“Not at the moment, no.”
“Most of the single folk in Oakwater would beg to differ,” Rune said wryly.
“Sounds like he’s got enough folk going for him, then.”
“Admittedly, heisover there, chatting up a pretty dwarf by the bar,” he said in a low voice, gesturing through a break in the crowd.
They were in an animated discussion, seemingly oblivious to everyone around them. I nodded, elbowing Rune in the side. “See, that’s what I’m talking about. They’ve got that spark.” I smiled when Valdar boomed his laughter, and the dwarven girl giggled with her hand on her mouth. “Good for them.”
“Except I don’t think we’re getting that round of ales now,” Rune said.
My smile widened. “No, I don’t think we are.”
A beat passed. “Are you really a fan of Silva Sweetwater?”
“Honestly? The biggest. I own almost her entire catalog, including some rare editions that are no longer in print. There’s only one title I don’t have.The Orc’s Bride.I’ve spent years trying to find it, but so many of that one got destroyed back during Isveig’s war…” My voice cracked, and I fell silent, tears stinging my eyes. It suddenly hit me that I was speaking as if those books were still mine. Like I could flip open their pages and read Silva’s words anytime I wanted—anytime Ineededthem. Because while I’d lived my life alone in my cottage, I’d always had her characters. I’d come to love them as though they were my own friends.
“Well, I suppose I don’t have any of them now,” I said quietly.
Rune frowned. “Sounds like they mean a lot to you.”
“I know it must seem silly to you, but those books were there for me when no one else was. They’re about love and friendship and finding your way in the world when everything seems stacked against you. I used to reread a couple of them once a year. In the summer, I’d grab a blanket and a book and go down to the lake. But I guess I won’t be doing that any longer…”
No, once I became an official member of the guild, I’d never read another word of a Silva Sweetwater novel. Or any other novel, for that matter. And while I’dknownthis—while I’d even taken the vows—it hadn’t really hit me until now.
Rune grunted, then stood.
I frowned up at him, and he towered over me with his husks glinting in the dim lighting. “Where are you going?”
“I’m going to get you that ale.” With a firm nod, he moved away from the table. I watched him push through the crowd. Despite his bulk, he didn’t shove others out of the way like alesser man might. Instead, he gently wended through the throng disturbing no one else at all. Valdar saw him approach, pounded him on the back, then passed him two tankards.
By the time Rune returned to the tables, the minstrels had started their second set. We clinked our tankards together. I nearly downed the entire thing in one gulp, feeling the urge to drown my sorrows. I expected Rune to question me some more, to ask why I’d left a life and a home I so clearly loved. But he seemed to sense my melancholy and took to enjoying the show instead.
And so we sat there together, drinking ale and listening to the lilting pixie’s voice as she sang about the dwarves who lived under the mountain, their yearly contest to find the fittest among them, and their glowing gemstones that powered their underground world. Rune and I listened with rapt attention, occasionally exchanging a few words. When I found myself smiling after he told me another unexpected joke, I realized I was enjoying his company far more than I ought.
Maybe that would be all right, just for one night.
10
FRIDA
“Thank you for a lovely night,” I said, almost prancing along the road that led back to Rune’s cottage. I wondered if I might be slurring my words a bit, then found I didn’t really mind if I was. A warm sense of contentment seemed to swirl through me. I didn’t know if it was from the ale, the music, or the many lovely people I’d met this night. Perhaps it was all of it combined.
“Glad you enjoyed it,” he said gruffly.
I cast him a sideways glance. “Didyou?”
“Unexpectedly, yes. It’s been a long time since I…spent so long out on a Freyasday evening.”
“Ha. I see right through you, Rune,” I said, poking him in the arm. Wow, it was hard as a rock. Even his muscles had muscles. “You don’t need to pretend you go there every week. I know you only went tonight because you wanted to take me.”
He grunted but made no attempt to rebuke my claim. Anything else he’d planned to say was interrupted by the sudden crash of thunder. The wind had picked up, dusting dirt against my legs and tugging leaves off the branches of the trees. Itipped back my head to gaze up at the sky, and an impenetrable darkness stared back at me.
Rune suddenly gripped my arm. “We need to move quickly. A storm’s coming.”
My heart leapt at the panic in his voice. “If it starts raining, will it hurt your skin?”
“Oh yes. But that’s not what I’m worried about.”
