“Why?”
She huffed in exasperation.“Why do you think?Did you sleep well?”
I had slept better than I had in a long while, but I could sense Taio was nearby and I didn’t want him to know that.He might think sleeping beside me with his coat over us was to be a nightly occurrence.“Fine.You?”
“Not as well as I would have if you had been inside.I tried to convince them to allow you all inside.”
Gaz and Nize made their way over now, their gazes shifting to the Zulenii warily.Behind them, the gate to the outpost was already closing again.
“He should have let you come inside with us,” Gaz said, jerking his head toward Taio.
“Really?”I said, the anger I had kept tamped down since yesterday afternoon bubbling up in me.“Because I was thinkingyoushould have stayed out here with us.You agreed to come along to protect me, but the first chance you get, you sleep in safety and leave me outside.”
“I intended for you to come inside as well, Mara,” Gaz said.“I can’t force you to make wise choices.”
“Listen, you two—” Nize began.
“You told me to stay inside,” Gaz accused me, ignoring Nize’s attempt at peacemaking.
“I told you to keep Finnrey inside.”
“You don’t need to protect me,” Finnrey cut in.
But I did.I hadn’t thought this through at all.What would I do if Finnrey was injured or worse on this journey?I’d never forgive myself.“I want all three of you to turn around and go back to Highcastle,” I said.“I should have never suggested you come along.If you leave now, you can make it by nightfall.”
“Don’t be a dusthead,” Gaz said.“The most dangerous part of the journey is ahead of us.We won’t be staying in any other outposts.We’ll pass the last one midday.”
I stepped forward, itching to grab him by the shoulders and shake sense into him.“I am not a dusthead.I don’t want you here any longer, Gaz of Westower.Go back.”
“No,” Gaz said.
Of course he’d refused.He hadn’t done what he’d set out to do yet.I hadn’t wanted to believe anyone from Earsleh would act so dishonorably, but after the way Taio and the other Zulenii had been treated last night, I couldn’t pretend anymore.“I know why you’re really here, Gaz, and you’re endangering all of us.”
“Mara, what does that mean?”Nize asked.“He’s here to protect you and all of us.”
I stared at Gaz.Taio was making me question everything.I wanted Gaz to reassure me.Instead, Gaz’s handsome face turned hard.“What did he do to you with those ugly light eyes of his?”He gestured to Taio.“Did he put you in some sort of trance?The Mara I knew would be loath to leave Earsleh.You seem in a hurry to get away.”
I inhaled sharply, furious that Gaz wouldn’t deny a plot to hurt Taio.Furious that he was making everything I’d believed about our people seem like a naïve illusion.“I lost the rite!”I yelled at Gaz.“How many times do I have to say it?I cannot help it if you have no honor and do not understand—”
“I have honor, Mara!I have more honor—”
Suddenly Taio was between us.I didn’t realize how close Gaz and I were, practically nose-to-nose.Taio put a warm hand on my shoulder and drew me away.
“That’s right!”Gaz yelled.“Go off with yourZulenii.”He said the last like it was a curse.He was shouting, and I realized I had been too.Gods, our carelessness would result in all our deaths.I heard Finnrey speaking to Gaz, telling him to lower his voice.Taio said nothing, just walked with me.I needed to walk in that moment.I was furious and needed to move.
“He thinks he has honor,” I muttered.“He doesn’t know the first thing about it.”I glanced at Taio.“I think he really does want to kill you.”
“I know.”
Of course he knew.He’d been trying to tell me that since almost the beginning.“I can’t figure out if it’s his plan or something proposed by my mother or another courtier.”
“Does it matter?”
“It does to me.”I turned and began to walk back.Nize had an arm around Gaz’s shoulders now, and Gaz seemed calmer.I felt calmer too.
“If he tries, I will kill him,” Taio said flatly.
I cut my gaze sharply to Taio.His hand had come to rest on the hammer-like weapon hooked on a loop of his belt.I’d fought Taio, and I’d fought Gaz in training.If it came down to a battle between the two of them, Taio would win.But Gaz wouldn’t necessarily follow rules.I didn’t know his orders or who had given them.I worried that completing his objective outweighed any rules of combat or honor.
