Chapter 71

“It’s too dangerous for you to go alone.”

Liliana freezes mid-motion. She turns her head, wide-eyed, to stare at her sister across the dimming campfire.

“You were awake?”

Livia's jaw splits open in a yawn as she massages her neck with a wince. Blurry-eyed, she focuses her attention on the dark figure blending into the backdrop of the towering forest surrounding them.

“I am now,” she tells Liliana.

“Aw, man,” Her little sister whines, “I had thought to surprise you.”

Livia snorts, “You were making so much noise, I can’t see how.”

As if to prove her point, Liliana finally stands up straighter causing the band around her shoulders clumsily put together to unlatch. Newly carved arrows promptly fall to the dirt floor. The sound shouldn’t have been loud enough to wake up anyone, but it was like fingernails scraping against a glass to Livia’s ears. Her eyes dart down to the small bundle of blankets press close to her. She sighs when she sees her son's scrunched-up face.

“Oh shoot!” Liliana shout-whispers as she spins around hurriedly to catch a few with one hand. She glances up in guilt when the others begin to stir and a small whimper breaks up the quiet music of the forest.

“What’s happening?” Amaya sits up from her cocoon of blankets with a straight back, surveying the area.

“Liliana?” Beth sleepily rubs her eyes, “Do you need to go to the bathroom again? Just give me a moment. I will accompany you.”

Darek whimpers break into full-out crying.

“Oh no, Darek,” Liliana’s shoulders slump.

Livia just picks up her son and cradles him close.

“It’s fine,” She tries to reassure her sister over his cries, “He was bound to wake up soon to feed anyway.”

“Yes, our little Dar is a punctual one, isn’t he?” Amaya directs a half-hearted glare at the baby, “He kicks up a ruckus on the hour, every hour, without fail,” She grumbles before falling back into her covers.

Livia just hums and begins to feed Darek. For Beth’s sake, she raises the blanket up over her chest to block the sight of her son drinking.

“So... you don’t have to use the restroom?” Beth eyes the bow hanging off Liliana’s shoulder.

“Restroom,” Liliana makes a face, “It’s just an empty patch of dirt behind a tree. It doesn’t deserve to be called anything close to a restroom.”

“Where is Sen?” Amaya scans the trees, “I don’t sense his presence.”

“He had gone to scout ahead with Noctis,” Liliana places the last arrow back into its quiver before pointing west, “He said something about there being a small town not too far from here.”

Beth's forehead creases, “I don’t recall seeing any settlements on the map.”

“It’s new,” Livia and Amaya say at the same time.

Beth looks from one woman to the other, “New?” she questions tentatively.

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“They sprout up pretty often,” Livia says as she raises Darek to her shoulder and pats his small back.

“But they usually disappear just as fast as they appear,” Amaya continues, rolling over to her side and curling up. She waves a hand through the air, “New towns never last long out here.”

“Here,” Beth repeats and looks out into the darkness that surrounds them. If it wasn’t for the light of the fire, she wouldn’t have been able to see her own hand in front of her face.

“I wonder how the horses are doing,” Liliana ponders out loud, “We had to leave them behind two days ago along with the wagon. Do you think they are okay?” She directs this question to her sister.

“They should be fine,” Livia smiles in satisfaction when Darek lets out a small burp, “We left them by the road. They either returned to their home by themselves or someone else found them.”

“Or they were eaten up by one of the many predators lurking in the dark,” Amaya adds on cheerfully with her eyes stubbornly closed.

Liliana looks worriedly to the forest, “Maybe we should have just kept them with us after all? They made traveling faster.”

“They had,” Amaya agrees, “But we are no longer sticking to the main roads,” she gestures around them, to the small clearing that they are occupying which was surrounded by dense, towering forest. The clear night sky wasn’t even visible from their current location. Then she points to Livia, eyes still closed, and says, “Your sister had insisted we deviate and trek straight through the thick of Crocus Forest instead of around it like normal civilized folk.”

“I am sure there is a perfectly good reason why Lady-”

“Beth,” Livia says and her voice is soft. Quiet. In her arms, she looks down as Darek has begun to nod off once more. His eyes dropped for seconds at a time only for them to snap open, wide and determined, to stare up at his mother.

“I am no longer a lady,” she continues in the same tone, “It’s just Livia now.”

“Oh, of course,” Beth says, but she is frowning. Just a bit.

It was because Livia’s titles still hadn’t been officially revoked. Even now, after a month since she had given birth to her son and departed from the Valentine House and the Kingdom of Wisteria. On paper, she was still the heiress and lady to the Valentine Household and the esteemed Crown Princess Candidate of the Crown Prince Rodale.

However, none of that mattered anymore.

Here, out in the thick of butt-fuck nowhere, Livia was just herself.

Beth clears her throat, “As I was saying, I am sure Miss Livia has a perfectly good reason for her decision.”

“Oh?” Amaya's dark eyes open and land on her, “Do you?” she asks bluntly.

Her son has lost his battle to sleep. Livia keeps herself busy with carefully placing him back into his nest of covers and fur, adjusting the soft material around him because the night was cool. She checks over the protection spells she had placed on him for the sixteenth time that night.

Amaya's eyes are like a drill, “Livia?”

Livia inclines her head, to show that she was listening but her mouth remains stubbornly closed.

“We should all go back to sleep,” Beth announces, “It’s still a few hours before the sun rises.”

"Oh, but I wanted to get a head start in target training!” Liliana bounces on her toes, “I’m not tired at all!”

“It’s too dangerous,” Livia says.

“But I know how,” Liliana insists with a disappointed frown.

“That isn’t the point,” she sighs, “You can’t just wander off alone in this forest,” her purple eyes land on her sister's sleeping area that was next to her and she directs her chin towards it, “Beth is right. You should sleep while you can. There will be plenty of time in the morning to practice.”

“But-” Liliana fiddles with an arrow and pouts.

“Sleep,” Livia says, adding a bit of steel to her soft words.

Liliana's nose scrunches up in annoyance but she walks over to her pile of covers and begins to remove her gear without another complaint.

“The fire is almost out,” Amaya grumbles from underneath her pile of blankets. At some point, she has given up on getting any answers and Livia was silently relieved.

Livia snaps her fingers. The fire flares up again and chases the shadows away.

Beth hums and adds a log of wood and a few sticks to it before she also settles down into her own covers.

“Is Darek alright?” Liliana was staring at the baby that was sleeping beside her sister. She was now down to a tunic and simple pants with her white hair tied up in a messy ponytail. Her protective gear, quiver, and arrows rested behind her.

“He is fine,” Livia says and lays down as well.

“Awesome,” Liliana replicates the words of a teenager from a more modern world perfectly. Then she snuggles further into her covers, yawns once before she drops off to sleep.

It was enviable.

Livia had no such talent.

Instead, she stares up into the darkness for long minutes. She listens to the cracks and cackles of the wood being devoured and basks in the enchanted warmth it provides.

Slowly, her muscles relax her eyes drop.

Around her, encircling the small clearing and everyone in it, her magic hummed a sweet tune, reassuring her that her people were protected against the predators lurking just beyond.

They were all safe.

For now.