The silence passed untainted as they kept each other company, witnesses as day gave way to night.
It was only when the last of the colors faded from the sky that the spell was broken.
The cold made itself felt as Eva flexed one numb hand after the other, wishing she'd thought to bring gloves when she left the healer's tent.
Eva suppressed the urge to stomp one foot then the other as the first stars showed their faces in the night sky. An hour, maybe two and the velvety blackness would be dusted with millions of them, twinkling merrily. So many they would be impossible to count.
Eva would have enjoyed the view more if she was appropriately attired.
No matter how many times I see it, I never get tired of it,Orion mused, echoing Eva's thoughts from earlier.
"It's beautiful," she agreed. "But I don't think you called me here in such a dramatic fashion to talk about the Highland's ability to take a person's breath away."
To Orion's credit he didn't try to drag things out as he lifted his proud head toward the sky.
Your humans left the valley.
"There was a reason for that. Their lives were under threat. Did you really expect the Trateri to stay put under those circumstances?"
The Trateri were originally nomads. They were already predisposed to roam. They were never going to be obedient and stay where they were put forever. Even less so when they were in danger. He must know that.
Silence answered her.
Eva shifted, bringing her cupped hands up to her mouth and blowing on them before sticking them under her arms.
"You and the Trateri are a lot alike. Neither of you are willing to be tamed, even when bending would benefit you."
And make her life infinitely easier.
Eva dismissed the thought, looking up to find Orion's gaze trained on her. She rolled her eyes at him. "Don't give me that look. I should know. I'm the one who has to deal with both of your stubborn asses."
Eva turned her attention back to the night sky.
There has to be consequences for breaking faith.
"Is that what you're calling it?" Eva's smile was humorless. "What should they have done, Orion? Waited to die? If you think they would do that, you don't know them at all."
Sacrifices sometimes must be made for the good of the herd.
Eva scoffed. "That's easy to say when it's not your people doing the sacrificing."
Do you think the Kyren haven't sacrificed?Orion's calm voice echoed in Eva's mind. To gain something, you must give something.
"And if everyone died, there would be no point to any of this," Eva retorted.
She was going to fail. She could already feel it in her bones. The knowledge loomed over her head like an executioner's blade. There was no talking her way out of this.
The Kyren would break relations. Everything that had come before would be pointless. Laurell. The past few months. All of it.
And there wasn't a damn thing she could do about it.
That knowledge hurt as Eva tilted her face to the sky, ignoring the prickling in the bridge of her nose.
"I was wrong earlier. You're not like the Trateri. You're like me."
Too scared of getting hurt to take a chance. How fucking ironic.
At least now Eva understood Ollie's frustration all those months ago. Dealing with someone so closed off was akin to beating your head against a rock wall.
