“I was thinking the same thing when we came to those roads,” he said, biting the meat. “We’ll have to be careful when deciphering the directions.”
Sage nodded, recalling the middle road and their difficulty finding it. “It’s almost as if someone didn’t want anyone to translate the book. Then, why write it in the first place?”
“Sage,” Willow called, rising and coming toward her. She hooked her arm through Sage’s and pulled her towards the field where the horses were.
“Don’t go far,” Christian warned.
As they walked, Willow leaned in close to her. “Are you well?”
Sage bridled. “Why wouldn’t I be?”
“This must be incredibly hard for you. Having to know where to go, what to do, what to look for. Finding that middle road was tense for everyone. I can’t imagine how you felt.”
Sage grimaced and lied, “It was nothing.” But the situation weighed heavily on her. She just couldn’t tell Willow that.
Willow released her arm and gaped at her, saying in a low voice, “I know when you’re lying.”
Sage pretended not to hear, shoving the rest of the meat into her mouth, focusing everywhere but on Willow. “I’m simply following the directions,” Sage replied.
Willow shook her head. “I’m sure Raven’s glares aren’t helping.”
Sage swallowed. “She’s glaring at me?”
“You know the look.” Willow lifted her chin and lowered her eyelids, staring at Sage with expectational judgment.
Sage tilted her head to the sky and closed her eyes. “It’s Father’s stare. She’s turning into Father.”
Willow grinned. “Someone has to, and I don’t want that position.”
“What position?”
“Leader.”
Sage had thought the days of one person having control over everyone else were gone, but the word “leader” still hung in the air. It seemed as though it might have been a vain hope that they would all have come together in perfect harmony. Sage grinned. They were sisters. There would never be perfect harmony.
“I don’t think it will be that bad,” Willow admitted. “She’s the natural one. She was always bossy.”
That was true. And she had always taken Father’s side. “But she doesn’t always know what to do as Father did.”
“She’ll learn.”
“But she isn’t always right. Remember the time she thought she had cooked the rabbit thoroughly?”
Willow giggled. “She spent the entire night vomiting. Luckily, we didn’t eat it.”
“It was bright red! We knew she had to cook it longer.”
“I think she only ate it to prove she was right,” Willow mused. “She had to have known it was raw. But she wouldn’t back down.”
Sage’s smile faded as Raven’s sickly heaves in the middle of the night came back to her. Her eyes went wide, and she stiffened. “Oh no.”
Willow froze. “What?”
“Does that mean we have to play the ‘he’s John Hawke’ game with Raven now?”
A grin spread across Willow’s lips. “It’s too early for her to be legendary. Maybe in the future.”
Sage nodded. Raven was far away from achieving their father’s prestige, and Sage knew it would be a long time before she attained it. She had much learning to do before then, but at least she had Landyn at her side.
