By the time she reached the campfire, only three figures surrounded it: two men and a girl who looked to be Arin’s age. Of the three, the girl was the only one who looked up at Arin’s approach. She had blue and black hair drawn severely into multiple braids, and she wore a cloak pinned at her throat with a brooch shaped like a tree with flame-red leaves. She studied Arin with pale gray eyes. Arin stared back, not even sure why she was staring, except that no one had ever looked at Arin so intensely before.Most times, no one notices me at all.Except to note she was the queen’s little sister.
“Hey, I know you!” one of the men said. “You dosed me with sleeping powder!”
Arin blinked, tore her gaze from the pale-eyed girl, and looked at the two men for the first time.I know them! Both of them!The one who had spoken was Renet, Erian and Llor’s father, and the other was one of the champions. It took her a minute to remember his name: Champion Havtru. “I’m sorry about that,” Arin said. “It seemed like the right thing to do at the time.”
“Guess it was. But you didn’t have any right to endanger my kids.” He was glaring at her, which didn’t seem like a good start. He looked like the kind of person who liked to yell. She wasn’t overly fond of being yelled at. She much preferred it when everyone liked her.
Maybe I should have stayed up in the trees and waited for dawn on my own.But her gaze drifted to the campfire, where skewered meat was already beautifully browned.
The pale-eyed girl touched Champion Havtru’s sleeve and spoke in his ear, too softly for Arin to hear. The champion nodded. “Join us, child,” he said. “We have plenty. And tell us why you’re so far north on your own.”
“Queen Naelin sent me,” Arin said, sitting before Renet could object. “I’m to meet her and Champion Ven in Arkon. We were traveling, then got separated. I’m to rejoin them.”
Champion Havtru squinted at her. “Which is it? She sent you or you were separated? Doesn’t seem like Champion Ven to lose a traveling companion.” He scratched at his beard, and Arin couldn’t tell if he was being curious or if she seemed suspiciously nervous.
I’m supposed to be with them—that much is true.Just because she very strongly suspected Daleina had convinced her champion into bringing Arin home and deliberately leaving her there...
The girl lifted one of the skewers off the fire and handed it to Arin.
“Thanks,” Arin said. She blew on it once, then bit into it. She winced as it burned the top of her mouth but didn’t stop eating. “I’m Arin.”
“Cajara,” the girl said softly. Her voice was light and sweet, reminding Arin of a puff pastry.If Cajara were a food,Arin decided,she’d be a dessert.
“Still don’t get why you’re here,” Renet said.
And Renet would be the sour lemonade, before any sugar is added.
“She’s here now,” Cajara said, just as softly as before. “Can’t she travel with us?”
“Renet has a point,” Champion Havtru said, “or could have a point if he weren’t being surly about it.” He pounded Renet on the shoulder, a little too hard to be just jovial. “It’s dangerous crossing into Semo these days. Are you sure that’s where you’re wanting to go?”
Yes. No. Maybe it’s just where Ihaveto go.“Queen Naelin and Champion Ven could be walking into a trap. I can help them.”
“You going to put everyone in Semo to sleep?” Renet asked sarcastically.
It actually wasn’t a terrible idea, though she didn’t have that much of the sleeping powder with her. She’d mostly brought potion-laced charms to slow down spirits. She just shrugged and continued eating.At least I’ll be well fed when I sneak into Semo.“Why are you all going?”
“To escort Ambassador Hanna home, once her work is done,” Champion Havtru said, “as well as Champion Ven and Queen Naelin, if they’ll come.”
“She took guards, didn’t she? Why does she need an escort?” Arin could guess the answer:Because it’s a trap.So before anyone could answer, she pressed on. “Sounds like we’re here for the same reason. Maybe we should travel together.”
Please say yes.
If she traveled with them, they could get her past the border guards. Plus she’d be safer with a champion and... a candidate? Was that what Cajara was? She glanced at the girl again and saw Cajara was looking at her.
Cajara blushed and looked down at her hands.
“Are you a candidate?” Arin asked her.
Cajara shook her head without looking up.
Champion Havtru answered for her. “Cajara’s a family friend. She only has affinity for a couple of spirits. Came along for the experience.”
He’s a terrible liar,Arin thought. It was a flimsy excuse to bring someone across the border. “You should say she’s your niece at least. Recently lost her parents to spirits, you’re the only family she has left, and she refused to be left behind.”
“Huh. Plausible enough.”
Renet’s eyes bulged. “Wait—Cajara’s a candidate?”
