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“They were terrified,” I mutter.
“Damn right. The bastards deserve it.”
“They do,” I agree. Honestly, the more I think about it, the more I think that this is too light a punishment for wannabe murderers of children.
“Ah, here we go.” Taj wrenches the cellar door open and a smell of mold and cold damp wafts up to us. “Where is Kiaran?”
“Good question.”
“I’m going down to check what we can take with us. Find him and check the stables. If we can get three horses, we’re set.”
“Aye, sir.” I try to smile but Finn’s absence is grating on my nerves, my fears, my bones, my insides.
I gasp when Taj grabs my arms and hauls me in for a quick kiss. “We’ll get him back, sweetheart. Like I said to him when we were looking for you, you have to have faith.”
“Said by the man who’s still doubting us.”
“One of us has to keep a level head.” He winks at me.
I say nothing to that because I still have my own doubts, and what right do I have to accuse my mates of the same affliction I suffer from?
“Look at me, kora.” He brings a hand to my chin, tilting my head up so he can look into my eyes. His are bright and earnest. “Every day and night we spend together, our bond strengthens. The more I get to know all of you, the more I believe in us. And that’s a lot to say for a military man without faith, one used to thinking in tactical advantages and maneuvers.”
“Taj…”
“If this were a battle, sweets, I’d have called for immediate retreat long ago. In fact, I might have never engaged. The odds certainly aren’t in our favor. The enemy has the upper hand. We’re in danger and Finnen’s abduction proved it.”
“But—”
“But this is a war. Our war. Seeing the grand scale of it, I’m not stopping, not considering the danger. In a war, sometimes battles are lost on the way to victory.”
“War? Grand scale? Are you talking about bringing the Fae back?”
“I’m talking about you and me and Kiaran and Finnen. About our family. That’s the grand scale for me. As for the Fae, if our babies bring back the Lost Race, well, that’s a different story.”
The thought of babies always makes me shiver, excitement and fear warring in me.
The thought of being with my men makes me smile.
I want to laugh and weep and shove him away—or tear his clothes off him and climb him like a tree. “You’re serious.”
“Deadly. Now go before I ravish you right here and forget all about leaving this gods-forsaken town.”
“We have to make sure that Finnen isn’t still held here before we leave,” I say, leaning against a table, watching Taj shave Kiaran. “That would be awful. I mean, what if they’re still in town, looking for us?”
“That’s only if they are certain he’s one of us.” Taj slides the blade over Kiaran’s jaw, brows drawn together in concentration. “Once they realized Finnen is blind, I doubt they’ll connect him to us.”
“Are you sure?”
“Sure? No. But the army is looking for me and two Temple people. They don’t know Finnen is supposed to be blind, and besides, he’s not dressed as a priest anymore. He saved us by running at them like that, distracting them as we hid. They didn’t see us, or they’d have come after us. They probably thought they caught a madman and now are continuing on their way to the Summer Capital.”
“Then we have to intercept them before they reach it,” I say.
“Yeah, we must. We want to avoid the Lesser capital and its suburbs at all cost.”
Taj has already shaved his bristly stubble, obviously not trusting Kiaran with the shaving blade, and he looks much younger now. Boyish, almost, with the dark hair curling at his temples. And as he shaves away Kiaran’s beard, my Wildman’s beauty shines through—the clean lines of his handsome face, his sharp cheekbones and chiseled jaw, his big blue eyes, his fine mouth. Each trait seems drawn in sharper lines than ever. Even his ears look more pointy.
“Well, if the army is expecting you to be with a man and a woman, won’t they recognize us now as we attempt to leave the town?”
