As soon as they were gone, he motioned to Tor. “Take your sister. You can go.”
Tor took a step forward, but the youngest of the three soldiers, the one with a swollen and bloodied lip, stuck his hand out to stop him. “No. He struck an officer. The penalty is death.”
Tristan let out a slow breath. He was stuck. Either he killed all three soldiers now, here in the middle of the market with a hundred hidden witnesses. Or he had to let them take Tor.
He watched his friend, who stared back, impassive. And then Tor gave a tiny, almost imperceptible nod.
Nim looked between them frantically and shook her head repeatedly before whispering in a broken voice, “No. No. You can’t.”
Tristan firmed his voice. “Say goodbye to your brother, miss.”
Nim glared at him with eyes filled with horrified fury before surprising them all by flinging herself into Tor’s arms.
Tor caught her, more shocked than anyone, and stroked her hair softly while she clung to him and cried.
Tristan could do nothing except stand and watch, listening to her quiet sobs while Tor whispered something too low to hear.
One of the Blues sniggered, and Nim spun away from Tor, tear-streaked face filled with hatred, and opened her mouth. He couldn’t let her do it. One word, and she would be going with Tor. He clamped his hand over her mouth, ignoring her muffled screech of rage, and wrapped an arm around her waist as he pulled her away.
Her flinch as he touched her ribs was almost more than he could bear, but he kept a firm grip on her as he passed her over to Jeremiel and Garet and muttered, loud enough to send a clear message to the three soldiers, “See that she gets home safely, I’ll assist here.”
He didn’t dare look at her as he spun on his heel and gestured for the soldiers to lead the way to Gatehouse.
Chapter Thirteen
Nim didn’t knowwhether to scream or rage as she watched the soldiers lead Tor away. She still had tears lodged in her throat, but they were joined by a vicious fury more potent than anything she had ever experienced.
And the person she most wanted to kill at that moment was Tristan. How could he do it? To his friend. To her.
She took a step, meaning to run after them, to stop them, to argue, scream, grab Tor. Something. Anything.
But Jeremiel was suddenly in front of her, his tall lean frame blocking her view, stopping her.
His voice was harsh as he muttered a single word. “Don’t.”
“But—”
“No. Anything you do now will make it worse. Do you want all of us thrown in Gatehouse with Tor?”
She settled back onto her heels, trying to calm her raging emotions and just think. She was desperate to get Tor back, but she didn’t know how to do that without risking Tristan and the others.
She didn’t regret one second of helping the other woman. There was no way she could have lived with herself if she hadn’t. And she had known that there would be repercussions. But she hadn’t expected the horror of feeling like she was losing another brother—her fear for Val was too raw to allow her to be rational about Tor.
And, if she was being completely honest, at least some of her rage was because of how completely unaffected Tristan had been by her. How little he seemed to care. He’d just pushed her away without even looking at her. Again.
A stray tear ran down her cheek, and she swiped it away with the back of her hand.
Jeremiel’s face softened. “Oh, little Mabin, don’t cry. We will get him back. And Tristan… Let’s just say that I’ve never seen the captain like that before.”
She wiped her nose. “Surely you’ve seen him blank-faced and walking away before.”
Garet snorted at her side as Jeremiel replied, “We obviously saw something different. From where I was standing, he looked like he was about to rain hell down on the world. When he came around the corner and saw you on the ground, gods, I thought we might finally see what happens when the captain loses his mind.”
“Really?” she asked softly, wishing she had seen even a flicker of emotion in Tristan’s eyes.
Jeremiel guided her to start walking as he led their horses out of the market and frowned down at her. “He couldn’t give you away. What do you think would happen to you if those Blues figured out who you are?”
She would have argued, but he carried on before she could, and this time went straight for the jugular. “What exactly do you think would happen to Tor and the captain if they were found protecting Lanval’s sister?”
