“Are you all right? What happened?” He set her back from him, his frantic gaze darting to the men on the ground before coming back to her.
“I was attacked.”
“Are you injured?” Daric’s hands moved all over her, searching for wounds or wetness or perhaps for protruding daggers.
Rain stopped his anxious probing, holding his hands in front ofher. “I’m fine. I fought them off.”
He frowned deeply. “With only a dagger?”
She shrugged. “Daric, I’m fine. Thank you for bringing Arjun.”
“I was terrified when he came galloping down the path without you.” He freed his hands and gripped her face in a hold that was uncharacteristically intimate. He tipped her head from side to side. “I don’t see any bruises. It appears you didn’t need me.”
She wouldalwaysneed him. “I’m glad you’re here,” she whispered thickly.
Daric scowled harder. “I’m furious at you for leaving without me.”
From the look on his face, Rain believed him. “I can only hope your fury lasts as long as usual.”
“I think my anger has already been overcome by terror.” Closing his eyes, Daric leaned his forehead against hers, his breathing still rough and irregular.He never put them this close, and Rain realized that if she moved just a little, just a tilt of her head, she could kiss him. But he’d already refused her once, and she wouldn’t take what he wasn’t offering.
She stepped back, breaking the flustering contact.
Daric opened his eyes. A deep breath shuddered into him. “You figured out Alderbank and the Blood of Braylian.”
Rain nodded. “I foundthe right book after you left the library, although Alderbank was an unfair clue. There hasn’t been enough water there to make a riverbed in ages—not since long before this drought ever occurred.”
“Why didn’t you wait for me?”
Rain stayed silent. Didn’t he already know?
Daric grimaced. His weight shifted. “What do we do with them?” He plowed a hand through his hair, his troubled gaze landingon the brigands.
Not that it should matter to their decision, but Rain didn’t think the men were from Leathen. They hadn’t known who she was, and her silver tresses were unusual. “Leave them where they are. I’ve no desire to decide their fate myself.”
If the hard set of his jaw was any indication, Daric thought that sentence was far too lenient. Rain laid a soothing hand on his arm, thinkingit was ridiculous that they almost never touched, especially when they’d only ever wanted or needed comfort from each other. Daric’s fist uncurled in increments.
“Their blood should not stain our souls.” And Rain was quite certain they would never again attack a woman. They now understood that powerful and fearsome things lurked beneath the skin of females.
Daric’s nostrils flared, but he eventuallynodded. “As you wish.” He turned to gather Arjun’s reins and handed them to her with a flourish. “Your horse, my lady.”
“Thank you, kind sir.” Rain mounted, their silly formality lightening her heavy heart, as she was sure Daric had intended. They’d played this game since they were children.
“Mockweed?” Daric asked hopefully as he slipped her booted foot into the stirrup for her. “Or the BarrowWitch?”
Unfortunately, Rain had no idea. The witch was a mystery, although logic pointed to her perhaps having taken up residence at the barrows in the Wood of Layton, and any mockweed they found at this time of year was sure to be dead and brittle. “My prince, we’ve only just begun this journey.”
And she hoped with all her heart that it would be successful. Despite the increasingly disastrouslast quarter century, Leathen was still the home of Braylian’s Cauldron and the coveted heart of the continent, and the Ash family the most ancient and respected of the Houses. It made her sick to think about handing any of that over to Illanna Nighthall.
Daric mounted as well, and together, they rode toward the Heights of Alder to find the Blood of Braylian.
