She gave him a skeptical look. What kind of influence would it take to get a branded witch into the Academy? And a blind woman at that? More than a witch hunter was likely to have, even a captain. It would take money too. Her mother would have to pay for lodgings as well as cough up the required donation to the crown for the training. She didn’t believe the witch hunter could get her mother into the Academy, but she was out here in the middle of the cursed woods with him alone in the dark. She wasn’t stupid enough to call him a liar to his face.
“She would like that,” Rowan said simply, because it was the truth.
If there was some way that her mothercouldget into the Academy and discuss herb craft and poultices all day with people who didn’t fear her brand and her blindness, she would be happy as a cat in cream. It wasn’t going to happen, but it was a nice dream. Who would have thought the witch hunter would be as ridiculous a dreamer as her mother?
“And then what?” he asked.
“What do you mean?”
“If your mother enters the Academy, what will you do? Would you stay with her in the capital?”
“I can’t imagine living in a big city. I’ve never even been to one.”
The capital seemed like an imaginary place full of nobles and palaces and endless activity. If she couldn’t walk through a town like Sulen without feeling hopelessly out of place, how would she survive somewhere like the capital?
“What kind of work are you drawn to?”
“The kind that pays.”
He huffed a laugh like he thought she was joking. “What are you good at?”
She opened her mouth to answer, but then snapped it closed. He would laugh at her if she gave him an honest answer. A man like him wouldn’t think staying out of trouble was an actual skill, but it was. So was taking care of her mother and selling eggs and scavenging abandoned houses and hunting the woods and helping Tilly find the wild herbs she needed for her potions. And she couldn’t talk about her other abilities.
“What about your future?” he pressed. “You must have dreamed of doing more than taking care of your mother for the rest of your life.”
That was rich coming from him. He was the reason her mother needed help. “There’s nothing wrong with taking care of the people you love.”
“I didn’t say that there was,” he said. “But you deserve your own life too. She wants that for you, clearly. She was the one who bargained for your entrance into the Academy. You should tell her you don’t want it.”
Like it was that simple. Her mother would be crushed. There were days…years…where the idea of getting Rowan into the Academy was the only thing that kept her going. How could she take that away from her?
“We used to argue about it all the time. When we were in Jarn, she saved up every extra coin so she could send me to the capital when I came of age. She stopped talking about it after the trial. I thought she’d let it go.”
“You should?—”
“I don’t need your advice on how to handle my mother, Captain.”
He pulled back, a wince at the corners of his eyes. “I suppose not.”
They went back to staring at the fire, both of them thinking their own thoughts, the silence not so companionable anymore. Shadows swirled at the edges of the circle of light cast by the fire, dancing with every spark and flicker.
“You don’t have to call me Captain,” he said. “I’m not that to you. Casrian is fine. My friends call me Cas.”
“We’re not friends.”
“We’re not enemies. I want to help you,” he said, sounding like he meant it. “You should let me do it.”
“I’ll figure it out on my own.”
He looked down at his hands where they curved around his cup. He had long fingers, graceful despite the calluses and the scars. Elegant hands. Strong wrists. Who noticed a person’s wrists?
“Well, you don’t have to decide anything tonight,” the witch hunter said, standing up. “Give me your cup. I want everything packed before we sleep in case we need to move in the night. Do you want first watch or second?”
There was no way she was going to be able to fall asleep right now. “I’ll take first.”
He nodded, moving away to rinse the cups in the last of their water and then tucking them inside his pack. He grabbed his blanket and stretched out on a bed of leaves beside the fire. “Wake me when the moon sets.”
Within moments of rolling himself into his blanket, his breathing settled into the heavy rhythm of sleep. Amazing talent, that. Even in her own bed, she didn’t fall asleep so easily. She supposed he had a lot of experience at it, living on the road.
