That night, they were too tired to go on so they made camp.
“I must have gotten us lost,” Zaden admitted as he built the fire. “I don’t have any rations left. We’re going to have to hunt.”
“I’m not sure I’d be any good at that,” Kala said. In truth, the idea of harming any of the delightful forest creatures they had met nauseated her.
“Well, I’d keep feeding you the good stuff if we had any,” Zaden said, glowering down at the ground. Maybe Clayton and Janes were right. He should have paid more attention to training.
He had always thought he would be able to smell his way back home and had completely disregarded the classes in navigation. He hadn’t realized how quickly he could lose the scent. The elements must have been working against him. Strong winds and light sprinkles of rain that hadn’t turned into anything substantial had been enough that he lost the trail. Still, he had forged on ahead, assuming that he would catch the scent sooner or later. He had only served to get them more lost.
“I know,” she said, her voice low. She had been quiet most of their time together, but the more she spoke, the more he noticed that she spoke with a musical quality in her voice. It somehow made him feel instantly at ease. Happy, even. Or as happy as he could be anyway.
“Okay. I’ll do the hunting then, your highness,” he said with a low, sarcastic bow. He wasn’t angry at all, but he did feel exasperated. He had no idea what to do with the likes of her, and it was clear that she had a hard time simply tolerating him. Her attitude made him feel resentful, particularly because for some reason, he seemed to want her to like him. She scoffed as he took off into the dark woods, leaving her alone by the campfire.
She watched him go, her face wrought with emotion. Why was it so impossible to spend time with this man? Was it his arrogance or was there something more to it than that? And why had the only people she had seen so far been a vile man who wanted to capture her for some reason and Zaden, who, for some reason, never seemed far from her thoughts. He got under her skin, but part of that was because her attraction to him made her edgy. She couldn’t let herself become vulnerable to anybody. Especially not when she couldn’t even remember who she was or where she came from. She would stick around until she had a better option, but until then she would just have to play it smart.
Her thoughts returned to the beautiful shooting star she had seen. What had happened to her? Why had she seen those colors in the sky when they were nowhere else?
The fire was dying, so she busied herself collecting firewood while Zaden was hunting. It seemed like he had been gone for too long, and she began to worry. What if he decided that taking her with him was too much trouble? It seemed to be right along with his character to leave her there instead of keeping his word. Or maybe something had happened to him.
She felt a jolt of panic. She didn’t want anything bad to happen to him. And if something did happen, what would she do then? She would be alone again, vulnerable to the men who Zaden referred to as ‘guardians’. She knew that they were bad news simply from the way they smelled. She couldn’t tell how, but her intuition was telling her to stay as far away from them as she could.
“Zaden?” she called meekly out into the woods. There was no sound except the wind rustling through the trees, and she bit her bottom lip, wandering away from the comforting glow of the campfire and into the unknown darkness of the woods.
The fire had all but disappeared when something grabbed her arm. She shrieked and struggled away.
“What are you doing here?” Zaden asked, his voice stern. “I told you I would do the hunting. It’s dangerous out here! You’re not even that strong!”
“Even if that’s true, it’s rude of you to say it,” Kala exclaimed, pulling her arm away from him. She was suddenly furious, both from being startled and by the way Zaden spoke to her.
“So what? I’m not going to lie to you about it! It would have been helpful if you would have gone in the first place, but as of now, it’s just stupid! I already got what I came for.”
He held two rabbits out in front of him, their dead bodies dangling limply in the air. Kala looked away, her stomach in knots, and she took off running toward the campfire.
“Ugh,” Zaden groaned, following her. Why was it so hard to talk to women?
When he got to the campsite, Kala was sitting on the ground facing away from him, her face hidden in her knees. He sighed and didn’t say anything as he began to skin the rabbits and set them up to cook. She didn’t budge until the smell of the rabbit meat began to waft in her nostrils.
“That smells good,” she said quietly.
“Don’t know if you’ll like the taste,” Zaden said grumpily. “But I’m trying.”
Kala sighed, secretly staring at the handsome man as he cooked the meat. His long hair was down now, and his chiseled face looked even more handsome in the golden glow of the firelight. He was pensive, giving his task his full concentration, and she realized suddenly that there was a sort of comfortable simplicity by which he lived his life. Maybe she was over thinking everything. Maybe she could trust him.
She sat down beside him when the food was finished and he handed her a skewer with the rabbit on it. She took it, examining the meat curiously. It looked nothing like the cute creatures she had seen living, which made it easier for her to stomach the idea of eating it. Her stomach rumbled loudly and Zaden chuckled.
“Sounds like you’re ready for this,” he said, nudging her playfully.
She allowed herself to smile at him. Maybe she had been too hard on him. All this time he had just been doing the only thing that he knew to do to help her. What kind of person would automatically know what to do with someone who had lost their memory? But he had saved her from men who were trying to take her, men she had a negative physical reaction to, and had simply been doing his best to take care of her, even though he was just as lost as she was.
“Go on, take a bite,” he said with a small smile playing his lips. She gazed at him for a moment, feeling embarrassed by his attention. In an effort to distract herself from her feelings, she sunk her teeth into the rabbit’s flesh and chewed, shocked by how well he had prepared it.
“This is good,” she said, eating as if she hadn’t eaten in years. In truth, it had only been a day since they had run out of rations, but that was long enough for her stomach to rumble violently.
“I know,” he said with a smirk, before he started to nibble on his own rabbit.
She was already finished by the time he made his way through a third of his, and she watched him eat, her eyes intent on the delicious rabbit flesh. She was still feeling starved, but she didn’t want to tell him that. He could tell by the way she was staring at him like a dog begging though, and smiled.
“Here,” he said, handing her the rest of his rabbit. “I feel done for the day. Don’t want to sleep on a full stomach.”
“But-“
He stood up and headed to the edge of the camp. Her eyes once again secretly roamed the defining contours of his muscular body. She felt safe enough to do it while he wasn’t looking, but she would be horrified if he suspected any of what she was thinking.
“I can’t keep watch if I’m full enough to sleep,” he said, sitting cross-legged with his back to her. He stayed poised there, his ears alert for any signs of danger. Kala sighed, looking from his silhouette to the rabbit he had left for her to eat. Being a man, she was sure he had a bigger appetite, but he had been generous enough to give her his meal. She was half tempted to join him across the campsite and give it back to him, make sure he ate it, but it felt taboo. A man and his pride shouldn’t be crossed. She had heard that somewhere.
And so she ate, her thoughts in a flurry of emotion as Zaden perched at a distance, fearless and ready to protect her at any sign of danger.