Chapter 5: Tension

Tense didn’t even begin to describe the atmosphere between the two right now. Adira knew that she had made a risk by pushing Braxton as much as she had but there was too much on the line and too many other people at risk of getting hurt if he didn’t help her. Sure, she felt a little guilty for the way she had to go about it but she felt not even a hint of regret. 

The two of them walked along the rocky edge without a word, each of them stewing in their own frustration towards the other. Adira knew she was doing the right thing. She had left too many people behind to go back on her plan now. They were probably being tortured, slowly killed, even as she walked across the uneven ground, and no one else was coming to save them. One new enemy meant nothing compared to the numerous lives at stake.

“This way,” Braxton broke the silence as he pulled back the branches of a bush to reveal a path.

“Where the hell does that go?”

“Does it matter? We are sitting ducks on this edge, we need to get off of it somehow if you want to have any hope of making it out of the woods and this way has cover at least to buy us some time. Do you really want to fight this or do you want my help?”

Adira was shocked by how curt Braxton was. It made sense, she supposed, since he didn’t really want to help her find Camden, but his behaviour had changed entirely. This wasn’t just arrogance, this was something else.

“Fine,” she gave in, knowing that he made a good point, and slipped through the gap he had made for her, “How did you know this was here anyway?”

Braxton’s lips curled up in a half smirk at the question and he raised an eyebrow, “Really? You have no idea how I could tell?”

“Are you mocking me?”

“I wasn’t but maybe I should, you don’t even have to be a wolf to spot this one.”

Adira looked around, trying to figure out what sign Braxton possibly could have seen that suggested there was a path behind the bush. When she came up empty, she groaned and gave him a pointed look, too proud to admit verbally that she needed him to tell her the answer. Braxton chuckled and took a small step back, nodding down towards the ground.

“See the footprints in the ground? The ones that conveniently stop right in front of and pointing towards this bit of bush.”

How did I miss that?! Adira mentally scolded herself, not just for missing the footprints, twice, but also for making herself look dumb in front of Braxton. Not that she cared what he thought of her. She just didn’t want to feed into his ego anymore, he was cocky enough without her practically handing him opportunities to mock her.

“Maybe they were picking berries or something? There are other reasons to stand in front of a bush, a hidden path isn’t exactly the first thing that comes to mind,” she tried to argue but even she knew that she was grasping at straws, just hoping that something would stick that defended her at least a little bit.

“Maybe,” Braxton smirked, “Except this isn’t a berry bush and this is the only spot across it with footprints.”

Damn. Well, you can’t say a girl doesn’t try.

“I guess.”

Even as Adira tried to play it cool, she knew that Braxton was silently judging her. He didn’t have to say anything. He didn’t have to do anything. She just knew.

“Well,” Adira prompted, not wanting to linger there in her own embarrassment any longer than she already had, “Are you going to get out of here or what? You were in such a rush before.”

“Right,” Braxton fought back a chuckle, “Let’s go.”

He followed Adira through the bush and just followed the path, expecting her to follow him. The silence returned again but this time it wasn’t so tense. Each of them were preoccupied with other things now, things much lighter than frustration. It wasn’t gone, at least not entirely, but Adira humiliating herself seemed to make it forgettable for now. How long it would last was a separate issue.

“So,” Adira spoke hesitantly, “Where are we heading?”

She didn’t know how well Braxton would react to the interruption to the silence but he seemed in a better mood now so she hoped that taking her chance now at least held less danger than it would have ten minutes ago. 

“Well, if you want to find Camden, the first part is getting out of these woods and across the kingdom. You couldn’t be further from where Camden and his pack stay. Well, not without leaving the kingdom at least, and I definitely don’t recommend that.”

“Why not?” 

The question came out before she had a chance to stop herself and she instantly regretted it, especially when Braxton gave her a slight glare that clearly told her not to push it.

“You don’t have to-”

“Stop talking,” Braxton cut her off.

Fair enough, Adira thought.

When the silence fell over them again, Adira thought that was it. Braxton seemed to be caught up in his thoughts about something and Adira didn’t interrupt, instead just following him up the path. The silence stretched out and Adira had taken Braxton’s quiet as his answer so she almost jumped when he spoke up again.

“Just take my word for it. Aethelgarde may not be the best sometimes, but it looks like heaven compared to some of the other places out there.”

Adira just nodded, accepting Braxton’s answer and his clear desire to move on from the topic.

“So, we need to cross Aethelgarde with nowhere to stay, no supplies and a group of guards searching for us who are pretty likely to kill us on sight. Sounds like fun.”

Braxton smirked mischievously, “Don’t tell me you’re afraid of a little adventure, Red.”