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He turns his head and finds both brothers staring at him—Noss frowning, Pel smirking.
“Have a good night, did you?”Pel elbows Thon as he passes. At least he has enough sense to be an ass in their language and not in Krista’s.
Thon frowns.“Do not be vulgar.”Then he switches to Standard for Krista’s benefit. “We are leaving.”
Noss puts his fingers into his mouth and whistles shrilly for the hounds. They come bounding through the trees, tongues lolling merrily as they explode from the forest. Krista shifts her weight on the cart, eying them dubiously. From a Human perspective, they must be formidable.
“They will not harm you. I trained them myself.” Pride swells in Thon’s chest as he tells her so, as it should. Harkurian war hounds are not easy creatures to keep.
“Not a small thing,” Pel adds helpfully. “Big difficult.”
Krista nods her head, eyes wide.
“That’s enough.” Thon clicks his tongue and begins walking, knowing without looking or listening that the horses will follow. They are mellow animals, quite opposite the hounds with their boundless energy. Creaking a little as the joints shift, the cart rolls forward.
Thon expects the day to be long and frustrating. As they leave their camp behind and lead the cart back out to the road, they all settle into an abnormal silence. Normally, this part of the journey would be filled with jokes and banter, talk of the hunt and how it fared, but Krista’s thoughts are loud. Even behind the horses, her anxiety smells heavy on the air. With every footstep he takes, Thon feels more and more certain that Krista will change her mind about the bargain. Here in daylight, where everything is clear and harsh, she will think back on the previous night and realize that Thon is inadequate. His control is poor. He could hurt her. Thon imagines he can hear these thoughts forming beneath the soft rhythm of their horse’s hooves.
Worse, Thon already wants her again. The need refuses to relent, rising a little higher with each step closer to their village.
After a while, Noss sighs.“Brother.”
“Keep it to yourself,”Thon growls.
“Not that. Pay attention.”Noss gestures sharply behind them, irritated. First, Thon looks at Krista, but her back is turned, facing the direction they came. Her body remains still and her head swivels to follow the hounds. Nothing seems amiss there, but something is wrong.Off. Mentally, Thon counts the hounds, but no one is missing. All five are there, keeping up with them easily on their long limbs.
But something is different.
Another half-mile and Thon is certain. He looks at his brothers and nods, seeing the same understanding on each of their faces.
They are being hunted.
12
Krista
Thecartistoohard on Krista’s tailbone. After a while, and despite her reservations about the hounds, Krista gives up on sitting and sets her satchel aside to lie down on it instead. She hadn’t rested much in the past few days. Sleep toys with her for a while, playing keep-away with the cart, which seems to find a stone or a rut each time Krista drifts closer to that elusive goal. If she sleeps they will reach their destination faster. They haven’t been on the road long, but Krista is already sick of the view. It’s the same trees, fog, dirt, trees, fog, dirt, trees, fog—wait, what was that?
Propping herself up on a pointy elbow—not the best idea—Krista squints into the murky darkness beneath the trees. She thought she had seen something move in there, but it was quick, just a flash of motion—a shadow moving faster than the shifting canopy overhead. But the forest is dense and shadows play tricks. On top of that, they’re traveling close to a river that Krista cannot see. It’s loud enough to drown out other sounds. The knowledge sits with her uneasily, but when Krista searches out the hounds, they don’t seem to be on alert like they have smelled anything. She squints into the trees for a long moment, until squinting hurts her face, but there is nothing.
Probably just a ghost or something and the dead never hurt anyone. Krista twists around to look at Thon and discovers an excellent view of his backside. His coat is missing—probably because it still has his come all over the inside—and its absence puts the big Harkurian on full display. He still has his leather breeches, sure, but they are tight in the leg. Krista can see heavy muscle rolling beneath the leather as his thighs work to bear his weight. Krista can see the surprisingly graceful swirls of traditional Harkurian tattoos swirling up his hard back. How much would all that muscle weigh? As much as one of the horses? Twisting a bit farther to examine the horse she’s comparing him to, she finds Pel’s eyes on her.
Oops.
Pel tips his head in Thon’s direction and winks. Probably just to watch Krista turn red, which she does. Instantly. Oh Gods, he’s caught her ogling hisbrother.
“So, I do have a real request,” Krista announces abruptly, speaking up to make her voice heard over the hooves. And the dull roar of blood in her ears.
“The others were not real requests?”
“What?No, of course not.” Krista thinks back on their conversation from the night before, trying to remember which hypotheticals she had voiced aloud. The thing about wanting someone else? The thing about not wanting any of them at all? “Which ones did you think were real requests?”
Thon does not answer, but his eyes flick over towards his brothers. Okay, then. Privacy is fine. She can do privacy. She takes a breath. “I want to learn something useful. Like a trade.”
This isn’t a test for them, exactly. The request is genuine, but Krista is also genuinely interested in their response. Her people would have scoffed at the idea—and, in fact, they had. ‘What do you need that for?’ the ladies would ask. ‘Your husband will do that.’
She had only voiced the wish to thePatriarchonce.
“Hm.” Thon sounds interested in the prospect. Definitely not opposed. His brow is furrowed when he slows his pace to walk alongside her, face angled down. His harsh features are sharper at this angle, his nose a regal slope down his face, but she knows how soft those eyes can be. “Do you have something in mind?”
