AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I turned my attention back to Lina in time to see her skin flashing between her usual rose-gold color and a deep, forest green.Is she going to vomit?It had been a lot of ale for such a tiny person.
But her color evened out and she spoke over whatever response Piper was muttering.
“That’s not why I was looking for you,” she said, before hiccupping.
“Then why?” I asked.
“Because I need your help with something,” she answered, taking another sip of her enormous drink.
For some inexplicable reason, I expected her to make a face like when we were kids getting into her mother’s stash of strawberry wine, but of course, she had been well past drinking age for a few years now. I just never stayed at the farm long enough to see her for more than a few minutes, let alone grab a pint with her.
So, she had found me instead.
“With what?”What can she possibly need from me at this point?
Hadn’t I given her enough in the years my entire life revolved around her? Not that she understood that. Not that she ever would.
She deflated a little at my abrupt tone, and I used the momentary distraction of Vale sliding another pint down the bar to pretend not to notice.
“Because you are a soldier, and I have need of one,” she finally answered.
I nearly choked on the swig of ale I had taken, coughing a few times before, clearing my throat.
“Is that what you think? That I’m a soldier?” I laughed, but there was no joy in the sound.
She was so sheltered, even now, even by my own family.They know perfectly well how I make my living.
“Yes,” she said, uncertainly.
Her skin darkened to a deeper pink, the color of embarrassment. She reined it in quickly, though, her eyes roaming from the falconer’s perch on my wrist to the sword at my belt.
“Yes.” She said it more firmly this time.
I shook my head, my eyes searching skyward — like the ceiling held any more answers than the drink in front of me did. I drained my mug in one long draught before turning back to face her, and I realized I was just as bad as the rest of them, an enabler for this completely unrealistic existence she lived in.
Because I couldn’t quite bring myself to tell her the truth.
“Yeah, Lina. I’m a soldier.” After all, it sounded better thanHuntsman.
3
Lina
Wiping away a few imaginary crumbs from my sundress gave me something else to focus on for the moment. I wasn’t sure why I was so insistent on him coming along. Why I thought I needed him, or why I thought if we could just get away—just the two of us—that things could be different.
Maybe I was holding on to a memory of a man who no longer existed. Of a relationship that neither of us wanted or needed. But when I looked up at his face, the dark circles under his eyes, the fierceness of his gaze, the clear lines of exhaustion in his expression… all the broken parts of him that reminded me he still had a heart, I couldn’t help but hope.
So instead of taking offense at his usual clipped tones, I only sighed audibly. “Well, I can see you’re wearing your pleasant pants again today.”
His eyebrows rose, what might have been a smile trying to peek through his dark expression. “How could I resist, when they go so well with my somber shoes?”
A startled laugh bubbled out of me, at least until the girl who’d put her hand on his shoulder earlier began speaking to him again.
Well.He had no trouble smiling whereshewas concerned.
She kissed his cheek before walking back to her table, and I felt my skin go green all over again. Even if she hadn’t been gorgeous, her chestnut locks a perfect contrast to his sandy blonde, she was his size.Something I will never be.
“Lina, did you hear me?” Edrich’s voice pulled me back to reality. “And why are you green again? What’s wrong?”
