Rakel frowned at the backhanded compliment. “I have a tolerable understanding of what friendship is.”
“Now you do! When I first approached you to practice fighting in the morning, I had to drag you kicking and biting into it.”
Rakel sniffed. “I would never do something so low asbitinganother person.”
“How did you figure it out, Rakel?” Phile’s voice was solemn, and her dark eyes were crinkled with confusion.
She is serious.Rakel settled her hands on her lap. “It was not as difficult as you seem to think. I was aware of the concept of love—it’s a theme often presented in fairy tales, and I owned several volumes of those when I first arrived on Ensom Peak.”
“That means you knew such a thing existed. You had no way of knowing Farrin felt that way about you. How did you figure it out?”
Feeling uncomfortable, Rakel knit her hands together. It felt traitorous to share Farrin’s heart—though he had done little to disguise his feelings. “It was the way he acted. No one—not you nor Oskar nor Halvor, no one I have ever met—looks at me the way he does. You, Kai, and Greta embrace me without thought. Farrin often touches me and is slow to move away—as though he treasures the interactions. I did not have a category for the way he treated me, so for some time I assumed it was because he saw us as enemies. It took me a shamefully long time to categorize his actions and realize what they meant.”
“I’m shocked.” Phile hunched over her plate. “I didn’t think you would ever get it. I was saving up that tasty tidbit of information to launch on Halvor and Oskar when we needed an edge to win an argument.”
Rakel, no longer feeling badly about holding out on her effervescent friend, raised her eyebrows. “I see.”
Phile removed her kerchief and ran her hands through the fringe of her ponytail. “You think he will be convinced that easily to leave Tenebris?”
“Farrin Graydim is more similar to me than you know,” Rakel said, thinking back to the beginning of her acquaintance with Phile. “He longs for someone to accept him in spite of what he is and what he has done. If we offer that and do not ask him to slaughter, I am almost certain he will join our cause.”
“Will you pretend you love him?” Phile said.
Rakel blinked in surprise.
Phile used Foedus to point at her. “You can’t fool me, Little Wolf. I know you don’t love him, yet. Will you mislead him to assure that he will join us?”
“No,” Rakel said. “If I did that, I would be no better than Tenebris.”
“What?”
“Farrin has a painful history—as I suspect most of the high-ranking officers in the Chosen possess. Tenebris freed Farrin and used his gratitude to recruit him.” Rakel paused, realizing that Phile’s earlier recruitment suggestion had been similar.We would have freed the magic users from their oaths.We are nothing like him.
“I see. It’s admirable that you plan to be honest with him, but do you think his attachment is so strong that he will join us even though you do not love him?”
Thinking back to his pained expression, Rakel nodded. “He’s searching for a way out, I think, but he is afraid no one will take him. If I present a token of my trust, he will come.”
“I have to admit, I find your confidence in his feelings irritating. I was looking forward to using the knowledge of his admiration against you for weeks to come.” Phile sighed and rested her chin on her hands. “So…a token? What would that be?”
Rakel adjusted the sleeves of her linen shirt and said nothing.
Phile sat up. “No—you aren’t thinking…?”
Rakel met her gaze. “It would make my trust unmistakable.”
“It will also get you tossed back to Ostfold when you suggest it to Halvor.”
Rakel peeked at the general, who was listening to an oral report from one of the soldiers. “I don’t want to go behind his back. He deserves to be informed, but…”
“But he doesn’t trust Farrin. Even if Farrin showed up with a white horse and a bouquet of flowers, he would have him run-through,” Phile admitted. “Oskar would react even worse.”
“Oskar is more prone to giving me whatever I want,” Rakel said, realizing with surprise that it was true.
“Yeah, but something tells me he’s not going to let this one go so easily. If you succeed, you’ll be inviting anenemyinto the camp.”
“Isn’t that what Crow is? He has made himself well liked.” Rakel gestured to the talkative mercenary, who was chatting up Hilda.
“Fine. You’re right. You should tell Halvor what you’re going to attempt, but I would keep quiet on your idea for atokenof faith.”
