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I’ve decided to let them pass when I spot a woman riding pillion behind one of the men. She’s wearing nothing but a night rail, her long brown hair unbound, her bare shins and feet reflecting in the blue-green light. She looks miserable.
“You will remain silent, Rina,” I tell her in a quiet, no nonsense voice as I kick Nightshade forward, coming out on the road behind the men. They may be inebriated, but they’re still Range warriors and the noise of our horses has them turning in their saddles as one.
“Deve?” Gore asks, squinting at us, his dagger already in his hand.
“It’s me,” I confirm as their horses come to a stop.
“Is there something we can help you with, Deve?” Dumfries asks, tacking on my title like he always does, as if it’s an afterthought. I don’t miss the way he surveys Rina with interest.
“You,” I call, lifting my chin to the girl. “What’s your name?”
“Me, sir?” she squeaks, visibly shivering. On closer inspection, she’s even younger than I thought. “Farrana, my deve.” She inclines her head deeply in respect.
“How old are you?”
“Uh, sixteen, sir,” she says and Rina makes a noise of disgust. I can’t say I disagree with her.
“So we’ll be on our way,” Dumfries says, and then adds, “The ale is flowing in the barracks tonight. Will you be joining us?”
Ignoring them, I continue with the girl. “How did you come to be with these men?”
She ducks her head. “They said if I don’t want to share their ale . . .”
“Go on,” I insist.
The girl cringes but finally comes out with it. “If I don’t want to share their ale, my family’s barn may catch fire.”
I set my jaw. “Is that right?”
When no one says anything, I survey the men with contempt. “That would be quite a coincidence, wouldn’t it?”
Dumfries shrugs.
“Have you no shame?” My rebuke hangs in the frigid air as they exchange uncertain glances. “You’ll return her to her home immediately.”
“What?” Dumfries sputters. “You have no right!”
“Don’t I?”
Like they’re boring me, I turn my attention down the road to where the torches light up the waiting gates of the stronghold. I loosen the reins and Nightshade starts forward. When it becomes apparent, I don’t plan to go around them, they grudgingly make way. “If the family’s property suffers the slightest damage, you will answer to me. If the girl suffers the slightest injury, you will answer to me. You are men of the Range. Act like it.”
I can tell Rina is holding her breath as we pass among them, and honestly, I almost expect to feel the bite of a dagger in my back. But fuck them. To kill me without challenging me formally would be the height of dishonor. And Eldon, Noé, or even Gray coming to power in my wake wouldn’t change that after they were dead in a one-on-one challenge.
Allowing Rina to peek around my arm, I whisper, a laugh in my voice, “Watch the one with the sword. He’ll be the first to make a move.”
“How can you think this is funny?” she hisses back.
“I told you, I am deve. And that means something.”
It takes another minute before she finally reports, “They’ve gone back the way they came. How did you know they would abide by your orders?”
I blow out a breath. “There is much to consider before a man moves against a deve. And every one of them is older than thirty. It’s only the young who loose an arrow with a half-cocked arm.” I laugh outright now. “Like I did with my father.”
Her scrutiny practically scalds me it burns so brightly. “How old were you?”
“Twenty-two.”
“Riders approaching!” is called from the ramparts and I lift my free arm in greeting.
