“C’mon, little wolf.” Quentin grinned, following her down. “You’d just let me bleed out?”
“Yes. Without hesitation.”
Quentin pouted. “You don’t mean that.”
“Enough.” Sebastian slid from his horse and strode forward, clasping Quentin on the shoulder and turning him back toward the cart. “Let’s pitch the tents and make camp. The girls will tend to the horses.” He glanced back over his shoulder, giving Ciana a small half-smile and a wink.
Ciana smiled back, doing everything she could to ignore the heat rising in her cheeks.
Delaynie huffed a laugh. “If you keep blushing like that every time he looks at you, you’re never going to convince the Vathan King that you’re there as a marriage prospect.”
Ciana swallowed, sobering instantly.
Right. Therealreason Mariah was sending her to Vatha. Not just as an emissary or an ambassador, but as a potential match. The king was young and rumored to be searching for a consort. Ciana, Mariah had been told, was perhaps just his type.
The idea of it had excited Ciana at first. That’s why she’d agreed to it. To flirt with a young king so he would allow them access to his kingdom’s heavily protected archives? That sounded like an adventure.
As the days had passed and the longer she’d spent with her thoughts, the more her anxiety grew.
She’d thought she was ready for this. But so many memories and so much trauma had just been shoved right back into the front of her mind.
Was shereallyready?
Ciana heaved a sigh, dismounting her mare and starting to work on the buckle to the saddle and girth.
Delaynie watched her for a moment, not moving. “What? You know I’m right.”
“Maybe I’m just trying to enjoy a few more days of it while I still can,” Ciana said softly. The girth strap came loose, and she tossed it over the top of the saddle.
She’d told Delaynie before they’d even left Desva, needing to confide in a friend. For some reason, she hadn’t yet been able to tell Sebastian. There was a tenuous peace between them, some of that old comfort and stability and warmth finally coming back, and by the gods the last thing she wanted to do was wreck it. She knew she would have to tell him eventually—she would need his help to keep up the ruse.
She just wanted one fleeting moment to know what it allcouldbe. Or maybe what it would be one day when this war was won.
Delaynie’s icy stare stung the back of her neck. Her friend heaved a sigh and strode for Sebastian’s horse, setting to workon the tack. The girls worked in silence, a familiar routine they’d settled into these past few days on the road. Sebastian and Quentin passed them both again, arms laden with the canvas packs of folded tents.
Thirty minutes later, the three horses were untacked and grazing in the tall grasses just beyond the copse, the two tents were pitched, and a fire blazed beneath the straggly trees. The sun was half-set, deep shades of red and amber and orange streaking the sky.
Ciana was chewing a bite of dried fruit and salted pork when Sebastian sat on the stone beside her, his thigh and shoulder brushing hers.
The warmth in her cheeks spread to the tips of her ears, and she had to fight to swallow.
If Sebastian noticed, he pretended not to. Instead, he unfurled a small piece of parchment from his pocket and spread it over his knees, studying it with a furrow to his brow.
Ciana cleared her throat. “Where do you think we are?”
He smiled softly and leaned closer. His warm scent of leather and pine wrapped around her, and her lips parted.
“I think we’re abouthere.” He pointed to somewhere in the southeast of Kreah. “And based on how we’ve been traveling, I expect we’ll reach the Idrixian border tomorrow.”
“Really? Tomorrow? Already?” Her words came out far too shrill for her liking. Sebastian gave her a curious look, like he was about to ask her what was wrong but decided not to.
“Yes. We’ve made good time.” He folded the map and slid it back into his pocket. Across the fire, Delaynie stood behind a shirtless Quentin, surveying the still-healing wounds on his back. She gave him a small tap on his shoulder, and he turned, murmuring something with a wicked smirk. Even in the dim light, Ciana could see the furious red that spread across Delaynie’s face. But that didn’t stop her from lifting her chin inthe air and striding away, settling herself on the stone beside Ciana with her own dinner in hand.
Ciana met her blue gaze with a raised brow and a bubbling giggle, but Delaynie studiously turned her attention to the fire.
“I would pay some serious coin to know what was going on between those two,” Sebastian whispered. She shivered at the brush of his breath against the shell of her ear.
She turned back to him with another nervous giggle. “I’m not sure any of us reallywantto know.”
