A grin spread across her face. “I do think I’m getting the hang of this. Maybe I should visit the Black Boar and talk to Drustan about playing there. Or twist Nash’s arm.”
Silence stretched between them, the horses’ hooves crunching in the snow.
“Stay away from them, Mistel,” Cole said.
Her grip on Bart’s reins tightened. “We’ve been over this, my knightling. I can handle myself.”
“Not with them. Not with Drustan.”
Of all the…Mistel pressed her lips together. Who did Cole think he was to?—
“Mistel, please!” he practically yelled.
She blinked at his intensity. Lands, what had gotten him so worked up? “All right,” she said, more to calm him than to agree.
He nodded stiffly. “Thank you.”
She knew he had more to say and likely wouldn’t. Time to pull it out of him in a roundabout way. “Why do you have so little faith in me? I’ve proved myself.”
He opened his mouth to speak, then exhaled. “You have. You’re amazing. But Drustan is a merciless fiend.”
She couldn’t help laugh, which only deepened that wrinkle between Cole’s brows. “Mercy. That’s harsh. I’ve met hunxes like Drustan before. He’s rude but harmless.”
“No, Mistel. Drustan was…sort of my stepbrother. Though he’d probably say I was their stray. Their slave.”
Mistel’s thoughts spun. Stray? But that meant Cole was an orphan. The tension between him and Drustan suddenly made sense. Cole had never mentioned his parents. Was this why? He’d lived with Drustan’s family? “What did he do to you?”
Silence.
Mistel couldn’t take it. “Cole…?”
“When I lived with the Fawsts,” he said, “Drustan and his brother Fen were much older. They didn’t just fight me. They enjoyed hurting me. I was never without a bruise, cut, or burn. They stole my food too, so I was always hungry.”
Mistel’s chest ached for him. She could almost see the small, battered boy he’d been, and wanted to reach for his hand. But she didn’t dare on this side saddle. She merely listened, captivated by this rare glimpse into his past.
“I had a puppy, runt of the litter. Nonda—that’s Drustan and Fen’s mother—she threw it outside, left for dead. I found him, fed him, named him Peat since he was the color of peat moss. He was my…my best friend.”
“Oh, Cole.” Mistel squeezed the reins. She knew, deep down, that this story was going to end badly.
“One day, I got Drustan in trouble, and he and Fen came after me. They killed Peat. Made me watch.”
Mistel’s breath hitched. She rubbed her gloved fingers to her throat. “What did their mother do?”
“Nothing.”
“What? Why?”
“She didn’t like me either,” Cole said. “Or the dog.”
“They sound like monsters,” Mistel whispered.
“They were. And I don’t think Drustan has changed.”
Mistel recalled the glint in Drustan’s eyes. He did seem to be waiting for the right moment to strike. “I’ll be careful around him. I promise.”
“Thank you.”
She let the silence stretch, the sound of their horses’ hooves over the mushy snow filling the void until, “You never told me you were an orphan.”
