My feet move on their own at the sight of her, picking up speed until I rush past Evander in a sprint. Neither knight stops me. I throw my arms around Aurora’s shoulders. “Thank goodness you’re all right.”
She squeezes me in return. “They wouldn’t hurt me; they need me too much to do that.”
“I was still worried.”
“I know, I saw Folost,” she whispers before releasing me. Aurora wears a warm expression and that only makes me feel more guilty for my actions.
“I need to speak with you.” I glance over my shoulder. Evander continues to hover, making no effort to hide his wordless judgment. Fortunately, Bardulf seems to have gone off elsewhere. I’ve had enough of him for a lifetime.
“I figured as much. It’s why I sent Evander to find a way to get you for me.”
“You sent him?” I link arms with Aurora, guiding us a few steps away from Evander and the bustle of camp being torn down. The knight sets to working on her tent.
“I knew he’d find a way to get to you. Conri trusts him, the fool.” Aurora ducks her head slightly as she speaks, keeping her voice down. Evander had adamantly said that Conri was not his king.
“And do you trust him?” I ask.
She takes another step away from him and the camp. I’ve no doubt we’re reaching the end of our invisible leash.
“Evander is…complicated,” she murmurs.
There are so many meanings that can be wrapped up in that word. “Do you care for him?”
“Old gods, no.” She laughs lightly, gaining amusement from the mere notion. “I’ve never loved another since my Bewulf, and I never will. I am far too old now to seek romantic companionship, especially not with a mortal.” Her eyes shine with bittersweet sorrow.
“Then, he’s a friend?”
“He’s not an enemy.” Hardly an endorsement.
“Even though he was the one who came and forced you back?” I shake my head, trying to reconcile what she’s saying with what I saw. “He tied you up. He?—”
“If not him, then it would’ve been Bardulf, who is far rougher. If not either of them, then someone else who’s worse still.” Aurora shakes her head. “The king has no shortage of knights on his retainer. But a grave shortage of halfway decent ones.”
“But he?—”
“Evander is a dog on a leash attached to an unkind collar,” Aurora interrupts me. “He is a harsh man, certainly. But that is because it is how he has been made. The world has been cruel to him and returning that cruelty is the only way he knows how to survive.”
“That is not an excuse,” I remind her.
“But it is an explanation,” she says gently. “Which can help us understand him. Evander is the very last of an ancient pack, one that was among the few who stood against Conri’s father.”
“How is he alive, then?” If he is part of such a lineage, I would’ve thought Conri would’ve made an example of him.
“I do not know the story of his past earlier than when he was brought before Conri six years ago…but he came to the alpha’s pack with an astounding knowledge of spirits. He was able to find and commune with them. His pack had taught him old knowledge previously thought lost to the lykin—knowledge gained through study with your ancestors, I might add.” There’s a note of pride at the end, one I allow myself to briefly indulge in.
“And that knowledge was how you became close to him,” I realize.
She nods. “Conri assigned him as my knight. He was responsible for keeping me safe.”
“Then, how did you escape?”
Aurora locks eyes with mine and repeats, “He was responsible for keeping me safe.”
It dawns on me, what she’s saying without outright explaining. Evander took his duty to the spirits—to her—to heart. He sought to keep her safe and that meant setting her free.
“But, because of that…I escaped on his watch. Had Evander not been successful in retrieving me and making good on his folly, he probably would’ve been put to death.”
I look back over my shoulder to where Evander continues to help break down her tent. He glances our way from time to time with that glower that never seems to fade. A thin stubble shades his chin today, giving his whole face an even more severe expression.
