Ashborne (The Ashborne Trilogy: Book 1) by Kat Lilynette Read Free Book Online

so he could retrieve his cloak and extra pillows and
blankets.
    “ It's medicine from the
same fern as the one on your finger. If you want to walk soon, you
should drink it. It'll make you sleepy, but it'll heal and help
with the pain,” He finished making up the bed beside mine before he
began walking away.
    “ Wait!? You're leaving?” I
blurted it out without thinking while leaning straight up in my
bed. What the hell did I just say? Why do
I care if he leaves?
    He stopped and glanced back at me from
over his shoulder, flashing a calming, reassuring smile. “You're
safe here. Belafor and I are the only ones who know you're here,
and none of the Shadowbark would dare enter my home without
permission. Besides, I'll be just outside. Please, drink that and
try to rest. I'll be back shortly.”
    I laid back in the bed, studying the
glowing, green liquid swirling inside this vial, wondering if I
should drink it. He hadn't given me any reason to distrust him, and
he had shown me nothing but kindness. Figuring that if he wanted to
harm me, he could have done it already, I closed my eyes tightly
and chugged the mysterious glowing medicine.
    “ Ack! Tastes like licking
a tree,” I complained out loud.
    As I laid there, wishing he had left
me some water to rinse my mouth with and waiting for the effects of
the medicine to kick in, the room felt strangely empty with Emoren
gone – like it was incomplete. I didn’t know why, but it was weird
and off-putting; I didn’t like it. Laying there alone, my mind
drifted away from the empty feeling of the room and headed towards
home.
    I thought about Gentry and Penelope
and how worried they must be. I wished there was a way I could let
them know I was all right, and I hoped I would be able to see them
again soon, but, truthfully, I had no idea how far away from home I
was or how deep they've taken me into these vast woods. Suddenly, I
could feel the pain in my leg start to dull as the medicine began
to take hold, and it wasn't long before it pulled me back to
sleep.
    I tried, but didn't sleep well. The
dull pain in my leg kept waking me as I tossed and turned, drifting
in and out of sleep. Maybe it was because I was alone in an
unfamiliar place, but each time I woke, in my groggy, drugged
state, I found myself checking to see if Emoren had returned,
hoping he would be there.
    Finally, during what must have been
the middle of the night, I rolled over in my bed, and as the pain
pulled me from my sleep yet again, I noticed that this time, all
the candles of the tent were out except one. I looked over to see
Emoren sleeping soundly, facing me, as he lay in the bed a couple
feet from my own.
    As my eyes adjusted to the dim
lighting of the tent, I noticed his crossbow laying only a few feet
away from me, at the foot of his bed. I was sure it hadn't been
there before.
    I wondered why he would leave such a
thing out in the open with me here. Even injured as I was, surely
he knew I was capable of wielding such a weapon. It was as if he
knew I would wake before him and his deliberate leaving of the
crossbow within my reach was a message. He seemed to be letting me
know that he wasn't going to ask for any amount of trust he wasn't
willing to give himself.
    I laid there on my side with my hands
curled just below my chin, I watched him as he slept, the blonde
savior who had rescued me and was now nursing me back to health.
The dim candlelight of the tent seemed to be as captivated by his
face as I was quickly becoming.
    As I stared at him, I tried to figure
out what was going on inside me. He wasn't the first man to ever
give me a gift, be kind to me, or even save my life, but I couldn't
explain what I was feeling. So why, despite myself and having only
just met him, did I feel relieved when I woke and saw him sleeping
next to me? Why did my new, small world inside this tent feel
incomplete when he left me earlier? And why couldn't I stop
watching him sleep?
    I laid there for what must have been
an