Right now, he could be looking out the window of the castle, watching Fourth’s army where we’ve set up camp on the edge of Ranhold’s border. Maybe he’s looking at me.
Judd makes a noise beside me, a grunt that wordlessly says he sees all of Ranhold and he’s not impressed.
“Come on. I have a job for you.”
He turns to start striding away, and I have to hurry to catch up. “What kind of job?”
Judd glances at me from the corner of his eye. “You’ll see.”
Instantly curious, I let him lead me through the camp. He doesn’t strike up any conversation, so I focus on following him as he squeezes us between tents and passes by campfires.
The soldiers we see nod at Judd and raise a hand or tip their heads in greeting. It seems most of them decided to give up on sleep too. Dawn is fast approaching, and with it, maybe war.
“Are you going to tell me where we’re going?” I finally ask when it feels like we’ve been walking for ages.
“Shh,” he hisses back at me.
I open my mouth to ask him what the hell is going on, but like he can sense it, he gives me a pointed look.
I huff out a breath but keep quiet.
After another few minutes of walking, my ears perk with the sound of women’s voices. I snap my gaze around, and sure enough, there are women soldiers gathered around a campfire—and Lu is one of them.
I open my mouth and raise my arm to call to her, but Judd yanks me behind a tent and obnoxiously presses his finger to his mouth. “Shh! Are youtryingto get me caught?”
Blinking at him in surprise, I raise my hands in a silent question, which he doesn’t answer. Instead, he starts walking again, motioning me to follow. We duck behind a tent, putting distance between us and the fire.
When we pass a small collection of horses, Judd halts in front of me so fast I nearly collide with his back. When I peer around him, I see why.
“What are you doing here?” the woman soldier asks with clear distrust in her tone. She has an unlit wooden pipe tucked behind her ear, nearly obscured by the frizz of short brown curls around her face.
“Inga, always a pleasure to see you,” Judd says.
She narrows her eyes on him before sucking her teeth, like she’s trying to get a wayward crumb out. “Is it? Shouldn’t you be off with the left flank? I heard they’re stroking each other’s egos like they do their pricks. In need of a little pep talk so they don’t wet their pants on the eve of battle?” she says with a mocking tip of her lips.
Judd rolls his eyes. “Please. We all know that it’s theright flankwho piss their pants before a fight.” His eyes drop to her waist. “Speaking of, new trousers?” he grins.
She glowers at him.
“Anyway, I’m just bringing Auren to find Lu.” Judd raises a hand and presses it against the edge of his mouth to highlight a fake whisper. “She’s in need. Having herwomentroubles, if you catch my drift.”
My mouth drops open, and embarrassed heat floods my cheeks.
Inga glances over at me. “Oh,” she says, “the red flag is flying, hmm?”
Completely mortified, I start to say no, but Judd steps on my toes.Hard.
“Nn...yep,” I say with a wince.
She nods in understanding. “Well, if you can’t find Lu, come back and I’ll sort you out.”
“We’ll keep that in mind.” Judd smiles before he cocks his head at me to follow him.
I can’t even look at her, my face is burning so badly. “Thanks,” I mumble.
As soon as I catch up to him, I shoot him a glare. “What the hell?” I rasp.
He snickers, leading me between a couple of tents. His blue eyes are scanning all around us, but he finds what he’s looking for because his face breaks into a grin. “I knew it.”
