A valid point. Briar, Eliot, and Cadence had braved the enclave and been permitted to reside there with nature’s blessing. However, that environment accommodated as many grim and sinister hazards as it did enchantments. During my mission, I had sensed no one occupying that region and took my leave. Admittedly, I neglected to inspect the neighboring vicinity, finding it hard to believe the traitors would install themselves there. Last, I’d been functioning on the theory that no permanent encampment hub existed.
“I’m giving you ten seconds to explain how you know this,” I prompted.
Aspen fluttered her eyelashes. “Can I negotiate for eleven seconds?”
My nostrils broadened. “Aspen—”
“My markings. They hurt when I’m fighting, but also whenever their origins are mentioned.” At my befuddled expression, she elaborated. “I know why I was born with the markings, but I never knew the source’s whereabouts until the revels.”
She annotated the tale. Her mother’s encounter with the oak tree, its subsequent punishment, and the resulting penalty. As lovely as they appeared, the motifs caused Aspen physical torment. From combat to references concerning that tree, the symbols reacted in an afflicting manner.
Briar’s recitation triggered the pain in Aspen’s skin, confirming it to be the same oak. This led to thoughts of the treehouse enclave.
“You’re following a hypothesis,” I concluded.
Aspen tossed that notion around in her mind. “Tell me you’ve never done that.”
I could not. My motivations relied on faith and philosophy as much as instinct. To that end, I left scientific facts to Jeryn.
If Aspen were lying, the falsehood would be extensive. Rather, her simple deduction smacked of authenticity. And it was a solid theory.
I deliberated. “Have you ever traveled that deep into Autumn?”
“There’s a first for everything. You did your part in full view of Autumn’s knights, but I know how to sneak past them undetected,” she advocated. “My stunt with the Masters proved as much. And in case things go awry, and one of us gets caught, I know how to flirt, sweet talk, and bend the truth. Whereas you can’t tell a decent lie to a brick wall.”
Turning, I fisted my hands on my hips. Distress for the affliction she weathered jabbed needles into my flesh. For I did not like to think of this woman being hurt.
This twist of fate changed things. My foolish attempt to safeguard her future had been misguided. Selfishly, I’d taken the responsibility of this woman’s destiny on my shoulders.
I veered back around. “I’ve been dishonest.”
Aspen gawked. “Come again?”
Three words I had never uttered to a soul. A transgression I never committed until her. Naturally, it would flabbergast this woman.
She listened as I cited the premonition. How it surfaced the moment we met in the courtyard battle with the Masters. How it forecast my inability to protect her. That I had no idea of the context, no matter how often I tried to perceive its meaningand whether it implied a specific danger or event. And that I conveyed the premonition to the clan prior to hunting for Aspen.
The number of times this prediction bedeviled me had no place in the confession. I would not make this about myself, nor excuse my secrecy.
Dishonor frayed the edges of my voice. “I have no justification. I should have told you long ago.”
Aspen’s nostrils broadened. “You damn well should have.”
“And I’m sorry for it.”
Despite the urge to draw out this apology, it would be unwise. Like Jeryn, this woman would consider it dramatic and an insult. Instead, every drop of sincerity and regret leaked from my words, and then I waited for her verdict.
In the festering silence, some obscure thought passed through Aspen’s mind, contesting her anger. At length, she sighed. “Danger and death come to us all. You can’t protect everyone, even as a soldier.” Because I winced, Aspen slanted her head. “That’s your greatest fear.”
I swallowed. “It is.”
“Did you ever stop to think this isn’t a premonition? That it might be your fear projecting itself?”
“It was no such thing. It carried to me on a gale.”
“Oh.” Aspen weighed the odds, then defied the notion with a sensible grunt. “Well then, I’ll have to be extra careful. And you’ll have to fight as my comrade, not as my bodyguard. Otherwise, it might backfire.” She pondered, her fingers landing on the axe. “This explains a lot over the past years. And how the kiss ended.”
My lips tingled. Yearning coiled through my chest like a vine, untamed and likely to grow wild if not pruned. “Forming a romantic attachment might compromise my ability to keep you safe.”
