Tollere’s mouth fell open. ‘Already?’
Roul stared him down, then looked at Eda. ‘If anyone here’s not 100 percent up to it, then I suggest you tell me now. It’s a challenging climb even at peak fitness. If you fall, there’s every chance you’ll die or never walk again.’
Nothing changed on Eda’s face, stubborn woman that she was.
‘How’s the knee?’ he asked when she did not speak up.
Eda lifted the leg and turned it in all directions. ‘Good as new.’ She always delivered her lies with confidence.
‘All right,’ Roul said, clapping his hands together. ‘If everyone is up to it, then give me a sprint to the wall. Go.’
Eda took off before he had gotten the words out. The others pursued her, but they never caught up. She was first to reach the wall.
‘What are you up to?’ came Harlan’s voice.
Roul turned to watch him approach. ‘Just a casual trip down the cliff to keep the recruits on their toes.’
Harlan looked in their direction as he came to a stop beside Roul. ‘If you’re hoping she’ll do something sensible, like pull out, prepare for disappointment. She was first to rise this morning and twice as determined as yesterday.’
‘She tell you she hurt her knee? She was limping all over the place.’
‘That wasn’t the main topic at dinner, no.’
Roul narrowed his eyes. ‘What does that mean?’
‘We heard a lot about Hildred.’
So shehadbeen angry about the barmaid. ‘Really?’
‘When Blake made a joke about her sounding like a jealous wife, she got up and left the table.’
She was likely angry at being excluded from that part of his life, but there was little to share from his perspective. He did not speak about Hildred to anyone. Their relationship, if you could call it that, was just a bit of mutual fun. Hildred was as busy as he was most of the time. Admittedly, Roul knew if he were to ask her to marry him, she would say yes in a heartbeat. But he had been honest from the beginning about his intentions without going into too much detail, and Hildred had assured him that she was content with their current arrangement.
The fact that Eda’s mood was much improved meant she had moved on from whatever she was feeling the day before.
‘I better go catch up with them,’ Roul said, exiting the conversation.
‘She’ll have no problem on the climb,’ Harlan said. ‘But just remember, if she drowns, the sisters will come for you.’
‘Noted.’ Drawing a deep breath, Roul jogged off to join the recruits by the wall.
When he came to a stop, he gestured to the defender above them, and a rope was thrown down. Walking to it, he turned to face the group. ‘You’ll climb up one at a time. Then you’ll climb down the one on the other side. Blackmane, you’ll go first.’
Blackmane took hold of the rope and began to climb.
‘Tatum, you’re next. Alveye, Hadewaye, Suttone, Tollere.’
The recruits appeared eager to get started, taking hold of the rope the second it was free. Eda flew up the thing like she had wings. Tollere was already sweating at the halfway mark.
When they were all standing safely atop the wall, Roul followed them up. Blackmane, Tatum, and Alveye had already climbed down and were waiting on the cliff’s edge.
‘You’re really going to do this?’ Roul asked Eda when she climbed up onto the embrasure.
She met his gaze as she took hold of the rope. ‘These wereyourorders, Commander.’ Then she disappeared.
A few minutes later, Roul stood with the group on the ledge, squinting against the damp wind. ‘Test every foothold before you bear weight. If rock comes away, you warn those below you. This is important. And try not to panic. That’s when mistakes happen. When you reach the bottom, wait. We’ll swim to Flat Rock as a group.’
The men lowered themselves over the edge of the cliff one at a time. When it was Eda’s turn, she did not move. She was looking out at the rugged landscape. Her eyes were wide and filled with wonder. No fear to be seen. He had forgotten that her only perspective of outside the walls was Chadora’s port.
