Alien Hunter's Fated Mate (Valti Fated Mates Book 2) by Elin Wyn

Author:Elin Wyn [Wyn, Elin]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2024-03-21T00:00:00+00:00

ASHUR

The tinker did not lie. After midday, the caravan took a hard left, right into the blazing border of the desert. Wagons and animals continued through a rocky, sandy wasteland.

“This is madness.”

One of the other guards rode beside me.

“You mean off-roading across a desert?” I said. “It’ll be fine.”

The guard smiled with dark humor.

This revealed another truth from the tinker. The man was a new hire like me. Thoughts of hours across a trackless waste were no more palatable to him.

I gave the man’s clothing a look. He carried a curved sword, a shield hung from his sand strider, the toes of his boots curled up. “You hail from Dergia.”

“Aye. But I arrived here by way of the desert road,” he said. “Less suicidal.”

“Why did you take this job?” I asked.

“Wanted the fastest route home. My wife is pregnant. I would be by her side for the birth of our first child. That and the start of the season in the badlands.”

“Out hunting for gems,” I said. “Or prospecting for minerals?”

“And gold if I’m lucky.” He rode close, held out a hand. “Marsk of Dergia South.”

I shook. “Ashur of Zashi.”

“You’re a ways from home,” Marsk said. “Should’ve guessed by that armor, your straight sword.”

“I’ve been to Dergia before. But by the King’s Road. I’m a stranger to the desert.”

“What was a man of Zashi doing in the Kingdom of Dergia?”

“My uncle’s business negotiations,” I said. “I just tagged along.”

It wouldn’t do to say for my previous visit I had been in the king’s guard marching toward a disputed boundary with an army at my heels. Luckily, a battle never took place.

Technically, the lake in question was on Zashi’s side of the border. But we didn’t need the water resource nearly as much as the people of the Badlands did. We did need several keeps on the Roralis Road.

Better a bargain struck than skulls, Sarl would say.

“I’ve never been one for travel,” Marsk said. “But a man’s gotta earn a living. Winter work is hard to find in Dergia.”

“You’ve been to Ginthu. This is technically in Zashi. All you need is a trip up north to call yourself a world traveler.”

He laughed. “I suppose.”

“What do you hear about the boss?” I asked. “This seems like a crazy expedition.”

Marsk shrugged. “It’s my first trip with him, but I hear Velas does it all the time. Some say it’s to kill his guards and cooks, so he doesn’t have to pay them at the end of the journey. Honestly, he crosses the desert so quickly that he’s first to market with the goods. Charges a pretty penny. Winter crops of Ginthu, spring gems of Dergia. Summer fruit of Dergia, autumn chattel of Ginthu.”

“I hear he’s a market for other goods,” I said.

“I wouldn’t sign on if Velas was trafficking slaves.” Marsk frowned. “I’ve not heard of such a thing.”

“Slavery is illegal in the Kingdom of Zashi anyway,” I said.

He snorted. “Making it even more valuable. I’m sure the caravan master trades slaves. If he were doing it on this trip, I’d find other employment.

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