He exhaled. "You're right about that."
Fiona waited until he was gone before sending an incredulous look at the rest of them. "What the hell was that?"
Roscoe flapped a hand. "Someone who takes the game way too seriously."
"He had a point. Those stones were his. Brisa shouldn't have taken them," Eva said in the interest of fairness.
As much of an ass as Warin had been, he wasn't wrong. Brisa had overstepped, even if she hadn't entirely understood.
Brisa deflated under Eva's regard, gazing down at her colored stones with sadness.
"She's fine. If he hadn't overreacted, Ghost and I would have been happy to compensate him with our own stones," Roscoe said dismissively.
Ghost nodded. "Everyone knows you risk losing your stake when you put them in the middle. Violence should never have entered into it."
Fiona scoffed, rolling her eyes. "When has one of your games not turned violent?"
Roscoe touched his chest in fake insult. "You wound me."
"Good. Maybe next time you won't antagonize one of Lion Clan's best warriors," Fiona shot back.
Brisa's gaze ping ponged between the three humans. "Ajari was right. You learn so much more about humans when you exist in close proximity to them."
"No, no, no," Eva started, seeing the mischievousness on Roscoe and Ghost's faces. "You are not corrupting the baby Tenrin. Absolutely not."
The words "I forbid it" hovered on Eva's tongue. Thankfully, she stopped in time.
Roscoe and Ghost faces were sad as they stared at her.
"How could you say that? We're elite warriors. She'd be lucky to have us as examples," Roscoe said.
"Yeah, as examples of what not to do," Jason muttered.
Ghost flicked a stone at his head. "Silent, wannabe Anateri."
Jason touched the red spot on his forehead with a frown. At Brisa's excited look he pointed. "Do not pick up that habit."
"I'm guessing it's too late," Eva said as Brisa's smile widened until it took on a decidedly wicked slant.
Commotion from the rest of camp provided a much-needed distraction as Caden, followed by Van and Gawain moved into view.
Seeing Eva, Caden sent her a nod before directing his attention to the rest of the Trateri, who were slowly coming to their feet.
Judging by the cautious expressions on their faces and the knowing in their eyes, they had a guess as to what was coming.
Not that Eva expected the situation to remain a secret for long. For one thing, the order to pack up camp would have been a pretty big giveaway.
She was betting there was more than one theory circulating as to why they were moving again.
"By now, you may have guessed at our situation." Caden projected his voice so that the crowd could hear.
"Wasn't hard. Not like any of us tried to hide it," Roscoe muttered under his breath.
Fiona slapped him on the shoulder. When he shot her an insulted frown, she placed a finger across her lips to signal for silence.
Grumbling to himself, Roscoe settled down.
"There is an army out there." Caden gestured at the mountains. "They're looking for us and when they find us, they will try to kill us."
