Casrian shook his head. “You’re taking Sol to the church in Sulen. He’s injured and won’t be able to keep up when we go after Asher.”
He was abandoning her.
It didn’t even matter that she’d be safer riding away from the witch than toward her. Her stomach went queasy at the thought of walking through the woods by herself with an injured witchhunter to take care of. And what about the job she’d promised to do?
“You hired me to get you to the fort.”
A muscle tightened in Casrian’s jaw. He was all careful restraint again. She’d won this fight just that morning. Would he try kissing her again to distract her? She didn’t think so.
“You’ll be paid,” he said, sounding irritated. Good. He deserved a little irritation. “You’ve already earned your bonus.”
Daris scoffed and leaned back to make some other note on the map. She could feel Kenet looming behind her. The message was clear. He had his men now.
She held his gaze. “You still need me.”
There were too many bad spots between them and the fort to avoid them anymore, but she still had a better chance of getting them through the woods safely than they had on their own.
Casrian’s expression softened subtly. “We’ll make it to the fort without you. It’s safer this way, especially for you. I’ve already placed you in enough danger bringing you out here.”
Something in Casrian’s tone drew Daris’s attention. He frowned at his friend a moment and then looked at her. “You should take the money and get out while you can. You don’t want any part of what’s coming.”
She frowned, not looking away from Casrian. “It’s better if we stick together.”
He shook his head. “I need someone to direct the reinforcements to the nest in case something goes wrong. Sulen will send the soldiers to your village and they’ll need direction from there. We’ll get you a copy of this map to give to them. You won’t need to do anything but hand it over.”
She rubbed her hands on her thighs and bit her tongue against arguing with him. It wouldn’t get her anywhere, she knew. It sounded like his mind was made up. It might even bethe right call, she didn’t know, but it felt like a rejection. Another one.
“That’s what it comes down to then? Four hundred cord.”
The muscles around Casrian’s eyes tightened in the faintest of flinches, but he nodded. “You have more than fulfilled your end of the bargain.”
More than fulfilled…
Was he talking about the sex? He was talking about the sex, wasn’t he? Like it was some sort of perk he was paying her for as part of her services.
She opened her mouth and closed it. She wasn’t going to ask. She wouldn’t be like Rina at the tavern, clinging to every man who decided they were through. She might only be an outcast from Toam, but she still had some pride.
She climbed stiffly to her feet. “All right then. I suppose the money is all that really matters.”
Hadn’t she been saying that from the beginning? When had she forgot it?
That was sympathy on Daris’s face as he gave her a faint smile. She turned away from it. Turned away from Casrian, the captain, thewitch hunter, who wasn’t looking at her anyway because he’d already turned back to the map.
She gathered up every last shred of her tattered dignity and walked toward the campfire. There were three men there now. The tall one with the thoughtful expression and quiet air of a scholar who introduced himself as Lew and two brothers who were about her age, both of them with curly brown hair, a similar lean build, and the exuberant energy of puppies.
She asked for food, hoping for something other than dried mutton. It turned out that Lew had snared a rabbit that morning, tied it to his saddle before they were attacked, and set it to stew as soon as they had a fire.
It smelled delicious and her stomach rumbled while she waited for Lew to finish praying over the food before he served it.
When he handed her the steaming bowl, she eyed him skeptically. “Are you a priest then?”
One of the brothers snickered. The one who’d introduced himself as Zac, she thought.
Lew only smiled mildly. “They don’t send priests out on patrol, though it wouldn’t be a bad idea. I almost did enter the Church. Do you need a priest?”
She snorted. “I’ve never needed a priest in my life.”
“That can’t be true.”
