Caia blew out a huff of air to show her disdain before turning her head away and pretending his threat didn't mean anything to her.
Eva patted her neck while meeting Jason's wry gaze. He shook his head and stuck his hands in his pockets before ambling away.
As soon as Drake was mounted, Fiona touched her heels to the bay's side. "Yah."
The mare lunged forward, her stride quickly lengthening into a gallop.
Eva sent up a small prayer that things weren't as bad as they seemed. It would work out—one way or another.
It took an hour for Eva and the rest to reach the outer perimeter, where sentries patrolled as a precaution.
The Trateri were nothing if not paranoid. A mindset that more often than not worked in their favor.
When your enemy could be anything and everything, from animals to plants to humans or the very land itself, it paid to be on your guard. Particularly when protecting something as important as this valley and all that it represented.
It was why they'd decided to set up multiple perimeters. In the event one was breeched, the sentries could still get a warning to the main camp.
Eva had thought the precautions unnecessary. She'd been overruled.
Good thing too, in light of recent events.
They approached a group of Trateri waiting on the crest of a small hill overlooking the land below. A man in the middle of the pack lifted his head to look at Eva.
A small thrill of awareness slid through her. A knowing every bit as all-encompassing as the one she got anytime she came across a mythological.
Caden was written into her bones. Hers in the same way she was his. Each the other's partner in all things. As essential for her existence as the breath in her lungs.
Even at a distance and with only a fleeting glance, she'd know him.
She'd always know.
It was in the curve of his shoulder. The way he held himself. Aloof and apart. Guarded, as if he expected a fight at any moment.
Understandable since for most of his adult life, he'd been responsible for protecting the life of Fallon Hawkvale, a man with as many enemies as there were beasts in the Highlands. You didn't stand by the side of a man like that without expecting a little bloodshed.
Blue eyes that reminded Eva of the summer sky watched their approach. His gaze a tangible force she was coming to expect from him.
He had a way of focusing on a person that left them almost drowning in his intensity.
Before, that level of focus had scared her. It had always felt like he could see right through her. For someone as insecure of her place among the Trateri as she'd been, it had left her feeling complicated.
Now, she knew it was his way of telling her she was all that mattered. That he'd slay a dragon or fight off a horde of beasts to ensure her protection.
A quiet man, Caden wasn't someone who would ever give her romantic platitudes. He let his actions speak for themselves. Something Eva found she appreciated.
Words could so often be twisted to suit someone's agenda. Their meaning broken beyond repair.
It was a lesson she'd learned the hard way. Between pretty words or action, Eva found she preferred Caden's way of doing things.
Eva sat down a little harder on Caia's back, a signal to stop. The mare snorted and shook her head, standing still a few feet from the Trateri.
"I hear we have visitors." Eva swung a leg over Caia's back and dropped to the ground.
The mare wouldn't go far, and if she did, she would have reason for it.
With one last pat on Caia's shoulder as Fiona and Drake dismounted, Eva focused on those waiting for them.
As if drawn by a magnet, her eyes landed on Caden.
