She blinked slowly. “You kicked him out because you don’t like him?”
“Do you? Because you seem relieved to me.”
Elloven was taken aback at his reading her, but she didn’t fully understand Jesstin’s motivations yet, nor was he entitled to hers. “You were Gen’s friend.”
Jesstin’s cool demeanor flickered briefly. He licked his lips. “Yeah.”
She hadn’t realized how much she needed to talk about her brother until he showed his reluctance to it. To conversing at all, really. But the noise outside had calmed since Jesstin had intervened. No more hands tapped the carriage; no rotted cabbage had hit the windows. Whatever else was true, he’d pacified the rabble, and being close to someone who had loved Gennady made her feel close to her brother again too.
Elloven studied him in the shadowy silence. She did remember him, but the last time she’d seen him, he had still been so small and timid. What sat before her was a man, muscled and tall and assuming... handsome in a way most women would find appealing. Though he couldn’t be more than eighteen or nineteen, the lines around his eyes and mouth contrasted this, revealing more about him than his guarded words. He looked more like his sister, Rhiain, than his brother, Emrys, but she could also see the startling lack of Mathias in him and the inclusion of Edevane blood... a family she had her own sordid history with.
“Are you close with my mother?”
Jesstin’s eyes opened. “No, not really.”
She detected the lie, but not the size and shape. “She could have gone to the steward himself. That would have been proper protocol.”
“You’d have to ask her.”
“You seem quite put out, is why I’m wondering.”
“Is my demeanor a factor in whether or not you make it home safe?” The scabbard of his preposterously large broadsword banged against the floor when he shifted around on the bench.
Elloven nearly laughed. What an absurdly moody savior. It had been a while since someone had challenged her expectations. “I’m neither home nor safe yet.”
“A fact which would have remained true indefinitely had Taven been your escort.”
Her eyes narrowed slightly. “You really don’t like him.”
Jesstin snickered. “No, and neither do you.”
Her feelings toward Taven could not be so easily summarized, but in trying to figure out the person sitting across from her, for the first time in a long while, she was...
Calm.
“Are you going to ask me if I did it?”
Jesstin scratched his nose. “Did what?”
Elloven laughed. “You know.”
“Killed those men?” He smirked, lifting both of his shoulders. “They probably deserved it.” Then he angled sideways and stared out the window.
She afforded him the silence he seemed so determined to uphold, and said nothing else. A half tick of the moon later, they pulled down the winding, oak-canopied road leading through the forest, toward the Nightwood estate.
“Have a trunk?” Jesstin asked, leaping out before the carriage had even stopped.
“We left in a rush.” Elloven paused at the coach’s exit to take in the quiet night, the cherished trill of crickets and frogs. For the time being, at least, the villagers had obeyed Jesstin’s orders, though it was unlikely they’d come all the way out to Nightwood. Most people who knew anything about the Hawthornes had the good sense to fear crossing Esmeray.
Taven stormed from the main door, stomping his boots. “I’ll take it from here.”
“Sure you will,” Jesstin said as he made his way to his horse. He glanced back at Elloven. “I’d stay out of the village for now.”
“I assumed I’d be locked away here for the rest of my life,” she retorted, feeling lighter than expected after all that had transpired.
“You can leave now, Skylark.” Taven drew up beside Elloven and slid an unwelcome arm around her. “I’ll ensure Esme sends you the appropriate stipend of gold for your sacrifice this evening.”
Jesstin shook his head in amusement as he mounted. He gathered his reins, then paused like he’d forgotten something, his eyes bright with mischief as he turned them on her. “If you’re looking for somewhere to go, where no one cares about murdered lords or deadly wives, Mythgarde welcomes all, judges none. The next few nights in particular should be interesting.”
