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I match his stride. “Miss McCleethy returned this evening.”
“She’s here now?” Kartik cranes his neck toward Spence.
“Yes,” I say. “But she’s sleeping. We’re safe.”
“Not with that woman about,” Kartik mumbles. “What did she tell you?”
“She wanted me to join the Order but I refused. And just now, I overheard her talking with Mrs. Nightwing. They mentioned a plan of some sort. She also said that she’s kept the Rakshana from coming for me, but that if I don’t join the Order, she won’t protect me any longer.” I steal a glance at him. “She has a spy within your ranks. Do you know anything about it?”
Kartik’s pace doesn’t slow. “They are not my ranks. I am no longer Rakshana.”
“You’ve heard nothing, then?”
“The Rakshana think me a dead man, and I’d like to keep it that way.”
I stop. “Why? What do you mean?”
“Some matters are best not discussed,” he says, pushing on till I have to catch him.
We reach a small clearing where the horses are tethered. Kartik pulls an apple from his pocket and offers it to a dappled mare. “Here you are, Freya. Enjoy. This is Ithal’s horse. She’s a fine old girl,” he says, stroking her nose gently. “Never a moment’s trouble.”
I fold my arms across my chest. “Is that what makes a fine girl, then? A lack of trouble?”
He shakes his head, a small smile starting. “No, that is what makes for good horses.”
“What do you think of my story?” I stroke Freya’s soft mane, and she allows it.
“Gemma…” He trails off. “You shouldn’t tell me anything more about the realms. I am no longer privy to their secrets.”
“But I—”
“Please,” he says, and something in his eyes silences me.
“Very well. If you wish it.”
“I do,” he says, sounding relieved.
A hedgehog flees from the safety of a bush, startling me. It darts past us in a terrible hurry. Kartik nods toward the furry little thing. “Don’t mind him. He’s off to meet his lady friend.”
“How can you be sure?”
“He has on his best hedgehog suit.”
“Ah, I should have noticed,” I say, happy to play this game—any game—with him. I put my hand on a tree’s trunk and swing myself around it slowly, letting my body feel gravity’s pull. “And why has he worn his best?”
“He’s been away in London, you see, and now he has returned to her,” Kartik continues.
“And what if she is angry with him for being away so long?”
Kartik circles just behind me. “She will forgive him.”
“Will she?” I say pointedly.
“It is his hope that she will, for he didn’t mean to upset her,” Kartik answers, and I am no longer sure we speak of the hedgehog.
“And is he happy to see her again?”
“Yes,” Kartik says. “He should like to stay longer, but he cannot.”
