By the time we stopped to take a break, my legs felt like they’d been shaken loose from my body. Whoever said horseback riding was glamorous clearly never sat on one for more than twenty minutes without knowing what the hell they were doing.
But then I saw it—a stream.
Clear water winding through mossy rocks, sunlight bouncing off the surface like tiny diamonds. The air smelled fresh, cleaner than anything I’d ever breathed back home, and for the first time since arriving in this world, I felt… peaceful. I jumped off the horse, tugged off my boots and socks, rolled up my pants, and stuck my feet. The water was icy and perfect, sending little jolts of life up my legs.
I had no idea where Jax had wandered off to—probably scouting ahead or chasing down some poor woodland creature for fun—b
