I wanted to give her so much more than one kiss. But if that was all she wanted from me, I would get back down on my knees and give her the best one I could.
Her stomach growled, easing the tense moment. She smiled and slid away from me. “Do you think Caddik will have some food around?”
I rose from the bed, trying not to show my disappointment. “Sun’s almost down. I imagine dinner will be soon.”
“Excellent, I’m already starving again,” she said, sheathing her knife and pulling on her boots.
We headed back to the kitchen. The scent of roasting meat and vegetables reached us first.
Kiera groaned with excitement and hurried ahead of me, but then hesitated at the threshold.
I was surprised to see Helene and Caddik already seated at the table. Isabel sat with the dog on the stone floor near the hearth.
Caddik looked up at us, his dirty fingers clutching another cup of tea. “I thought the smell of food might wake you. My staff has already eaten, so it’s your turn.”
I nodded. “Thank you. No sign of Korvin or soldiers?”
He shook his head. “You’ve got a couple of real nice horses, though. Any chance you’d be willing to sell?”
“Not even a small one,” I said with a smile.
Kiera and I took our seats at the table. Tense silence simmered as the cooks scurried about the kitchen. Helene’s eyes looked red, and Caddik seemed lost in thought.
Kiera drummed her fingertips on the table for a few moments before she shot off the bench and joined Isabel at the sooty hearth.
“What’s his name?” she asked the girl, holding out her hand for the dog to sniff. Which he did, thumping his tail in approval.
Isabel darted a look at her mother. “Pax. Caddik says he’s part wolf because of his long legs and yellow eyes.”
Kiera smiled. “He’s the nicest wolf I’ve ever seen.”
Isabel’s eyes rounded. “Have you seen other wolves?”
They kept talking in low tones, both gradually relaxing. But the crease never left Helene’s forehead.
Ruru stumbled into the kitchen, his hair sticking out in every direction. He collapsed onto the bench next to me.
“Sleep well?” I asked.
He nodded and stretched, his back bones popping. His bruises from the soldiers looked worse than ever, but he didn’t complain.
Instead, he fixed me with his serious brown eyes. “I wanted to ask this morning... when you found Bruna, did you see a man a few years older than me? Looks like me, but with a birthmark just here?” He tapped his neck by his throat.
“No, Ruru,” I said softly. “I didn’t look too closely at the prisoners. But it’s been years since Daire went missing. You don’t even know if the Wolves took him to the mine.”
Ruru set his jaw stubbornly. “The mine is where they take most of the strong, healthy prisoners, right? He could be there.”
I swallowed back the words I didn’t want to say. That I’d barely survived two years there. Most didn’t survive one. Daire had been missing for three.
I clasped his shoulder. “If he’s there, we’ll find him.”
Ruru nodded, my simple promise good enough for him.
The others wandered in one by one, Maz last of all. He thumped my back as he sat on my other side.
“Gods, it felt good to sleep in a bed. Eh, Nikella?” he said, yawning like a bear coming out of hibernation.
Nikella had taken a seat across from us and immediately pulled out scraps of paper that she was poring over. When he said her name, she looked up, gray shadows under her eyes.
