“They’re good people. Really good. They, um… they gave me a place, made me feel welcome. Paid me to cook.” She wiped her eyes. Cassia scowled and sniffed, then squinted back up at the mountains.It’s fine. This is just how it goes.
“They’re not usually so quick to shoot?” Rylan asked warily.
“No,” Cassia said with a choked laugh. “Aevrin was just worried. We heard someone was asking about me at Larie’s shop. We didn’t know who.”
“That place with the clothing?” Rylan asked. Cassia nodded. “He cares about you then,” Rylan said thoughtfully. “Are you together?”
“Well. It doesn’t matter, does it?” Cassia asked, her voice thickening as the tears welled up again, persistent. She wiped them angrily away. “I bet we can get them to drive us to a bigger town. One with transport we can hire. Maybe Lareo.”
“He could come with us.”
“Don’t be crazy.” She couldn’t stay and let Aevrin’s family get into a tangle with Zey. And she couldn’t ask Aevrin to leave the ranch, leave his family, leave Dawn Ridge. He’d be stupid to. Evenshedidn’t want to leave this beautiful place, and it wasn’t in her blood like it was in Aevrin’s.
Rylan glanced back at the house, the open doorway showing a jumble of shoes.
“You got things to pack?”
Cassia warred with her desires in her head.
She needed to stay with Rylan. They weren’t supposed to be separated. And if Zey ended up at Dawn Ridge looking for Rylan or even for Cassia, she’d be bringing trouble down on the Rivekers. Leaving was good. Leaving was the only kind thing to do.
But how could she go, with the way Aevrin looked at her? With how her heart beat faster at just the thought of him? And she owed him, still, for the healer’s fees. It was toosoon. Cassia knew she’d wear out her welcome eventually, but she’d wanted to stay up to the very last minute. To soak up every day of this beautiful life that they’d let her.
“I don’t want to leave,” she whispered. “Saints forgive me, but I don’t.”
Rylan gave her a hard look. She pulled her knees into her chest and stared straight out at the mountains. For a momentdespair welled up in her, and then it flattened as Cassia muscled herself back into the familiar life-long rhythm she’d grown to expect. Good things ended. Never more than a year or two in any home, no matter how badly she wanted to stay. She’d hoped the ranch would last more than a month, but it hadn’t, and that was just how life went. No use moping. That only made it worse. Better not to feel anything at all.
“I think you should stay,” her brother told her abruptly. Her head snapped towards him.
“I can’t put them in danger.”
“Zey doesn’t want to come after people like them. He likes his targets hopeless and alone.”
That wasn’t enough to make her feel certain, but for a moment she grabbed the thought, desperate for it to be true. For staying here to be an option.
“Then we could stay here,” she told Rylan.
“I can’t. He’s too angry with me.You, he might look over. Not me.”
“But I promised you I’d always look after you.”
“Yeah,” Rylan said sadly. He leaned his elbows back on the step above them, and stared out at the mountains, then nodded. “But I guess maybe it’s time you got to live your own life. And time I handled my own mistakes.”
“Rylan… we’re family.”
“I know, Cassia. But I’m not blind. I know all the shit you’ve done over the years for me. You practically had to be my mother when you weren’t grown yourself. I’ve never seen you do anything other than work your ass off non-stop on my behalf. I owe you.”
“You don’t owe me anything,” she protested. Rylan shook his head.
“I’m a grown man. It’s time I learned to clean up my own messes. You found yourself a home that will protect you. You ought to stay.”
Her head was a mess. It was already evening. How could she decide, just like that? Abandoning her brother; abandoning Aevrin. Leaving a home she’d grown to love; putting them in danger by staying. Her breath hitched as she let go of her knees to press her palms against her forehead.
“Cassia,” Gramma Prisca called from inside the house. “Come here a moment.”
Blinking away tears, she rose on unsteady feet and stumbled into the house.
All the Rivekers were clustered in the doorway of the next room over. Aevrin’s eyes tracked her as she approached.
