“Not today,” he whispered before sliding his hand from her completely.
Immediately, she missed his touch.
Or was it just companionship she craved?
She didn’t push the thought because she simply didn’t have time to before Evren placed both of his hands upon her shoulders.
“I’ll check the traps,” he said, giving her shoulders a squeeze. “You make the tea.”
And before she could argue, he slipped past her and out of the door.
Fifteen
“How much longer until Davenport?”Markus asked from the back of the caravan. They’d been traveling all morning, and his arse was too sore from the wooden bench he was practically glued to.
“About an hour,” the coachman said over his shoulder.
Markus sighed, resting his head against the wall. The back to back snow storms had set them behind almost two weeks, forcing them to stop and camp until it passed. After he stopped at the Jade Guild to check on Evren, he immediately set forth to Davenport.
Turns out, Evren never showed up to see his uncle, Lord Thaddeus. In fact, Thaddeus hadn’t heard from him at all. Given their last conversation, this struck Markus as truly bizarre.
First, dismissing two men for merely doing their jobs. Then, to make it all this way and not even check in with Thaddeus? Something didn’t sit right and Markus’ only hope was that Evren hadn’t made it to Valebridge already.
The coachman was right on his word, and an hour later they pulled into a snowy Davenport. Checking in at the Lonely Seabird Inn, Markus got straight to work calling a meeting with any hunters still in the area.
Back at the Blackwind Tavern, he ordered a round for the six men at his booth before settling in for questioning.
“Tell me again what happened.” He gestured to Jasper and Alexander, the two men he’d already interviewed in Copenspire.
They sighed before taking long sips of their ale.
“We already told you,” Jasper said. “Captain Fletcher came out of nowhere and demanded we give up our hunt.”
“We weren't doing anything wrong, either. He stole her right out from under us,” Alexander snarled before downing the rest of his drink.
Jasper nodded, adding nothing to the story.
Markus turned his attention to the other men at the table.
“And you? What have you heard about Captain Fletcher?”
The men looked nervously at their drinks. They were young, not much older than the recruit, Joseph, he spoke with in Copenspire.
“I asked you a question,” Markus said with a sigh. “I haven’t all night.”
The first recruit swallowed, his adam’s apple bobbing. “We got word about an hour ago that Captain Fletcher never made it to Valebridge. He’s been missing three weeks now, so there should have been plenty of time to make it there.”
There was no sense of worry in the recruit’s voice, which Markus found odd. Did no one find his disappearance alarming?
“And what of this Enchantress? What was her gift?” Markus pointed his question to Jasper and Alexander again.
They rolled their eyes, clearly tired of the conversation.
“She was a Florecas.” Alexander picked with his tongue at something caught in his teeth.
“A Florecas?” Markus asked, a bit bewildered how a wielder of plants managed to best these two men.
“She wasn’t just an ordinary Florecas growing magick herbs and shite. She grew vines from her palms,” Jasper said, anger creasing his brows. “Was quick, too.”
