Eros followed close behind Ashley and Payne. I could see that Ashley was pleased with his presence, but Payne appeared wary.
“Eros... fancy eting you here,” I said, keeping things casual. I suspected that he went to Carno pack and discovered that we misled him.
Now he was back looking for more information. I didn’t want to make him suspicious by acting suspicious. He was working hard to make it seem like a complete coincidence, so I needed to play along with that.
“Eros ca to this area looking for so really rare herbs,” Ashley explained quickly. “As a healer, he’s always gathering rare herbs. There are so that grow here that don’t grow anywhere else.”
“Yeah, I ran into them as they were heading out,” Eros confird with a nod.
“We just happened to run into him,” Ashley said, giggling.
I smiled and nodded. “Well, what a coincidence that is, then.”
“Yeah, pretty lucky on my part,” Eros said, laughing. “Anyway, how’s your leg?”
I glanced down. The cuts from the nettles had healed days ago. Slowly, I gripped my pant leg and lifted it up. There weren’t even any scars left from the nettle sting.
“Fully healed,” I confird.
“Aweso!” Eros cheered a little. He seed very easygoing and casual, like he did just happen to run into us.
I couldn’t deny that he was friendly and pleasant to be around. Though, that could be because he was trying to gain our trust.
“I apologize again for using the wrong herbs for a poultice. There’s still a lot I have to learn.” Eros said, grinning.
“Don’t worry about it. If it weren’t for your help, the poison could have done a lot more damage or killed ,” I said, nodding.
In truth, he had probably saved my life, even if he hadn’t done the job completely. It gave us ti to get Lee there to heal properly.
“It only took a few more days for to heal completely. It was nothing,” I assured.
I looked at Payne and our eyes t. Slowly, I gave him a single nod, signaling that he should play along with Eros. If we were going to learn what his purpose was, we needed to make him think we didn’t suspect him.
Payne returned my subtle nod.
“From what Eros said, he’s heading west, just like us. Perhaps he should join us,” Payne suggested.
“Well, Eros, if you are agreeable, we’d be more than happy to have you join the group so you don’t have to travel alone,” I suggested.
Ashley’s eyes lit up and she grabbed Eros’s wrist.
“Oh, you should really co with us. This will be a lot of fun,” Ashley insisted.
I glanced at Mila and saw her eyes narrow slightly. She suspected Eros, too. Good. I wanted her to be suspicious because she might see sothing I didn’t.
Payne and I led the way out of Poni territory. Mila walked behind us and Eros and Ashley were even further behind. It didn’t take us long to get back on the open road.
I could hear Ashley and Eros in the back. They were whispering to each other, chattering and laughing. I was concerned about how attached Ashley was getting to Eros. If he was an enemy, which was still a big “if,” she’d never see it if she got too attached.
They were far enough back and too engrossed in each other to listen to anything I had to say.
“Did you stop by your childhood ho?” I asked Payne.
Payne gave a dry laugh. “If you an that pile of rubble overgrown with weeds, then yes, I did revisit it.”
Reaching out, I clapped a hand on Payne’s shoulder. He didn’t seem upset or saddened by what he saw.
“You don’t seem... perturbed,” I pointed out.
Payne scoffed. “It is hard to imagine that place being where I grew up and where I lost... everything. I guess I don’t associate this place with the emotional loss.”
“Well... that was a personal admission,” I said, chuckling.
Payne shrugged. “Why have you allowed Eros to travel with us?”
Discreetly, I glanced over my shoulder at Eros and Ashley. Her cheeks were flushed and I could tell she hadn’t stopped smiling for several minutes. I liked seeing her that happy, I just wasn’t sure about the source of her happiness.
“I need to know who is backing him and directing him,” I explained, turning back to Payne. “He’s not an ordinary healer.”
“How do you know?” Payne asked, arching an eyebrow. “He mostly seems... incompetent.”
“Or he is overly-competent,” I said.
Payne creased his brow. “I don’t follow you there, Boss.”
“Eros made a poultice from a complex mixture of herbs as an antidote for the stinging nettle poison. It was supposed to be a healing poultice but all it did was remove the poison. In fact, it prevented from healing. Even though my wound wasn’t getting worse, I was still weakened,” I explained.
Payne nodded. “You think he purposely ant to weaken you and play it off like a dical mistake by a rookie healer.”
“Exactly.”
