

“Gods above—what the—” Lazarus’ massive form filled her blurry vision as he kneeled down. “You did this on purpose, didn’t you?”

“Mmm,” Quinn groaned. “Of course,” she coughed. Her lungs felt like they were bursting from all the exertion, but in actuality, it was simply the strenuous exercise and cold air. “I definitely did that intentionally, scratching up my hands just so I could have a break.” She held up her hands and blood dripped down them. Lazarus looked past them, down at the girl lying in the trail.

“I never know with you,” he muttered as he started to clean and bandage her wounds. If she were being honest, Quinn would have fallen sooner if she knew it would result in a break, but she kept that to herself as his calloused fingers skated over hers.

When her palms were cleaned and wrapped in dry cloth, Lazarus helped her up and they started again at a much slower pace. “So why are we practically running up this mountain like raksasas are chasing us?” she asked. Lazarus sighed.

“We need to test how strong you are,” he said slowly. “And the Cisean’s have a way to do that.”

Quinn nodded. “So, it’s true,” she murmured, drawing his attention.

“What’s true?” he asked, and she could tell it pained him. Whatever demons were chasing them this day, they weren’t the raksasa of the dark realm.

“The Cisean’s have a cavern that can reveal a Maji’s strength … if you have the right tools. Yes?” she said, squeezing the sting in her palms by clenching her fists at her sides.

“You know of it?” he asked.

“I know of a great many things, Lazarus. Don’t act so surprised.” A slight smile curved around the corners of her lips and his expression darkened.

“Then you know how it works,” he said. “Good. That’ll make this easier.”

She shook her head. “I didn’t say that.” She nodded up to where the trail disappeared over a ravine hundreds of feet above. “I said I know of the cavern. It’s been rumored for years that they had a way to test magic, that it could tell if a person would survive the ascension…” Her voice trailed off and she didn’t miss the way he stiffened. “That’s what we’re doing here, isn’t it?” she asked. “You want to make sure that you’re investing your time and resources wisely and that when the time comes, I can live through it.”

She didn’t say it, nor did she give it away, but the callousness of it stung a little. She had suspicions of what his intentions for her were, but still, there was more to them—more to whatever it was between them than this dispassionate indifference. Even if neither of them wanted to admit it.

“That’s not exactly it,” Lazarus said, his lips pinching together. “I need to get a feel for what I’m dealing with in training you, and the only way to do that is to have you tested. Unfortunately, we couldn’t do it before we left Dumas—”

“—because you’re the heir to the Norcastan throne and people don’t like that,” Quinn added before he could continue.

“Like I said before, there is more to it,” he said eventually, and Quinn harrumphed because