"Mysterious and unhelpful as always," Caden remarked from beside her.
Eva controlled her startled jump.
"It's smart to look for information from many sources," he told her.
She made a grumpy sound. She hadn't really needed his approval.
"Never trust anything fully," he said. "This is a dangerous world and everyone's motives are suspect."
"Even yours?"
His smile was brief and warmed his eyes. "Mine most of all. I want things too deeply to ever be trusted. It's why I've worked so hard to not want anything real at all."
Eva couldn't help the way her heart clenched at that admission.
"Until now," was murmured so softly it could have been the wind playing tricks.
She put a hand where his wound had been. "Are you sure you're up to this?"
He'd died. Or at least he'd been so close to the edge. Now he wanted to fly halfway across the Highlands.
"I'm Trateri and Anateri. We're made of hardy stock," he assured her.
"Arrogant too."
This time his smile nearly cracked his face. "It's not arrogance when its truth."
"Keep telling yourself that." Her smile faded. “Caden, there’s something I haven’t told you about what happened after you were knocked unconscious.”
She’d gone back and forth over how much to reveal about that presence shadowing Pierce. It might be a flight of her imagination, something her mind conjured in a stressful situation, but she couldn’t let them return home without telling him what she’d seen and felt.
He sobered. “I know what you’re going to say and it’s probably best you don’t.”
She shook her head. “If that presence gave Pierce his ability to compel people to his cause, it means that it could do it again with someone else.”
Caden’s forehead furrowed, confusion crossing his face briefly before clearing. “Pierce is dead.”
“Yes, but I sensed something in him before he died—a presence that felt malignant and greedy. You and Darius thought he wasmyein, like me. What if he wasn’t the one with an ability? What if he made an agreement with another mythological who used him as a host?”
Caden’s thoughts moved across his face. “It would mean we didn’t kill the leader of the rebellion. We simply weakened them for now.”
She nodded as his gaze turned inward.
After several seconds, he shook his head. “This is speculation. I’ll carry your observations to Darius and Fallon, but for now, be happy with our win. If they move against us again, we’ll be ready. An alliance with the Kyren will help.”
She nodded. That would have to be good enough for now. There was no sense worrying about something that hadn’t happened yet.
She hesitated and cocked her head. “What did you think I was going to tell you before?”
His gaze was enigmatic and knowing as it met hers before sauntering away, saying over his shoulder, “Nothing of import.”
She shook her head. It certainly hadn’t seemed that way.
There was a stomp of a hoof behind her and then a hard nudge to her back that sent her flying forward several steps. Eva’s smile was bittersweet and rueful when she turned and looked up at her friend.
Caia’s expression was disgruntled. It seemed it had dawned on the horse what was happening, and she didn’t like it. Not one bit.
Caia stomped her hoof again like a petulant child before letting out a demanding nicker. She bobbed her head up and down several times.
