Chapter - twenty - seven - A surprise gift

A clash of my sword knocks against Link's, sending him back onto the grass below. He groans, sweat coating his short golden-brown strands. "Do you always have to go hard?"

"Sorry," I mumble, pulling him from the floor as the sun warms the skies in a tangerine light. "I guess I'm just on edge with the trials coming up next month."

He makes a face in question. "I find it hard to believe you're on edge about that."

Truthfully, it's because it's been three days since Lorcan's departure. It left me somewhat estranged. I hate admitting it's my worry because then that means I care more than I should. And yes, I know I did or... do, but that is exactly why I didn't want to involve myself with anyone when focusing on becoming a Venator.

"Missing Lorcy?" Rydan strolls up to us, two blades in each of his hands as he wiggles his brows at me.

A slight roll of my eyes. "Here to irritate us, Rydan?"

"You didn't answer the question." He grins, and I scrunch my nose at him. "If it helps, I too miss him dearly. Especially when he raises his voice at me."

The dramatic hand on his heart says otherwise, or potentially he does miss Lorcan just to annoy him.

"There's nothing to worry about, Nara," Freya says from the ground, sitting in a cross-legged position. Picking off the grass and toying with it in her hands, she hums. "Venators go on missions all the time. It's how Lorcan met you, isn't it?"

It is, but it doesn't mean it's safe. Our village was under attack by a dragon when I initially met him. Not that I don't have faith in Lorcan, Solaris knows I do, but it's something I'd always wondered since my father's times of leaving us on missions. Whether we'd receive word from someone else that he didn't make it or if he'd appear through our cottage doors, safe and sound.

"You know what you should be worried about?" Rydan lilts, swinging his swords in a circular swooping motion. "Those creatures lurking around."

I drop the blade, my whole body blanking. "The new ones?"

He nods rather chirpy as Freya asks, "How do you ever find out all of this?"

"We live in a place full of Venator leaders talking about their daily missions. It's not hard to eavesdrop on certain conversations."

"What—" Link starts though his voice sounds relatively small before clearing his throat. "What did they say?"

"Two new deaths just off the west side of Lava Grove."

Deaths. Why are we never informed of this? "Is that all they said?"

Rydan's shoulder rises as he pouts in thought. "That's all I gathered, though it's odd, isn't it?"

"What is?" Freya probes, a worry line on her forehead.

"How there are so many deaths, yet their bodies seem to disappear completely, and everyone just... forgets about them." Rydan shudders, but the words leave me in a loop of pensiveness. "I'd hate to encounter one like Adriel and Oran did."

I don't think many want to encounter a said creature; I, on the other hand...

***

While Freya sat at the mess hall dining away, I was up in the chambers, sitting on my bed and staring at the door, thinking, processing, wondering about the creatures.

A trainee is a trainee. They don't have many rights as a sworn-in Venator would, but knowledge of these creatures—of these deaths is something I firmly believe we need to know in order to protect ourselves.

I'd weighed up my options while braiding my hair to the side and placing my double-ended blade against my sheath.

One, these creatures seem to prey on human flesh at night, which means now is the time they'd surface.

Two, Adriel said it looked as though they were blind, just like a Rumen, and everyone knows wherever a Rumen is, There's always a leader of the pack. And a weakness is at the nape of their neck—the softest part of their scales. If it is anything like a Rumen, I can weaken it.

Meaning, I'm setting out to trap one.

Outright irresponsible of me to do so, and perhaps I'm acting upon impulse simply because it's a form of adventure for me, which is why I accepted anything no matter the difficulties.

Gulping in a breath, I shoot up from the bed and swing the door open but freeze as Lorcan stands there, fist in the air as if about to knock.

Oh, my Solaris.

"You've returned," I breathe. A stir, a lot like relief, settles inside me, yet awkward of me not to know whether to hug or kiss him. I choose neither as he lowers his fist and nods.

