I practically flew through the woods.

For the first time since I had received my mantle, I was able to really let loose and it felt great. I was also sped up by the possibilities of what might happen between me and Ether. I didn’t know when something was going to happen, but I knew something was. The possibility alone was enough to send goosebumps all over me. I wanted to get the camp moved as fast as I could, then maybe there’d be a chance for the two of us to slip away.

I knew that we needed to focus on defeating monsters, collecting crystals, and leveling up, but we were already going so much faster than we had. I could only imagine that once we got better weapons and armor, we’d be clearing things that much faster. We deserved a little break in my opinion. A reward for making it through day three of being just thrown into the dungeon.

I slowed down when I got close to the camp. I didn’t want the others to know just how fast I was, though I had a feeling Rix knew something was different. There was just something off about her and the way she interacted with everyone.

“Any monsters?” I asked as I walked into camp.

Rix and Aelin were pulling up the last of the fence.

“Nope.” The blonde looked around, “Where’s Grumpy?”

“He convinced Justia that he would be more helpful setting up the camp.” I shrugged, “So I came alone.” I looked at Rix, “Really? Nothing?”

The redhead shrugged as she pulled up the last of the stakes. She started lashing them together with vines.

“Does this mean that Justia is the party leader?” Aelin teased, “Do you love her?”

The teasing had me do a double take, “It’s not like that between me and Justia.”

“Oh really?” Aelin batted her eyes as she handed Rix sticks, “Why do you do whatever she tells you to?”

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“I…” I cut myself off as I started to think. I had been taking direction from Justia, but the Priestess was voicing good ideas or things I hadn’t thought of. There was a part of me that was a little scared of her considering how she had acted last night. And given that she’d just cock-blocked me and I had barely resisted. I found myself wanting to find something the brown-eyed Noble was wrong about.

“I guess she hasn’t been wrong yet.” I shrugged, “But trust me, even if there is a level of respect there, I can guarantee you that there is nothing romantic going on between us.” The way Aelin rolled her eyes told me that she didn’t believe me.

“It’s true! We both have our eyes on other people.” I blurted, trying to save face.

“Really? Grumpy? Ewww.” The blonde made a face.

“What? No. That’s not who she’s watching.”

I realized my mistake when Rix stopped what she was doing to look at me.

“Seriously? She’s like that?” Aelin dropped the stakes and ran over to me, “Which one of us is it?” She nodded towards our Shooter, “I bet it’s Rix.”

The redhead blushed and went back to tying the stakes together.

“It’s not Rix.” I didn’t want to continue the conversation, but I felt like I had to save Rix from potential embarrassment.

“If it’s not Rix…” Aelin tapped her chin, “And you and Ether are boning.”

“We haven’t…” I realized my mistake as soon as she interrupted me.

“So you are together.” Her face lit up as she landed on the only other option, “Really!?!”

Before I could speak Rix darted across camp and shoved a stake in my hands. She was holding the broken sword out and I realized she had a large knife in her other hand.

“Monsters?” I looked around the small clearing and realized that we were surrounded. Except it wasn’t Bramble skeletons.

“So you figured out the scarecrow.” A black haired brown eyed man in full leather armor with a sword at his hip knocked over the Bramble Skeleton on the forked stick.

I made a mental note that hanging up a monster like that was probably a monster deterrent. I would have to ask Trent about it when I saw him next. None of the farming groups I’d been in had done something like that, but they’d actually wanted to run into monsters, so the handful of times we’d stayed overnight in the dungeon, there’d been no reason to try to keep the monsters away.

“So this is the group that our teacher dropped us for.” A red haired red eyed man with a Caster’s overcoat on stepped forward, “You seem a little light. Where is the rest of your team?”