I kissed the top of Shiksa’s soft head. “Good girl.”
“Your name, prisoner.”
When I lifted my gaze, I could see that he all but vibrated with impatience and frustration. His mouth, the only part of his face I could see, was set in a frown and his jaw ticked dangerously. I had already pushed my luck enough for one day.
“Tess,” I answered. “My name is Tess.”
“Tess.”
“Yes.”
Before Oliver and I had even left the monastery we had decided that Tess was a common enough name to go unnoticed. Tessana Allisand might have belonged to a lost princess. But Tess could be a name from any province, in any part of the realm.
“Oliver,” Oliver offered when Arrick turned to him.
“Tess and Oliver,” he repeated, as if testing the sounds on his tongue. He rested his hand over his chest, his tanned skin stood out against his sleek cloak. “I am Arrick, as you know.”
He reached up to pull his hood back. I found myself holding my breath as he revealed his features to us. I expected deformities or scars or something to warrant the hooded mystery, but when the shadow was gone, there was nothing but a man underneath. A shockingly handsome man with thick, dark hair and startling blue eyes.
I took a fast, surprised intake of air that wasn’t enough to fill my lungs. Arrick was not the man I expected him to be.
The short beard covering his jaw had falsely given the impression that he was older, a man well into his prime. But, in fact, he was as young as me. His face pulled at something inside me. A memory… or a feeling…an emotion that I wasn’t at all comfortable with.
He watched me stare at him without speaking, as if he were waiting for me to offer judgment. His eyes flashed with anxiety, brightening and softening simultaneously. This was why he wore the hood. He couldn’t command fear when women would be mesmerized by him; people in general would have a hard time whispering gruesome rumors about a man that looked like that.
Nor could I imagine many villagers fleeing in terror should he ride in on a thundering steed. I cleared my throat and decided Shiksa’s paws needed my immediate inspection.
Arrick let out a deep breath and continued, “You are more than prisoners in my camp, although I have not done a good job of proving this to you. You are my guests.”
I couldn’t believe my ears. And I certainly couldn’t believe his words. Something had changed his mind when he removed his hood. But I couldn’t begin to guess what.
“Your guests? Then we’re free to go?” I shared a skeptical glance with Oliver. He didn’t believe this rebel bandit either.
“I should hope you would choose to stay,” Arrick continued. “Or at least wait until we’re ready to go with you.”
That wasn’t exactly the answer I was looking for.
I stared at him, taking in his high cheekbones and the tousled hair that fell too long over his collar. He didn’t fit the image of a rebel I’d always imagined. Where were his jagged scars and gray nose whiskers? Where was the foul breath and repugnant body odor?
“What do you mean by that?”
“You’re clearly not prepared to survive the Tellekane Forest,” he pointed out. “And if you’re on your way to the Diamond Mountains, you’ve more danger to contend with. If you’re lucky enough to survive to the Elysian borders, you’ll still have to make it over the Marble Wall and sneak past battalions of Tyrn’s armies.” When I only stared at him, wide-eyed and open-mouthed, he continued, “Since you came to Tenovia unprepared with papers, I assume you have none for Elysia either.” I shook my head. We didn’t. “How about for Soravale?”
“No. I didn’t realize… I hadn’t realized…”
“Where exactly are you from?” He stepped closer, examining my features all over again. “How is it that you’re dressed for this realm and yet you know nothing of current politics or—”
“Heprin,” I offered promptly. “We’re from a remote part of Heprin where the news comes very infrequently.”
“Heprin?”
I decided to redirect him to our original conversation. “Thank you for your offer Arrick, but we can’t accept your generosity.”
“Why not?”
“Excuse me?”
“Why. Not?”
