“What’s that?” Jalis gasped.
“Don’t tread in it. It’s a cowpat. Cow poop.”
“Oh.”
Had he never seen one?
“They’re all over the place.”
Kaden laughed. “They don’t poo in one spot.”
Jalis grinned at him. “Think they can be trained?”
“No.” Kaden reached out to grab his arm. “Keep still,” he whispered.
Jalis moved closer to him, close enough that Kaden could feel the pressure of his body. “What’s the matter?”
“There’s a deer and a fawn over by that hedgerow. See.”
Jalis sucked in a breath. “Oh.”
Kaden loved spotting deer when he was out walking. It was rare because they were shy but they hadn’t seen or sensed them yet. Jalis was so close Kaden could feel him breathing on his neck and heat flashed down his spine. What didmessed around a bitactually mean? What had they done? For a moment, he put himself in Jalis’ shoes. What must it feel like for him that Kaden couldn’t remember? Whatever there was between them couldn’t have started long ago because Kaden wouldn’t have cheated on Harris. So Lixian was important. It was the key.
The deer jumped and bounded away.
Jalis sighed. “No predator, right? Other than people with guns.”
“Their babies might get taken by small predators but yes, people with guns are the main danger.”
They carried on walking and… Well, Kaden wasn’t entirely sure why he did it, what theory he could possibly be testing, but he stopped to fasten a lace that didn’t need retying and watched Jalis choose the correct path of two, the one that led to the village. No signpost. One track was no more used than the other. A guess but Jalis didn’t hesitate. Kaden hurried to catch up. How did he know?
“What was it like working in protection?” Kaden asked.
“I didn’t like the person I was made to protect. Different when it was someone I was desperate to protect. But Lanu was horrible. Ungrateful, selfish, arrogant. Didn’t matter though because it was my job to protect him so I did. Until one day I didn’t.”
Kaden glanced at him. “Why didn’t you? What happened?”
“I made a judgement that letting him perish was the greater good. But he didn’t perish and he was determined to make me pay for that with my own life.”
“My God.”Fucking hell!What didletting him perishmean? Other than the obvious.
“You saved me,” Jalis whispered.
“You said that before but I don’t remember. Can’t you tell me?”
Jalis shook his head.
“Was I brave?” Kaden made himself smile.
“Very brave. Not many would have done what you did.”
Kaden moved from pleasure to fear in an instant. “I didn’t…kill anyone, did I?”
“No. I promise you didn’t. You’ve never hurt anyone since I met you. You avoid stepping on ants. You move spiders, not kill them.”
“But I thumped Harris?”
“Well, it was me really. I broke his nose.”
