Amahle squinted. “And what does that mean for you?”
“That means that Pendarans believe that if someone saves your life, you owe them a life debt. I couldn’t kill Rykr the way the Viori law dictates because he saved me from the vuk. And letting him die when I could save him could also damn my soul. So, I saved him.”
“Or maybe you spent too much time reading myths that made you superstitious.” Amahle ran her fingers through her curls. “Though clearly something happened when you made that blood oath.”
“Yes, but that was Ibarran spellcraft. They mix magic from all the realms.” Ciaran’s voice carried bitterness. “I still think you should have let him die. It wasn’t your fault he was dying—the vuk did that, not you. Rykr stalks around here with an attitude of superiority that makes me want to stab him myself.”
“Is that why you want to stab him?” Amahle shot back with a smirk.
I didn’t want to go down that path. Sighing, I reached for an apple tart and took a bite. “Whether I should or shouldn’t have is irrelevant. I didn’t have time to ask for opinions and made the best choice I could. And now I need to find a way to undo it. Otherwise, I’m stuck with this bond to him.”
“Well, for what it’s worth, I like him. He pissed Seth off and held his own at the council meeting and that’s not nothing.” Amahle leaned back on her hands. “If it wasn’t for the damned Skorn trial, I’d say this is one of the cleverest tricks you’ve pulled.”
“Don’t encourage her,” Ciaran muttered, staring gloomily into his mead. “Seth has blood in his eyes. If it wasn’t for Darya, I think he would have done more to push the Ragnalls out of the tribe.”
“I don’t trust that bitch.” Amahle frowned. “She’s the one who stole Seth away from Seren in the first place.”
I hid a smile. Amahle’s loyalty, as always, was unwavering. “Much as I wanted to blame her for that, I can’t. And really, she did me a favor. I don’t have a lot of regrets, but Seth is one of them.”
“She did you a favor at the council meeting, too,” Ciaran said. “My father was talking about it last night. The council wasn’t going to interfere with Seth due to the seriousness of the law you broke, Seren. Darya probably knew that, and she still spoke up on your behalf. She may be more of an ally than you think.”
“She’s Seth’s wife. She can get away—” Amahle trailed off as Alessia Bernardi approached our blanket.
“Have any of you seen Giulia? I’ve been looking for her all evening, but I haven’t found her.”
I exchanged a glance with Ciaran. I had seen Giulia but saying so risked the trust she’d placed in me when she’d lent me those books. Fortunately, Ciaran shook his head and said, “No. I saw her earlier, at the market, but not since then.”
Alessia frowned. “If you see her, let her know I retired for the evening.” She set her eyes on me. “Where’s that husband of yours tonight, Seren?”
“He was in too much pain to come,” I said, rolling my shoulders back. “Still recovering from the flogging.” Hopefully that would be an acceptable excuse—the whole tribe had seen him lashed.
She frowned, then glanced at Ciaran. “Maybe we’ll see him tomorrow. Goodnight, then.”
She wandered off to the next closest blanket. We’d set up farther out in the field for privacy, choosing the outskirts of the feast.
“Poor Giulia. Her mother watches her like a hawk,” Amahle said with a laugh. “She’s probably off in the woods somewhere, rutting around with Timor Ladette.”
“Do you blame her? Giulia is all she has,” Ciaran remarked dryly.
He was right. Giulia was her only daughter. Alessia’s husband had been killed over a decade ago, during a raid in Lirien. She had no other family.
“Maybe so, but she holds the reins so tightly that Guilia’s always sneaking off just to get a good lay,” Amahle said, then stretched. “Speaking of which, it’s a feast tonight and I’m not spending it with my newly wedded best friend and the one man in the Vangar who might still be a virgin.”
Ciaran shoved her, and I laughed. He didn’t even have to reach—his arms were that long.
Wow, it feels good to actually laugh with my friends.
Even though I’d been morose at the start of the evening, they’d calmed me enough to even enjoy myself. Forget the troubles awaiting in my tent—and elsewhere. I’d been doing a fair job of ignoring the fact that I needed to prepare for the Skorn.
But the thought of Rykr made my stomach twist. He must be hungry. He hadn’t eaten much during the market. Despite our rocky interactions, the least I could do was bring him food.
I hated him for making things so complicated. And yet, as I thought about him alone in that tent, or the way he’d taken lashes meant for me, my confusion toward him only grew.
The extra food on the blanket went into my pack. After helping Ciaran and me pick up, Amahle left in search of company for the night and I regretted seeing her go.
Ciaran watched as she disappeared into the merry crowd. “I’m not a virgin, you know,” he said in a low voice.
He still wasn’t looking at me. I bit down on the fleshy part inside my lower lip. “I never said you were.”
