Out of nowhere, Peter’s fist shot out as he punched Roderick squarely on the nose. Blood instantly spurted from Roderick’s nostrils. Howling, Roderick clapped a hand up to his nose and swung wildly at Peter, who ducked and moved out of range, his face a sudden mask of terrifying coldness.
Lochlan leapt to his feet, knitting flying across the room, and I jumped forward. Roderick swung at Peter again, who dodged once more. Lochlan got between them and held out his hands to keep them apart. Roderick tried to shove Lochlan out of the way, and Peter weaved sideways so he stayed out of range.
“What was that for, you maniac?” Roderick shouted, voice slightly garbled by the blood dripping down to congeal in his beard.
“Don’t ever threaten or speak ill of Princess Tess in front of me.” Peter calmly pulled out a dagger and flipped it in his hand so he had it in a reverse grip. “Or I’ll kill you. You won’t get a second warning.” His normally playful expression had taken on a darkness that made chills erupt all over my body. This was a monster masquerading as a young man.
Roderick looked ready to retort, but after one look at Peter, he slumped back into his chair, which groaned in protest. “What’s she done to earn such loyalty from you?”
A vein ticked on Peter’s neck. “I owe her my life,” he answered shortly.
“Nothing else?” Roderick asked, glaring from his chair. “You haven’t taken a fancy to?—”
“I owe her my life,” Peter repeated, a clear edge of danger in his tone. “And I’m done discussing the matter.”
“I’ll look at that,” Lochlan told Roderick, hurrying forward to examine the bloody nose. “Hold still and lean forward.”
Roderick complied, allowing the stream of blood to drip onto the dirty wooden floor.
“I’m going for a walk,” Peter announced, a biting edge in his voice. He pivoted and stalked away.
“Go keep an eye on him,” Roderick growled to me. “Make sure he doesn’t do anything else stupid.”
I nodded and followed Peter. Just before the door shut behind me, Lochlan threw a concerned look my way. “Be careful!” he called.
Peter’s red hair was easy to spot even in the darkening sky as the sun sank lower minute by minute. He stomped away from the light, deeper into the forest. I followed him, keeping enough distance that I would be able to run if he turned and attacked.I’d thought I understood him, but his actions made no sense. He eventually stopped near a stream and threw some rocks into the water, jaw clenched.
“You okay, Peter?” I called, coming to a halt a little more than a stone’s throw away from him.
“I will be,” he answered, the calm tone of his voice at odds with the vengeance with which he hurled the rocks into the stream. “I’m not going to hurt you, you know. You haven’t done anything wrong.”
I edged a little closer. “Do you wanna talk about it?”
“No.”
I didn’t press him. As much as I wanted to know, I wasn’t about to do anything to get Peter riled at me. I’d seen him in enough fights to know that I didn’t stand a chance against him.
“Do you wanna talk about something else?” I asked.
“Did you have anything in mind?”
“I had a new idea for a swindle.” I leaned back against a tree and snapped a twig into small fragments. “If we put up wanted posters all around town with my face, then I let our next target spot me, they would try to capture me, and I could get their money once I’m inside, then escape.”
“Clever,” Peter said, kicking another stone. “It might work, but it would depend on who the target is. And we need to focus on getting more buyers for the dust.” He stared at the stream, grinding his teeth together. “She thinks I’m dead,” he said suddenly. “Tess. Remember after that whole pirate fiasco we were wrapped up in last summer?”
“Yeah.”
“I told them to tell everyone I drowned.” He cracked his knuckles. “Tess’s brother, Korth, would have been only too glad to tell her I’m dead. He wanted to have me executed from the day he first met me.”
“You could’ve talked to her today at the graveyard to let her know you’re still alive.”
“I thought about it.”
“Do you like her or something? She’s pretty.”
“She saved my life years ago, and by doing so earned my loyalty. That’s all.” His tone was so dismissive I knew the topic was finished.
We waited by the stream until night had begun to fall before heading back.