"We managed to hunt down a few fledglings—"

I hold back from widening my eyes and my chest pounding. Fledglings are just the equivalent of barely a child.

"Is something wrong?"

I blink from my stupor and shake my head in a lie. Something is very wrong because the knowledge of fledglings being hunted down makes me... distressed. I didn't like it, even if, as a future Venator, that is what my duty holds.

With a short nod, his other hand from behind him comes out, holding something dark and leathery. "Well—I picked up something along the way."

Taking a good look, I stare down as he unfolds his palm, showing me... a fingerless glove.

"I tried to return your old one, but I figured you'd deserve a newer glove."

For the scar, I always try and hide.

Wordless, I'm not sure what to say as he dips his chin for him to put it on me. I glide my hand up from the side and give it to him. I'm aware of my every being, breathing too harsh, then too soft, and lastly uneven as he places it on, letting the tips of his fingers deliberately touch my skin for a minute longer.

My eyes flicker to the leather extending up to my elbow, and I half-smile as I wiggle my fingers. The leather stretches as I close and open my fist.

"Were you afraid that day?" Lorcan asks, and I shoot my gaze at him, pressing my brows together. He points to my glove. "The day this happened?"

Right, that, everyone always wonders. "I was," I confess, making his eyes narrow slightly.

"Was?"

"I made a promise to myself I wouldn't be." I sigh, dropping my hand to the side. "I don't like the idea of being afraid of anything."

The candles from the hallway light the feathers of his russet hair before he nods slowly. "Well, you must fear something at least."

"Just because I don't like the idea of fear doesn't mean I don't have it. I just don't like showing it." Or telling anyone of them. I tend to hide emotions, though, oftentimes I've let it get the best of me, if not always. Like anger or the sensation, I have echoing the walls of my body when Lorcan and I had kissed once...twice. I shake my head and exhale, switching it to him. "What do you fear?"

"Losing," he answers after a mulling second.

"At what?" I muse. "Sparring against Rydan?"

Not even a tease of laughter covers him, letting my jokey expression deplete as he doesn't look me in the eyes. "Losing things I've valued in life." He sighs sharply from his nose. "I've already lost a lot, some things to certain situations and others to someone—" He pauses with a wince, anger wavering through him.

"Someone?" I repeat, prompting him to try and say more.

His gaze darts up to meet mine in a fierce forest blaze. "Someone you could consider... family."

The way in which he says family shoots a quarrel through my chest. Nonetheless, I lean the side of my body up against the door frame and say softly, "We all lose something at one point, some more than others. It's whether we grow from it or carry it with us for the rest of our lives." Mine is the latter. I can see that so is his.

That intensity in his eyes leaves, dialing down to his usual calmness until he looks at my thigh strap and chooses to change topics. "Are you going somewhere?"

My gaze goes wide as I stand straight. "No, I—"

"Trapping frogs?" His voice is a flicker of humor.

"Something like that," I murmur. "But I realize it's getting late—"

"Since when has that stopped you?"

Since a likelihood of death.

And now I realize it truly is stupid of me to go out currently searching for a dangerous creature.

It never stopped you before, a small voice in my head says, but I know the risk now goes much deeper than trapping a criminal or a Rumen.

"I'm just exhausted from all the training," I answer vaguely. Part of it is true.

"I see." The edge of his lip turns downward. "Then I will leave you to rest, Miss Ambrose."

I hope my grimace isn't noticeable at the formal title he's given me. There are moments he does it teasingly, as do I, moments where I've said it to him in a bid to stop anything going further, but now his is almost as if disappointed.

"Wait," I say just as he'd turned to walk away. He faces me again, and I wave my gloved hand. "Thank you for the glove, it—" I take a breath. "—It means a lot."

He curtly nods, hesitating on his feet before leaving me to facepalm at the way I can't handle a situation with someone I for once like.

Authors note:
Hey everyone! Sorry for such a late update, I've been battling covid! But feel so much better, hope you enjoy, Karina x