“Aye.”
“Well? Don’t keep us in suspense,” Croak said sarcastically. “We’re all dying to know!”
“I… met a seer once. Near here, in Ermanel.”
“Why do I feel like there’s so much you’re not telling us?” Croak barked out a laugh as he winked at Terena.
“How’d you meet a seer?” Terena asked, pulling her knees closer to her body and hunching forward.
Gabriol’s face broke into a big grin as color suffused Rydon’s neck and face.
Running a hand over the back of his neck, Rydon stuttered.
“Can’t hear you, old man!” Croak laughed.
“I said,” Rydon said through gritted teeth. “I met her during a card game.”
“How long ago?” Orry asked. “She could be anywhere by now.”
“I’m certain she is still there,” Rydon snapped. “Just as I’m certain the Fates are grinning down at us about it right now.”
“So… did you leave on good terms?” Terena asked.
Gabriol guffawed, throwing his head back and holding his belly. If possible, Rydon’s color deepened to a darker crimson.
“I think so,” he hedged.
“Gabriol, tell us,” Croak commanded, snapping his fingers.
Smothering more laughter, Gabriol ignored the glare from Rydon and looked over at the others.
“You have to understand, the woman was very beautiful, and Rydon was… smitten,” Gabriol said.
Croak laughed and sat up straight, already loving where this was headed.
“I was not,” Rydon ground out.
“Aye, you were,” Gabriol laughed. “She bet him one night with her if he won the game. All night he’d been winning, and she’d been losing, so he readily took the bet.”
“You bet aseer,someone who sees the future, that you would win? Are you stupid?”
Rydon’s head snapped around and bared his teeth at Croak.
“He’s not wrong,” Terena said, grabbing the back of Rydon’s cloak to stop him from pummeling her brother. “Why would you do something like that?”
“I don’t know!”
“You lost, obviously.”
Rydon grunted while the others grinned at his discomfiture.
“What did you bet?” Terena asked, a faint smile on her lips.
“He bet his horse, his sword, and all the money he had.”
Chapter 15
CHEVALA, LAKONIA
