My gaze whipped toward the opening of the tent. Stig stood there, his sword at the ready as though he was prepared to launch it across the space at me.
I had not heard him enter the tent despite being braced for his return. Alise held all my attention. Several soldiers stood just behind him, their wide eyes on me.
I assessed him, impressed despite myself. There was no evidence of his injuries from our long-ago day in the woods. One did not survive a wound like the one Fell had caused him, but somehow … he had. In fact, he looked quite hearty as he stared down at me, wild-eyed. Hearty if not a little unhinged.
“I would never harm my sister,” I said indignantly.
“Oh, Stig, must you do this?” Alise pleaded, her voice shaking, her eyes suddenly wet with a sheen of tears. “Lower your sword.”
“Do not fret yourself, my sweet,” he said, attempting to soothe, stepping deeper into the tent, his gaze and sword unwavering on me. The soldiers followed him, their bone swords also pointed in my direction.
Stig moved to Alise’s side, and I resisted the impulse to put myself between them. They had been married for a month now. I was no barrier. I wished I could be, but I was too late for that. Alise was his wife now, and I felt that as my own failure.
Stig took her hand and guided her up from her chair, positioning her behind him, putting himself between us, as thoughIwas the danger, the Terror. As though she needed protection from me. “Take her outside,” Stig commanded his men with a single nod at me.
I was seized by both arms and yanked from my chair.
Alise spun around to face Stig, flattening her palms against his chest. “What are you going to do to her?”
He made a shushing sound and covered her hands with his free one while still stretching his bone sword in my direction. This image of them together like this, intimate and familiar, knotted my stomach.
“Don’t upset yourself,” he purred. “We’re just going to talk.”
Just talk.
We stared intently at each other, communicating silently, recalling the memory of the last time we saw each other there, a truth alive between us. There would be more than just talking happening outside this tent. Much more.
I dug in my heels, stopping myself from being dragged outside. The soldiers gripping my arms grunted, discovering that I was not so easily maneuvered.
“You can talk to me inside,” I suggested.
Stig cut me a severe look. “Our talk is better suited for outside.”
I laughed bitterly. “Indeed? Is it the same kind of talk you had with those people outside Porthavn? I saw your handiwork there.”
Alise looked back and forth between us. “What happened to the people in Porthavn?”
“Nothing. Absolutely nothing, my sweet,” he said placatingly, patting her hands. “She’s just trying to offer a distraction. Don’t let her divert you. She’s a clever imposter.” He glanced to his soldiers again and snapped, “I said outside with her.”
This time I did not resist as I was dragged from the tent, leaving the warm, candlelit air behind. To resist any further would be to reveal the full extent of my strength and power.
I heard the low rumble of Stig’s voice inside the tent, consolingAlise as I waited with the soldiers in the cold night. There was scant light, only that cast from random campfires or the occasional torch held aloft by a gawking soldier.
My keen ears picked up the soldiers’ low whispers and quick, serrated breaths. Their hearts beat fast and eager in the darkness. They were hungry, impatient for the coming show.
Stig soon joined us, stopping in front of me. “Tamsyn, my dear. Where have you been all this time?” There was an edge to his mocking tone, a cutting cold that reached into my smoldering core.
I held his gaze, studying the shadowed face I knew so well. He’d changed little since I last saw him. He wore his hair a fraction longer, the mahogany strands brushing his collar, but he possessed the same close-cropped beard and rich brown eyes. In the eyes lived the difference. They were flat, dead. Not a flicker of emotion stirred when he looked at me.
“I’ve been around.”
His features didn’t crack. He showed no outward reaction to my nonanswer. “What happened to Dryhten?”
Quite a crowd had gathered by now. Soldiers quit their meals and card games, moving away from their fires to form a circle around us, blocking out the light and plunging us into darker night.
“You mean the Lord of the Borderlands?” I countered, unable to help myself.
He rocked back slightly. “I’m the Lord of the Borderlands now.”
