Chapter 11

When I pulled my face away from his muscular back, I noticed the gate that surrounded their settlement. It was absolutely stunning! As an alternative to chopping down trees to construct a barricade separating them from the outside world, they had grown redwood trees around the perimeter of their camp. Between the trunks, they had bamboo filling in the gaps. The bamboo was cut back in a neat way to keep it from growing too big.

I squeezed Calian's hand that was still holding mine. "How did you grow those so fast?"

A small sneeze escaped him and he murmured "excuse me" before turning to meet my eyes. His gaze was unreadable as his mouth quirked up into a sly smile. "We had a witch." 

My heart raced as the phrase "had" kept replaying in my head. "What happened to the witch?"

His smirk dropped into a frown. "She betrayed us."

As something that I couldn't place ignited in his eyes for a split second, he shrugged. It was almost as if his eyes w