He exhales heavily, defeated. “I’ll see you when you get back.”
The skies are heavy and overcast, but the heat of the day presses down anyway. I’m wearing another light dress, my hair pinned to my head, with the dagger strapped to my waist again, and even in the wagon, I’m already sweating. Olive made us coffee again before we left, and Erik didn’t emerge from his bedroomonce, which I found hilarious.
I don’t realize Olive is concerned about his absence, though, until we’re on the road and she asks about it.
“Was Erik still sleeping this morning? Should you have left him, do you think?”
“Oh,” I say. “He’s fine. He’s just hiding from you.”
“Hiding!”
I bite my lip and nod. “I might have told him some of the things he said when he was drunk.”
“Drunk men say alotof wild things. He was downright charismatic.”
I giggle, but I notice that her cheeks are pink, too, so I bump her shoulder and say, “He’s a good man.”
Ellmo pops up in the wagon behind us. “Erik said he would take me out on the rowboats when he heals. Do you think that will be tomorrow?”
“When did he say that?” Olive says.
“When you were getting the horses ready.”
“It’ll be a bit longer thantomorrow,” I say. “Maybe a few weeks.”
But as soon as I say the words, the length of time drives home that we really are stuck here. That Corrick is dead. My breath catches.
Olive reaches out and squeezes my hand.
I look over in surprise.
She’s looking at the road, but she gives me a nod. “I remember,” she says quietly. “The loss hits you over and over again, and always when you least expect it.”
That helps me sniff back the tears before they can form. “Yes,” I say.
She squeezes my hand one more time, then takes up the reins again.
“I’m really glad I met you,” I say.
She smiles. “Even though I was shooting at you?”
“That might be my favorite part.” I give her a sly glance. “Erik’s too. He said it’s hard not to like a woman who can handle a crossbow.”
“Did he!”
I nod.
She smiles, and she’s still blushing. But then she frowns. “Well, it’s nice to be fancied, but he’ll be wanting to return to Kandala. He’s duty bound to your king, I’m sure.”
“Well,yourking is in no hurry to make that happen.”
“You might think that, but Rian will do whatever he can to get access to steel, so he’ll find a way back before long. I’m in no hurry to have my heart broken by a guardsman sworn to another country.”
There’s a note of finality tothat, so I let it go.
She glances at the crates in the wagon. “You brought a lot of supplies. Do you expect a lot of people?”
It’s my turn to blush. “I really don’t knowwhatto expect. I told that boy Henry to have people come if they needed an apothecary, but I know that a lot of people here don’t trust Kandala. So maybewe won’t need it all. I just . . . ?I need to dosomething. Maybe that’s silly.”
