“The what?” I snapped.
He looked at me like I was stupid. “You must know what that is.”
“Humor me,” I ground out through clenched teeth.
“The Accompaniment Law. The one that states that all female citizens of Ithenmyr, regardless of species, cannot travel without their father, brother or husband.”
“The Accompaniment Law,” I repeated, my voice monotone. My heart was racing, and it took everything I had not to react. I didn’t want to give this male anything over me.
He raised a brow. “Yes, the one put in place two hundred and fifty years ago after the Females’ Rebellion.” His eyes crawled over my body, a strange gleam entering them before his lips tilted up in a wry smile. “The only females exempt are those of… questionable morals. Which you don’t appear to be, despite your knife-wielding tendencies and your very un-feminine attire. Did you forget about that?”
I had not forgotten. It was impossible to forget something that you didn’t know.
But there was no way I was going to tell that tohim. I dragged my eyes up to his, tilting my head back so I could look him in the eyes.
“Hypothetically,” I took a step towards him, keeping the dagger between us, “what would you suggest we do?”
His eyes flashed, and the tiniest smile lit up his face. The way his expression made my insides twist was… odd. But that was a matter for a different time.
“I propose a mutually beneficial arrangement,” he said, smugness lacing his tone.
“Oh?” I raised a brow. “And what would that be?”
“Well,” he drew out the word like it was an entire sentence. “We’ve established that you are a female.”
“Yes.” I tapped my foot on the ground, ready to get this conversation over with. “I most certainly am.”
“AndIam a male,” he said, drawing his hand over himself like he was showcasing his very large body.
“I gathered as much,” I said dryly. “Tell me, why would you help me?”
He coughed, avoiding my gaze as he rubbed his foot on the ground. “There are certain people looking for me. But they don’t exactly know what I look like and they won’t expect me to be traveling with anyone, let alone a female. I’ll help you get to where you need to go, and in turn, you’ll help draw their gaze off of me.”
Biting my lip, I tapped my fingers against my thigh. I hated to admit it, but this plan made some sense. I had no way of knowing where to go after the forest. For Kydona’s sake, I didn’t even know about the laws of the very country I had lived in my entire life.
It was becoming painfully clear to me I needed someone’s help. Otherwise, I would likely be back in my tower by nightfall, never to leave again.
I sucked in a deep breath. It appeared I was out of options.
“Okay,” I said, sheathing my dagger before extending my hand toward him.
He clasped my hand in his and I jumped, not expecting the surge of heat that seemed to constantly run under his skin. He raised a silver brow. “Do we have a deal?”
I nodded briskly. “Yes. I’ll help take eyes off you in Thyr, and in exchange, you’ll get me out of Ithenmyr.”
“It’s a deal.”
We shook on it.
I was Wrong
It turned out that without a dagger pointed at him, my new companion was not very talkative. That was fine with me, considering that my plans for this day had gone in a completely different direction from what I had originally intended.
We hiked in complete silence for the next four hours. The only time we stopped was to relieve ourselves, which only happened once I ensured he was going to give me complete privacy.
We had walked so far, and the burning in my muscles had given way to numbness hours ago. I hadn’t known it was possible to be so tired, so sore, so worn out that my body no longer felt like it belonged to me.
The good thing about the exhaustion was that the constant tingling in my hands was no longer the most prevalent source of pain in my body. As we walked, I focused all my energy on remaining upright, determined not to falter in front of this male I didn’t know. Weakness was dangerous. I knew that. And being weak, in Ithenmyr, was deadly.