Relentless

Chapter 9

Her words sit a moment in my mind before I can process what she's saying. When I hear a far off twig snap, the words finally sink in. I gasped as my eyes flew open. There is a tall man standing just a few feet off from our fire and Ashton is still fast asleep. My mind races as I debate my course of action.

I am ready to bolt until the man laughs. His voice is young and it seems familiar. I am taken off guard when he speaks.

"Hey, Celeste. What are you doing out here?"

"Kane?" I rise to greet him. From my angle he is just a silhouette because of the rising sun.

I am about to hug him when I realize I'm not in proper clothes so I wrap myself up in my cloak pretending that it is because of the cold morning. I mean, it is quite chilly, the leaves are frosted to the ground, but I woke up quite warm.

"I could ask you the same thing." I am curious as to why he is so far from home, but before he is forced to answer, Ashton approaches us.

"Great, you can cook breakfast."

I laugh at Ashton's tone. She is only partially joking. She is usually pretty prickly in the morning.

"No, you don't." I say in his defense.

"Hey, who put you in charge? I don't know about you, but I'm hungry and I'm sure, seeing as he woke us, he wouldn't mind cooking for us either."

I laugh at Ashton' notion as I guide her to the fire. She's shaking and I'm sure she'll be chipper once she is warm.

I turn my head to face Kane as I walk her away, still babbling. I mouth 'you don't have to.' Kane replies with 'I can. It's no problem.'

I cock my head to the side. He's so sweet.

I wrap Ashton in both or our blankets and tuck her in by the fire. She's fast asleep in no time. Kane gets to cooking breakfast. I argue with him that he really doesn't have to cook us anything but he insists. I cut the potatoes as he fries them up along with salted meat. I hadn't realized what Ashton had in her pack. I'm sure she grabbed the one with pots, pans and spices on purpose, while my bags had clothing and produce.

When our meal is cooked and still steaming, I hunker down next to the fire with Kane. He holds me with one arms as we eat our breakfast. I take in the delicious smell and my stomach grumbles. We both began to laugh.

When I am halfway done with my food, I dare ask, "So how did you get here?"

"I have a horse and cart."

"Oh, then my next question is: why are you here?"

"Well, um, there is a festival in Autumn City this week and my Father has been here all week. He sent for me to bring more supplies for our booth."

"Oh, well, what a coincidence! We are going to Autumn-"

"Celeste!" I jump at the sound of Ashton. I end up smacking Kane's arm off of me.

I sigh. "Sorry, I'll be back in a minute." I explained to Kane as I stand and walk over to Ashton.

"What?" I said with a tone of annoyance.

"What are you doing?" She whisper yelled.

"What do you mean?" I said in my normal volume.

"You shouldn't tell people our plans!"

"What do you mean 'people'? He's my boyfriend! Okay, I get that you lost your trust in boys a long time ago, but I haven't so don't push your fears on me. And if you're not gonna trust Kane then trust me."