Savage Wild Hearts (The Savage Wilds Book 1) by Sean Fletcher

Author:Sean Fletcher [Fletcher, Sean]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Epic Worlds Publishing
Published: 2023-07-19T04:00:00+00:00

I watched as the kids tried to teach Triss how to kick a soccer ball. For as swift and coordinated as the wildlings were, it was like watching someone with crutches walk across ice.

Triss missed a kick by a mile, and the children squealed with laughter. I caught Rune smirking and even Marian let out a snort. Xander and Garrett were deep in discussion about weapons at the other end of the veranda that had been converted to our meeting place. Between us were the few citizens of Castle Rock brave enough to join wildlings for a meal. They’d brought foraged mushrooms and beasts with their heart gems still intact. For drinks, they offered flasks of watered-down wine distilled from fermented fruit and mixed with honey. Rune had taken one look at all they’d offered and immediately magicked more fruit, sugar-coated flower petals, and small trees swollen with nuts that sprang up from the ground around the table and grew to their full size as though in time-lapse.

Everybody had been wary to touch anything he’d conjured at first, but by then we were all a few drinks in and our inhibitions lessened. I felt a gentle, pleasant buzz from the honeyed wine, even if it made my tongue dangerously loose and my muddled thoughts feel as though they were under the Gelvenans’ poison again. Rune, too, had partaken in a little more than he should, judging by the tint on his cheeks. I was surprised the wildlings had so quickly dropped their guard. I also knew their vulnerability was an illusion.

“They make my skin crawl,” Marian said.

She was staring at the children as they ran past. Triss came over, sweating slightly and panting. She glared at Marian and swiped a fattened peach.

“Keep your words to yourself. They are children, and they aren’t trying to kill us. We don’t meet many like that.”

“They aren’t right,” Marian said louder, and a few people nervously glanced over. Marian took a long drink. “They should be dead, all of them. Either skewered by Aleki or eaten by the beasts. This magic is tainted.”

“You’re what’s not right,” Triss said fiercely. She swiped another fruit. “These are not the ones who made us who we are or have hurt our kind. Remember that.”

She rejoined the children, and Marian’s lazy grin turned on me. “You not going to stick up for them? You’re always so eager to give your opinion where it’s not wanted.”

“Silence, Marian,” Rune said.

“I was just—”

“You’re being insufferable right now.”

Marian drowned her next words with a big sip. I watched her take her time to swish it around in her mouth before swallowing.

“You…” She seemed to think over her next words surprisingly carefully, considering how much she’d had to drink. “You listen to her so much. It’s as though what we say bears no weight.”

“Don’t be like this.”

“Like what?”

“Obstinate. Obtuse.”

“Are you commanding me not to be?”

She had trouble meeting Rune’s laser-like gaze.

“There are decisions that do not require your involvement nor your input,” Rune said.

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