Page 63 of A Cruel Kindness

“I haven’t heard anything,” Esme added, though we would have known if she had.

“Are we sure it’s not a trap?” Freya asked, though she was smiling. She was a little crazy under all that unbridled joy. I recall her mentioning once that she thought bombs were pretty.

I shook my head. “Watch out for landmines or animal traps. They would have no reason to believe we’d send a large group there, so unless they find joy in a few casualties, any threat would be from leftover defenses.”

“Ooo!” Freya said, clapping her hands together. “Maybe they left some guns. I like Muli guns.”

Freya, in all her sweet, bright wisdom, was also a particularly gifted engineer and resident Muli weapons expert who loved to spend her time dissecting their machinery to try to understand them better. In another world, one free of war, her intelligence could probably be honed to combine the best of both worlds, moving technology forward for the betterment of people on both planets.

“On that lovely note,” I said, trying to hide a smile. I liked Muli guns too. “Let’s head out. Ford and Esme trail, please. Freya, try to stay in line.”

Freya simply flipped me off, moving Starlight over to where Arthur was leaning against the barn and muttering something to him quickly. I made myself turn away from them, heading to the front of the pack.

Bellamy trotted up next to me a second later. “I think that’s the first time I’ve heard you say please.”

I pulled my lips into a grin. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. I’m very agreeable.”

Bellamy tipped her head back slightly, laughing.

My heart stopped dead in my chest. That was the first time I’d heard her do that, truly laugh. I made her do that. I was the one to wring that beautiful, bright sound from her.

Shit.

I made myself turn back and take the wide brimmed hat hooked to Lucky’s saddle and place it on my head, needing the protection from the bright sun to see where I was going.

Bellamy followed suit, grabbing her own hat and placing it on her head. When she looked up and saw me, I couldn’t see what her eyes did under the shadowed lip of her hat, but I certainly saw what her cheeks did.

Color poured into them, making them the most alluring shade of light pink.

I was seconds away from calling off this whole mission, before Lucky clearly decided he’d had enough of my drooling and took off down the trail, Clover following him immediately.

I looked behind me briefly, making sure that everyone else was trotting along as they should.

I’d put Esme and Ford at the back because unless their riders had the pleasant excitement of heading to Pax, Sky and Shadow tried to nip and bother each other the entire time, wanting to play no matter what their riders wished.

I picked up Lucky’s pace, leaving some room in between each set of riders. Well, Freya was on her own, but still.

Once we had a little space, Bellamy asked, “What is going on with Freya?”

Knew it. “What do you think is going on, princess?”

“I’m going to start calling you prince just to get you to stop,” Bellamy grumbled, which drew a laugh from me. It took her several seconds to continue speaking. “Her Match. There isn’t … something isn’t right.”

There would be no consequences for sharing this with Bellamy, not when she was entitled to every little detail about me, but I wanted to see if she’d reach the truth on her own. “What do you think?”

Bellamy turned, her neck pulling tight with the motion. The skin there would be awfully pretty with a mark on it, preferably from my mouth, maybe my hand.

I knew what she was looking at. Freya, probably looking happy as a damn clam, jaunting along without a care in the world. Certainly not one for her forgotten Match.

“I’ve been watching the parasepts,” Bellamy said. “You can tell the Match isn’t perfect, but there is still something there. Her and Arthur … they’re like strangers. Either their Match isn’t up to standards or…”

“Go on, keep going,” I prodded.

“Or she doesn’t need one,” Bellamy finished on a heavy exhale.

“That would be contrary to everything we’ve been told about the Bridge,” I said.

“Doesn’t mean it’s not true.”