𝕭𝖚𝖗𝖓𝖊𝖉 𝕾𝖊𝖈𝖗𝖊𝖙𝖘 (𝕯𝖗𝖆𝖋𝖙 𝕿𝖜𝖔)

𝕮𝖍𝖆𝖕𝖙𝖊𝖗 𝕱𝖎𝖛𝖊

Sorry it's so late. Wattpad HAS NOT been my friend lately. 😅

Kailani

Akra wasn't a very large city, in fact most of it was uninhabited plains.

So, I was surprised to find a camp not far from the woods I'd slept in that night. Starlight was gone when I woke up. I reasoned that he'd left for food. He could smell me, so he'd come find me when he was ready. Or maybe he wouldn't. Maybe he had a family to go back to.

"Lucky." I muttered, sliding down the side of a bank into the creek below. Since it was summer the creek was low. Most of the water had already been collected, or it had dried up. I bent down and used a tin cup stashed in my sack to drink some of the water. The sound of leaves crunching behind me made my spine straighten.

"That's kinda rude, you know."

I stood up slowly and stuffed the cup back into my sack. "How so?" The person moved closer. I could feel them directly behind me, their breath on my neck. "You could've asked." A deep voice whispered. "And whom would I ask?" "Me." I chuckled and turned around and gray eyes met brown. "What's rude, is you standing so close to me." I pressed my hands against his chest and pushed him back a few steps. "Back up."

"What are you doing out here?" He frowned at me. "I've never seen you before, so you don't live around here." "I'm just passing through." He nodded. "Where are you going?" I raised an eyebrow at him. The nerve of this man. I'd just met him and he was already meddling in my life. "I'd rather not say." He stepped closer, his brown eyes staring into my soul. "Why not?" I rolled my eyes. "Because, stupid, we just met. I don't know who you are!"

He smiled. "Ah! Of course. My apologies, ma'am." He grabbed my hand and lifted it to his lips, pressing a kiss to my knuckles. "Nevan Ransom."

✴

Nevan led me to a small hut standing alone. "You live by yourself?" "Mhm." "What about your family?" He didn't answer me. Ah. So, either they were dead or abusive and he'd run away from them. No one in the Southern Kingdoms really cared about children. We were seen as property. Some children were sold to pay off their parents' debts. I had gotten lucky to have been born to such loving parents. I swallowed the lump in my throat. I took a deep breath to calm myself. Now wasn't the time to be breaking down.

"You good?" I looked up at Nevan and smiled. "Yep." He nodded and pushed open the door to his hut. The first thing I noticed was the smell. It hit me right in the face and almost knocked me down. "Oh, um." Nevan just walked inside and flopped onto his couch—if you could even call it that. "I don't really clean." "Clearly."

I tied my sack to my back. I didn't want my clothes anywhere near Nevan's dirty floor. "Well, you're cleaning today." He scoffed. "Nah." I glared at him, resting my hands on my hips. "I'm not cleaning your house for you!" "Then don't." "No wonder you live alone." Nevan rolled his eyes and climbed off the couch. "Whatever you say.......whatever your name is."

I bit my lip. I'd be risking a lot by telling him my real name. I glanced up at him. I could lie. "Alia." I said, walking closer to him. "Alia Clair." He nodded and stuck out his hand. I shook it. "Nice to meet you, Miss Clair." I rolled my eyes and pulled my hand out of his, wiping my hand on my pants. The look on his face was priceless.

"Now that we've gotten formalities out of the way." I tossed my sack onto Nevan's 'couch' and looked up at him. "Let's get to work." Nevan groaned and threw his head back. "Fine." God, he was such a child.

✴

"Yuck!"

"How mature."