Chapter 31 The Things We Do For Food
“Are you going to keep being like this through the entire trip?” Amir’s breath smelled like mint for someone who was supposedly in a dungeon for days on end, but Maeve felt too sick to care about that.
She had never taken herself as someone with motion sickness— so she was going to blame it on the alcohol that she and Lucien shoved down her poor defenseless throat in the first place three nights before.
A low groan left her lips as she rested her head on Amir’s shoulder. “It’s been two days. I’m tired of feeling sick,”
Adrian stared outside the window of the carriage they were both in as if he could not care about what was happening between them— but Amir knew he did. From the way his jaw would flex whenever she made a groan of compliment, no matter how tiny it was and relaxed when she stopped.
It made Amir feel… good.
“Amd all the snacks the Countess packed for me,” Maeve could feel the tears bubbling to her eyes as she stared at the sack of foods right next to Adrian and slowly began to stretch her hand out for it, “But I can’t have— ouch!”
The sound of the Duke’s cane— from heaven knows where smacked her hard on her fingers. She yanked back her hand, holding to her chin as she pouted, hearing Adrian say in his usual ‘I don’t care about anything because I’m too cool’ tone, “If eating things make you sick, why will you go for more?”
“Counter effect?” Maeve genuinely looked hurt. “Because like, science—”
“You won’t get anymore. You’ve eaten more than you should,”
And she had. Due to all the alcohol she had taken, NACE kept flashing poison detected like hours later— and of course, she ended up feeling a bit sick because of it. Still, she kept trying to eat everything Guinevere made for their journey, you know, before it got bad? But nothing stayed down.
WHICH WASN'T HER FAULT.
The Duke’s eyes moved to Amir. It was clear his irritation for the male still existed, but there was something else there. Respect. Cordiality. Still, it was clear from the way he kept staring at him that he was only seconds from taking his head off, “Are you sure this is the right road?”
“It’s a very straightforward path,” Amir didn’t look bothered by the anger. If anything, he was unbothered by it. Because deep down, he knew none of it mattered as long as Maeve stayed by his side and not the Duke’s. “I gave you the map in all of its entirety. If there are any mistakes, should you not be held accountable?”
“Oh. God. All these testosterone show off games are making me feel light headed,” The air around her seemed to have a smell now— a stench that was rising up her throat, threatening to expel itself out of her lungs in a terrible, cruel way that would not benefit anyone. “Stop the carriage. I need to go down.”
Adrian’s answer was flat and immediate. “No.”
“I see you believe it’s a request, good man,” She could feel the heat rising in her chest, the way her body threatened to erupt into the most evil fireworks if she was not let go IMMEDIATELY. Her hand reached for the door knob, “I’m not throwing up here and having you glare at me like I can control it.”
“Wait—!”
Maeve did not wait. No, Maeve pulled open her carriage down, the impact of the floor to her skin was almost maddening. Almost. She felt herself roll, dust getting into her eyes and scraping her skin, but none of that mattered until she was pulling herself up by on all fours and throwing out everything she had been holding down to the floor.
She could hear the screams of the horse, the panicked sounds from both men. Maeve was still panting, wincing at the smell from underneath as another notification showed that every poison had been expelled from her body before she noticed her surroundings.
“Isabella—!”
“Stay exactly where you are!”
They weren’t listening, at least not from the sounds their shoes were making as they grew closer, but she didn’t care. Maeve slowly rose from the floor, her eyes staring around the… woods, where she was. It looked perfectly healthy. In fact, it looked like it walked right out of a rainforest ad commercial.
Which meant something was off.
But did it have bananas though?
As she rose from the floor, she noticed the muck dripping from her wrist— muck that wasn’t from her vomit. She could also hear Adrian’s voice far away. Too far away. Like the wood itself was actively trying to keep all of them apart.
But not Amir. He had gone radio silent.
Now, see, Maeve didn’t exactly have a sharp sense of direction or ability to note things better than the average person. But she was slowly getting more aware of the feeling of being watched and knew almost instantly that there was something in the woods staring at her.
Or for a better explanation—
The sandwich she had slid into her dress before she rolled out of the carriage to throw up.
She slowly brought it out, raising it carefully in the air as she said, “I don't have any plans on giving it all to you. In fact, you would have to pry it out of my cold dead hands— but if you—”
The sound of something growling echoed through the air.
Maeve growled back as loudly as she could, this time even sitting on the floor and taking it out of the carefully protected bag they had put it in, “You know what? I don’t feel like being in a giving mood right now. In fact, you will get nothing. Do you understand? Since you’re acting so naughty—”
NACE flashed overhead, \[WARNING. LIFEFORM APPROACHING. MANA BEAST. S RANK. INTENT UNDETERMINED\]
A mana beast.
And one that distorts the air around you and creates illusions.
What an undeserving prick.
“Okay, I’m going to count to three— and I know for certain you can count because fantasy world logic is screwed and I’m already angry so bring both of my friends here right now, and I’ll give you all of the sandwich— yes. For free. Think not too much about it. My patience goes—”
As always, because Maeve tended never to take many things seriously, she also didn’t see the possibility that this creature, whatever it was, was suddenly going to lunge at her in the middle of nowhere, and land directly on her face.