Page 31 of Revealing Fate

Kal sighed. “I took her to your house. She didn’t want to go in.”

Rask reared back slightly. “Why not?”

How did one explain a complex thing to a simple creature? “I don’t know what you remember of your sister, but I would be prepared for her to be different. She may not be what you expect.”

Wariness crept into Rask’s blue eyes. “Different how?”

“You’ll have to determine that for yourself.”

“Maimed? Molested?”

“She’s whole,” Kal bit out, more defensive than he had any right to be. “Just…be mindful. She’s been through a lot.”

“Well, why the fuck are we still standing here?” Rask strode around the right side of the lodge to a small corral containing three bay horses. He ducked through the wooden posts and reached for the mare. “Where is she?”

A pause. “My house.”

Rask stopped. “You took Railah to your house? And left her there?”

Kitty, Kal thought, but didn’t correct him. “What’s wrong with my house?”

“Aside from the fact that you’re not exactly known for entertaining company? It’s totally secluded. The place is probably crawling with predators, not to mention that rabid black terror that stalks the grounds.” Rask shook his head. “Railah despises nature, and you left her completely surrounded by it.”

Kal frowned. “I didn’t get that impression.”

“She may have changed, but my sister is a stone flower. The city is all she knows. I don’t think she even took her shoes off to walk barefoot outside growing up. She must be terrified.”

Kal mounted the gray gelding and waited for Rask to saddle his mare, studying the man. “I think you may be in for a surprise. The woman I’ve spent these past days with has more courage than I originally gave her credit for.”

“I’ll believe that when I see her with my own eyes,” Rask said, pulling, then securing, the cinch. “Gods, you really did it, Kal. Ever since you left, I’ve been trying to imagine Railah here, in Meress. Wondering what the hell she’s going to do, how she’s going to adjust. I barely let myself hope.” He looked over his shoulder at Kal, emotion turning his face ruddy. “And now, it’s really happened. She’s really here.”

“She’ll adjust fine,” Kal assured. “She was training as a mender in Asteros. Her skills will be more than useful.”

Rask swung into the saddle and pulled his horse around. He barked a short laugh. “Now I know you’re fucking with me. The sister I left in the capital would faint at a drop of blood. She was a doll, my friend. A beautiful, fragile doll. That’s one reason I couldn’t leave her to the Fates. She would have shattered.”

Kal wondered if Rask knew his sister half as well as he claimed. Whoever he’d grown up with was not the same female with whom Kal had recently become so enamored. The woman he’d come to know was stubborn and privileged, yes, but she was also brave, intelligent, passionate, and kind. There was no point in Kal arguing with Kitty’s brother on her behalf. Rask would have to witness her resilience for himself.

“Come on,” Kal said, digging his heels into the gray’s sides. “If you can keep up, we’ll be back before midday tomorrow.”

Midday came and went, and they were still an hour outside the city. Rask’s bay mare was hardy but slow. Kal ground his molars as he reigned in his mount yet again. The poor creature underneath him danced and tossed his head, bearing the full weight of Kal’s tension. He was exhausted, his body craving sleep, and his traitorous brain insisted upon torturing him with visions of Kitty’s luscious body spread across his mattress.

By the time they entered Meress’s northern border, Kal’s jaw ached from hours of clenching. He nodded curt greetings at passing shurii as they wove through the city. It was still another thirty-minute ride to his house on the eastern outskirts. He flexed stiff fingers. The gray snorted as Kal forced his way around a man carting roofing materials at a leisurely crawl.

Rask spurred his mare up next to Kal’s gelding. “What’s on your mind, Kaine? You haven’t spoken hardly a word the entire ride back to town.”

It wasn’t a matter of what; it was a matter of who.

“Are you truly that sour about me being at the Cypress Post? You’ve never balked at my having a good time. You were a day late. I needed a distraction.”

Kal pinned his friend with a hostile glare. “Forgive me. How could I not have considered your needs? It must have been terribly difficult for you to sit on your hands while I risked my neck.”

Rask’s eyes widened at Kal’s enmity. “You think I’m not grateful? I can hardly contain my excitement at seeing Railah again. However, I might remind you that I would have gone to retrieve her myself. It was you who insisted upon a lone endeavor.”

Yes, and one Rask would have never successfully completed. They both knew it. Kal was simply too tired to argue the fact. He scratched at the stubble on his jaw and stretched his neck. “It has been a harrowing journey. I haven’t slept in two days. I’m just…” Smitten? Sexually frustrated? Illogically possessive? “Weary.”

“You’re moments from rest, my friend,” Rask reassured. “Soon, my sister will be returned to my care and no longer be your concern. You’ll have more than earned a lengthy respite. Reese likes you. She’d be more than willing to alleviate some of that tension.”

The words were meant to relieve something within Kal. Instead, they filled him with lead. As anxious as he was to get home, the truth of the matter was that he dreaded their arrival. He didn’t want to relinquish Kitty to her brother’s care. He didn’t want to be alone in his house with her scent on his clothes, couch, and linens. He wanted more of her, not less, and not someone else. Damn him for a selfish cad. The longing was misery.