Season of Sacrifice (Blood of Azure Book 1) by Jonathan Michael (best ebook for manga txt) 📕

Stone proceeds with prepping a meal as he offered. “Hope you’re not panivorous,” he alludes. “Aren’t many grains to be had in the wood. All I have to offer are poached robin eggs, an assortment of fruitlets, and potable water.” He looks at me with a shameful grin.

I scowl at him, and he goes back to prepping the meal. I wonder if he knows Elder is alive, using his name like that. After what happened that day, how could he? After what happened that day, I still don’t understand how Elder survived. Only the Taoiseach is knowledgeable enough to endure a blade through the heart.

Helios continues to glower at me. With a fixed gaze, I attempt to communicate with the aging cat, but there isn’t much there for Instincts. His temperament wanes just a touch. It’s enough to know he won’t attack me unsuspected. He’ll be a difficult one to gain his trust. As brief as our encounter was four seasons past, it’s clear he hasn’t forgotten me.

Stone and I partake in awkward, trivial conversation about Helios and life in the Broken Forest. I offer few words while his nervous tongue jabbers on. I wish he’d take my lead. Silence isn’t an enemy. Silence gives rise to the better parts of life. He prods further, trying to be inconspicuous with his inquiries, looking for details about my objective and why Jaymes is so important for the Taoiseach to find. Every question is answered with another question or a silent, hostile glare. He continues to pretend as though he’s Elder and has no connection to her. And his attempt at wasting the day is obvious. The charade doesn’t bother me, though. He’s young and terrified. His innocent heart is foreign to me and draws intrigue.

“It was a delight to share a meal with a new and beautiful face.” His face turns red, and his eyes dart away.  “Well, we should be on our way before the sun gets too high. Where did you say you were headed?”

“North. I’ll join you on your ride.”

“North!” He chokes on his words. “Is that not the direction you just came from? It might be wise to search the Broken Forest a bit more, don’t you think? It’s an expansive forest. There are others out here. I’m sure of it. Even if you don’t find who you’re looking for, the vagabonds living in this wood are likely to have their ears attuned, full of random knowledge and rumors from the gutters they’ve fled. You’re sure to find a good lead.”

He couldn’t get a lie out smoothly if his life depended on it. I raise a hand, gesturing for his chattering tongue to take a rest, and I stare at him for a long moment.

The lies were cute at first. Watching him squirm. But they’re wearing on me. “No one else lives in this forest…” I correct his fabrications. “…save for the beasts that keep us out. The only humans in the vicinity are the few traders passing through on the Forest Road in route to the Barren Peaks and onto the Blood Plains.”

Stone drops the utensils he was cleaning into the basin and freezes.

He flinches when I rise from the stump I was sitting on. “I hear there is much taboo in that wasteland. The Blood Plains. Worse than what you hear about in the Carnal Islands. The traders that wander in don’t wander out.” I kneel and lay a hand on the tiger, keeping my gaze fixed on Stone. His hand jerks forward subtly. Helios is warming to me, and this young man doesn’t seem to care for it. His prime protection no longer a threat to the assailant. “You’re living on the edge of the realm…Elder. Must be an adjustment from fleeing the capital. Do you ever desire to go back?”

He quietly shakes his head as his fists tighten.

Oh, how I would like to threaten him with the colossal sword I wield. Or the fukiya, or the kukri blade at my belt. And just move on with this. His fear almost baits me. Instead, I settle with a piercing glare.

He carries too much of a safeguard around his sister. He won’t bend to threats. Not this one. He’d sacrifice his life for his sister, no doubt. And a hunch tells me I need him alive for his sister to be manipulated. He knows his game isn’t working, but he’s too terrified to admit it. I’ll continue the charade so he can lead me directly to her. And maybe it’ll work out for me to bring both of them back to the Taoiseach.

“No, I already have my lead. I think I’ve seen enough of the Broken Forest,” I reply with a devious smile. “And without proper deterrents from the Cryptids, the risk involved with lingering outweighs the reward. There’s no time to waste. My next destination is northwest to the Thunder Bluffs. Let’s ride.”

There’s a vapid look on his face. At a sluggish pace, he turns toward his sleeping quarters. I presume to gather a few traveling provisions. Where’s the urgency? Let’s get on with this. He pauses at the partition and looks back at me. “Did you say ‘ride’?” he asks.

I raise a brow and give him a sidelong stare. “I presume you’ll strap a bridle to that tiger to travel such a distance.” Another opportunity for him to slow me down. Wonderful.

“Umm… no, actually. I travel by foot. That won’t be a problem, will it? Helios hasn’t been mountable for seasons. Maybe a petite individual, but not a full-grown man.”

“You consider yourself a man?” I mock. “Judging by the peach fuzz on that chin, it doesn’t look like you’ve had your first shave.”

He stares at me with another insipid look.

I bite my bottom lip to avoid a grin.

His dull stare turns into a long musing one. Then, a smile forms