Morco came up behind Allegra, but he didn’t interrupt our conversation when he realized it was a peaceful one.
“I know Morco meant a lot to you. If I saw him prefer someone else to me, I’d behave exactly the same way as you.” That was a lie, but I wanted to make her feel better when she drowned in her own shame.
Morco stared at me over her shoulder.
Allegra gave a sniff. “I loved him.”
“I know,” I said gently. “And I’m sorry. I know he is too.”
“He is?” she asked.
He seemed frustrated with the situation whenever he spoke of it, but she didn’t need to know that. “Of course.”
Morco realized he wasn’t needed, so he headed back to the other side of the Gathering to continue his work on the bow. His back faced us, and he picked up the blade once again to carve the wood.
“I’m glad we had this conversation,” I said. “We need each other right now.”
She nodded. “You’re right.”
I opened my arms and took a slight step forward, waiting to see if she would reciprocate a hug.
She hesitated before she gave a slight smile and then stepped forward to embrace me.
Our animosity was buried, and a friendship had bloomed from the seeds. The heaviness had been lifted from my heart, and peace lingered like low clouds.
She pulled away and gave me a smile. “I’ll see you around.”
“Yeah. I’ll see you around.”
She walked off, and then I faced the table where Morco had been.
He stood there, having clearly witnessed the hug. He showed no distinct reaction, but it was obvious he’d seen it.
I walked over and placed my bowl on the table. “Looks like I made a friend.”
He looked down at me, a hint of affection in his eyes. “Only you could pull that off.” He set down the knife, circled his arm around the small of my back, and pulled me in for a quick kiss. It was the first time he’d shown me affection so publicly. The rest of the time, it’d been a look or the touch of a hand. He turned away and got back to work, carving a bow made out of a wood so dark it looked black instead of brown.
I sat down and ate my breakfast, watching him work.
“Put out the fire!” Caius stumbled to the ground as he emerged from the path, out of breath and coated in sweat like he’d exerted himself the whole way here.
I was in shock at the sight of him, but Morco was quick because his reflexes were always instantaneous.
Caius fell to the ground again. “No—no water.”
Morco sprinted away and retrieved a large black blanket. “Help me.”
Men ran forward and grabbed other corners of the enormous blanket, and together, they tossed it on the bonfire and put it out.
It went dark, so dark I couldn’t see the table where I sat. My heart palpitated in terror, but I didn’t know what to do, not when I couldn’t see, not when I couldn’t look at Morco’s face to assess his reaction. If he was scared, then I should be scared too.
A small candle was lit and then another, gentle lights dispersed through the Gathering and left on tables. We were still in the dark, but at least we could see some of our surroundings and one another’s shadowy faces.
Caius climbed to his feet again, and then Liam exited the path with some of the others and reached us.
Morco ran over to Caius. “What’s happened?”
He was still out of breath, barely able to pull words together to form a sentence. “Knives…scouting…followed us…” He stopped and panted for breath.
