Page 40 of The Demon God's Desire

My cheeks heated under his touch. “Oh, yes sorry. So, Jurtil then?”

He nods. “We’ll heave out first thing in the morning.”

“Perfect.”

I’ll tell him.

I’ll tell him my true feelings once we survive this and put this goddess problem behind us. There’s a part of me that is scared he won’t return my feelings, but I push those thoughts aside to toss my note paper onto the floor along with my writing utensil. Guilri lowers the flame inside of the lantern and passes it over to me so I can set it down away from our bed.

I’ll tell him if we make it out of this alive.

We just need to make it to Jurtil first.

21

GUILRI

Morning comes sooner than expected.

To say that I’m apprehensive about our journey is putting it mildly. Jurtil isn’t far from here, only about a day’s walk if we head west and don’t stray too far from the path getting us over there. But there’s no telling what we’ll run into once we’re outside the safety of this village.

I make sure to have us both pack for a few days anyway. Just in case. I don’t like to ruminate on worst-case scenarios, but with the Hearthkeeper as angry as she is, I wouldn’t put it past her to summon something else to attack us.

We head out once the sun is past the hazy horizon and casting a yellow glow over the sand stretching out past the village, giving us a clear view to travel through the desert.

As we leave the house, I spot a pair of horses tied to one of Bridget’s neighbor’s outposts. Neither of them have an tack on them, but even riding bareback would be enough to help us conserve energy. Something we’d need once we reach the Hedonist’s temple.

I nudge Bridget and nod over to the horses. “We should take one. It will get us there quicker.”

She scowls at me. “We’re not stealing someone’s horse, Guilri.”

“Why not? We’ll bring it back.” If they survived.

“No.”

“It would help us conserve energy. Walking through the desert with this heat is going to be hard even without the horse.”

She grabs my arm, keeping me in place as she stops to turn around and look at me. “I get what you’re saying, but I’m not really up for fighting off a possessed horse. The Hearthkeep seems to favor turning animals against us.”

Unfortunately, she has a point.

Running from a band of snakes had been one thing, but fighting a horse while riding it would be something else entirely. The Hearthkeeper had shown herself to not only be quite the destructive force, but a petty one at that.

She would do whatever it is she wanted now that she knew I’d been laying with a human.

So, we set off on foot.

I allow Bridget to take the lead, trusting her to guide us on a clear path through the sandy dunes that I realize quite quickly are practically second nature to her. I knew she’d well acquainted with the open stretch of nothingness before us, but her knowledge really is something else.

I let myself be amazed by her expertise, pointing out various plants and other fauna that she told me she typically used in making her salves and medicines for the village. To think that she was the only healer for her entire village and that the people relied on her so much made my chest ache with pride.

More than a few times, she gently took my hand and directed us onto a different pathway away from the main one, telling me that while it would take slightly longer to get to Jurtil, we wouldn’t have to worry about running into poison spores or any other creatures that liked to hang out in the sun at this time of day.

As antsy as it made me to add more time to our already ticking clock, I trust her expertise more than anything. She knows this desert better than anyone and knows exactly how to keep us safe from getting attacked by whatever lay out here.

I’m terrified of what the Hearthkeeper might do to her if she finds out that I’ve fallen for Bridget. It’s bad enough that I’d been caught in bed with her, but another thing to admit my feelings out loud.

It would kill me to see Bridget harmed because of me, and incurring any more wrath from the Hearthkeeper is at the bottom of my list of things I want to do now that we’re here out in the open and completely vulnerable.