Daegan glances at them, then back at me. “You did it.”
“Yeah…”
His jaw ticks as his eyes remain glued to mine, and I have to clear my throat and avert my gaze before I crumble under the intensity.
“So,” I say to Raef. “What did you do all day?”
“Kicked ass up at the training grounds.”
“Yeah… I saw.” I allow myself to look at Daegan again as he pulls a chair out next to me, across from his friend. His eyes stay glued on mine as he sits.
“You didn’t see me,” Raef says. “I fucked those elves up.”
Daegan’s lip twitches. He has a small red cut along the sharp line of his jaw.
“I’m sure you did,” I reply.
“Here,” Daegan says, setting something on the table in front of me. It’s bread with vegetables and cheese that’s loosely wrapped in a cloth.
I look up at him in confusion.
“You weren’t in the dining hall at dinner. Figured you were here. You did a lot of… training today.”
“Thank you…” He noticed I wasn’t there? And he thought of bringing me food?
“Is that what you call it? That guy had them standing around doing close to nothing.” Raef glances at me. “No offense.”
I shake my head, taking a bite. I didn’t realize how hungry I was until the food was placed right in front of me.
“It wouldn’t be a terrible place to start if they were training long-term to be warriors,” Daegan remarks. “Unfortunately, we don’t have the luxury of time on our side. We need a quicker fix.”
“So what do we do?” I ask after I swallow a bite.
“Tomorrow, come to me,” he says.
I look down at my bread. “Adrian isn’t going to like that,” I say quietly.
When I look up and meet his gaze again, his jaw is tense. “And you don’t want to upset him?”
I shake my head again. “No, that’s not… um. I’ll be there.”
“Okay.”
“So are we going to talk about the two prisoners behind me, or…” Raef says quietly, leaning in.
I nod toward a shelf far away. They follow me toward it. When I believe we’re well out of earshot, I turn to face them with my back against the shelf.
“I… don’t know what to do with them…” I admit.
“Well, we can stop treating them like prisoners,” Daegan speaks softly. “They’re on our side. Whether they know it or not.”
“So what do we do?” I whisper back. Daegan is leaning in too close. I can smell his smoky, woodsy scent.
“Is there a way we can have them work with us without telling them everything we know?” Raef ponders.
Something washes over me at the word. We. A sense of belonging settles over me, followed by a warmth I haven’t felt in a long time. I never realized how desperately I needed someone to share this burden with.
“They don’t bring anything to our team. They don’t have any information we need,” Daegan replies. I can’t help the smile that tugs at my lips.
