"But there is still a chance?" Fiona didn't wait for confirmation, aiming an expectant look at Caden.
After a protracted silence, Caden focused on Fiona and the other two. "Go. If there's even a small chance the army followed them here, we can't allow them so close to the Kyren herds."
Satisfaction chased across Fiona's face before it was gone.
"You coming?" she asked the other two.
Roscoe adjusted his sword belt, the look in his eyes savage. "Beasts couldn't keep me away."
Ghost's response was a simple nod.
"A few of my men can go with you to show you where we landed," Van offered.
Reece rolled his eyes to the sky in exasperation. "It's like talking to a wall. Not one of you paid attention to anything I said about the mist."
Eva thought it was more that they simply didn't care. No Trateri made it through life without taking a few risks. Fiona and the rest had probably considered the outcomes and decided they were worth the possible consequences.
"Observation only," Caden warned, ignoring Reece's complaint. "And I want you all back by dawn tomorrow."
Roscoe and Ghost let out a piercing whistle to summon their horses as Fiona paused to study Caden. "Are you coming? I know you want them as bad as I do."
Caden's gaze caught Eva's before he looked away. "I'll catch up if I can. There are matters that need my attention here."
Eva suspected she was the primary reason for that decision, even if he didn't say it. Part of it, she knew, was to reinforce her authority with Gawain and Van.
Fiona and the rest had learned to listen when Eva spoke. These new Trateri didn't have the benefit of that experience. There was no guarantee they wouldn't try to override her authority.
As someone they perceived as an outsider, she was an easy target if they decided to give her a hard time.
There was also the matter of Caden's overprotectiveness. He knew just as well as she did that being Trateri didn't excuse you from the pettier characteristics that came with being human.
New people meant new threats. Until Caden had assured himself that the clan leaders and their people weren't a danger to Eva or their mission, he'd be fairly insufferable.
She could see it now. The hovering. The making of new rules. Any privacy she'd managed as he relaxed his vigilance over the past few weeks would be gone.
Eva exhaled, feeling resigned.
Caden's love came at a price. An intense, driving need to assure the safety of the people within his heart. It was essential to him. Close to an obsession, one stemming from the uncertainty of his own childhood and the role he'd chosen to take on as an adult.
Before Eva, Fallon Hawkvale was the one Caden had placed the entirety of his focus. He'd made a habit of eliminating any threat to his Warlord before it could ever truly grow to a danger.
Eva's arrival had changed things and with them Caden's priorities.
"You sure?" Fiona asked.
"Go. I can see them back to camp," Eva urged.
He needed to do this, and they both knew it.
Caden's jaw flexed as he stared Eva down, torn between two opposing needs.
"Go," Eva said again. "This is important too."
If this rebel army Van was chasing had managed to escape the mist, they needed to know—and prepare.
Sometimes, even if the mess wasn't yours, you still had to clean it up.
three