“Then you think he was sent by soone more powerful to ss with us and get information out of us,” Payne surmised.
“That’s the idea,” I confird with a nod.
Ashley’s laughter rippled up to us.
I glanced at Payne and noticed the worry in his eyes.
“She’ll understand,” I said in a quieter voice. “Once we figure out his true intentions, she’ll understand.”
***
*Mila*
We stopped for a quick lunch on the road.
I munched on a sandwich while Eros kept us entertained.
“So, there I am hanging halfway off this cliff and trying to cut so leaves from a rare plant that only grows on a southern facing cliff edge at that altitude,” he said.
I watched Eros carefully as he told his story.
Ashley was draped over him, laughing so hard.
Payne was content to eat and stare into space. I could tell he was listening because his eyes darted toward Eros now and then.
“And all of a sudden, this hawk flies up. I must have been too close to its nest. She starts screeching at and clawing at . I tried to swat her away but I was dangling...” Eros sighed and leaned back.
Ashley was laughing so hard, she wiped a tear from her eye.
I noticed a slight smirk on Soren’s lips as well. If nothing else, at least he was entertaining.
“How did you get out of that ss?” I asked.
“Oh, well, that was the best part. The rock I was holding onto ca loose and I fell. I thought I was done for but before I could even work up a good scream, I landed on the outcropping with the herb,” Eros said. He shook his head. “I clipped so herbs and climbed right back up... I didn’t even need to hang off that damn cliff.”
Ashley just kept laughing.
“We need to get moving again,” Soren said.
We cleaned up our lunch and got back on the road. By mid-afternoon, a large mountain range ca up on our right.
“Hey, this is Hillsburg pack territory. You can tell by the mountains,” Eros said, pointing.
“What’s significant about that?” I asked, narrowing my eyes at him.
“You don’t know? Tonight, there is supposed to be this aweso teor shower that is visible from the Hillsburg mountains,” he said.
“A teor shower?” Ashley asked.
“What do you guys think about hanging around here and watching it? I’ve heard it is supposed to be one of the most beautiful things ever,” Eros insisted.
“That sounds really romantic,” Ashley gushed, biting her bottom lip.
The idea of seeing a teor shower was exciting. It was sothing I’d never seen before. Watching the sky light up with shooting stars just sounded... gorgeous.
I couldn’t help but wonder what Eros was trying to do. Why would he recomnd us sticking around for another night and watching a teor shower? We were strangers to him.
He could be trying to get us isolated in the mountains. It could have been a trap for us. Eros could just putting us at ease to lure us into sothing unexpected.
“You know what, that sounds like a good idea,” Soren said, catching off guard.
“Umm...”
I walked up to Soren and leaned in close to him.
“Are you sure this is a good idea?” I asked, glancing at Ashley and Eros to make sure they weren’t paying attention to .
They were too busy laughing and whispering to each other.
“Don’t worry too much, Mila. The teor shower should be beautiful. You want to see it, so just do it. Nothing will happen, not while I’m here,” he assured.
“But...”
“Mila, have you seen a teor shower before?” Soren asked.
“No.”
“Then this is worth seeing. I want you to have this experience because everyone should. Whatever you are worried about, just put it behind you because I will make sure that nothing goes wrong. I’m looking out for you,” Soren said. He touched my cheek lightly.
I smiled at him, my cheeks getting hot. Sohow, his words made feel so spoiled and cherished. He knew how to be sweet and romantic, whether that was his intention or not. He also knew how to reassure and make feel safe and secure.
Part of was grateful because I did really want to see the teor shower.
Was it possible that he liked for more than just my body? Did he have real feelings for , enough to make feel special and doted on? Was there a chance that he wanted to be more than just fuck buddies?
I an, I knew he liked my body but did he also like for ?
Just thinking about it made my heart grow ten tis larger in my chest. Maybe he wanted around for companionship too... not just the physical stuff.
Even if I was imagining it all, I wasn’t going to let that feeling go right now. We were still out in the wilderness and we were about to have a romantic night under a teor shower. I was going to indulge myself for once.
It was just one night under the stars, right?
I sighed to myself and nodded to Soren, agreeing with him.
It was a pleasant fantasy to indulge in this idea that Soren could have real feelings for . But I couldn’t help wondering if that would make the beautiful dream I was creating for myself even harder to wake up from.
Waking up would break my heart. But it was worth this mont.
#
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