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“A village?” I glance at Finnen and Taj who have slowed down and are watching us. “A village lies ahead?”
“Big,” Kiaran says. “Town?”
“A town! We could get food, provisions,” Taj says. “Maybe there’s an inn to stay the night. No more sleeping under the stars. We could sleep on actual beds!”
“With what coin?” Finnen glowers at nothing in particular. “Or are we to steal?”
“Goes against your priestly code, does it, now?” Taj mutters.
“Damn right it does. And it should go against an army commander’s moral code, too.”
“The army isn’t a sheltered little world like the Temple, priest. Steal? You bet. We loot and pillage.”
“You also murder and rape, but I…”
“What?”
Finnen shrugs. “Never mind.”
“Spit it out, priest.”
“I don’t think you’d do that sort of thing,” Finnen finally says.
With Taj momentarily rendered speechless, I tell Kiaran, “Take us to this town. We need this.”
His blue eyes meet mine and heat flares in them, matched by the heat washing over my body.
Without another word, he takes the reins and pulls the horse toward the west. We are moving away from the hills and following, at a distance, a small river, a tributary of the great river Ekelon, the river that passes through the capital of the Empire and down through the Summer Capital, too.
The plan is to turn away from its course soon so as to avoid getting too close to the dreaded city, the summer seat of the Emperor and southern headquarters of the Temple. The place of our planned execution.
Taking the trade routes leading south, through the plan and the salt marshes, closing in to the borders of the Empire with the great port kingdoms of the Rising Moon Lands, particularly Tethia that is the closest.
If Finnen is right… If there is sanctuary for us… If their King really is pro-Fae and continues being so… Everything hinges on that and yet we can’t know for sure until we reach the southern territories and the independent Rising Moon Lands.
And if won’t count for anything unless we find food and rest, recover enough to make that journey.
“I bet you have coin,” Finnen is saying to Taj. “You do, don’t you? Hidden somewhere about your person, like those knives in your boots?”
“Wouldn’t you like to know.” Taj chuckles. “And what if I do? What do you wanna bet?”
“You know I have nothing to bet with.”
“So you seem to think. If I have coin, what will you give me?”
“There you go again with silly games—”
“A kiss.”
Finn stiffens. “Like I said. You like to tease.”
“I wasn’t teasing.”
My mouth quirks. I like it. I shouldn’t like it so much, perhaps, that they desire each other. I should want all their attention on me, all their lust for me only, but it wouldn’t work out well in the end, would it? They’d probably be jealous of each other, fight with each other, be dissatisfied and annoyed, especially if I add more men to the clan.
And look at you, Ari, thinking about expanding your clan, collecting more men like it’s something women do the world over.
But I will have to, won’t I? Expand it. Until it reaches the right amount, the right men, the right combination of scents and voice cadences and attributes to satisfy my inner omega, satisfy it that I have everything I need to create a good family. A safe, warm, perfect place, surrounded by my mates.
