Page 166 of Sword & Shadow
Hewitt grumbled his dissent, but Deckard ignored him.
Rafferty heaved a large sigh. “May I just say,” he set a hand to his chest, “I’m glad I’m not one for monogamous relationships.”
“You can say it,” Deckard replied. “But it makes you a loveless, deplorable scoundrel.”
“I’d rather be a scoundrel than experience the hell you’re all going through.”
“All of us?” Deckard repeated, sure that he and Evylin didn’t constitute that grand a description.
“Allof you,” Rafferty confirmed. “I know you’re boring and dull, but no one is blind enough to miss the lovelorn disasters plaguing our band.”
“Pretend I am that blind,” Deckard said.
Rafferty shrugged casually. “Where do I begin? Well, of course, there are you and Evie. We’ve all been perfectly aware that you two are besotted with one another, but with Hewitt gone, clearly trouble has found its way into paradise.”
Deckard didn’t bother correcting Rafferty’s presumptions of Evylin’s feelings.
“Then,” the man continued, “there’s poor little Loxley and his adoration for the fiery highlady.”
“Ah, yes.” Deckard nodded. “He told me about that.”
“Did he?” Rafferty raised his brow. “Interesting. The kid never bothered to mention it to Thommy or me, but it’s been pretty obvious from the start. Problem is, the lady has it just as bad, but she’s wasted too much time making him think she likes Thom, and now Ethenn won’t believe she likes him even if she were to hike her skirt—”
“What are you talking about?” Deckard interrupted, uninterested in hearing the conclusion to the euphemism.
“Ethenn likes Ilain,” Rafferty said as though explaining to a child. “Ilain likes Ethenn. But as she announced to the wholetroop, Ilain needs to marry a Warrior. As Ethenn’s magical status wasn’t known until a week back, she had to deter him to keep their feelings from developing past infatuation. Thus, her flirtations with Thommy.”
Deckard frowned. “But now she knows that Ethenn’s a Warrior.”
“Doesn’t matter,” Rafferty said. “Whether or not she likes Thom, she’s worked too hard to make sure Ethenn thinks shedoesn’tlike him. Now, if she tells him the truth, it’ll just sound like she’s trying to bag a Warrior. Personally, I wouldn’t care so much about that in his shoes. I’d imagine an affair with Ilain Calder would set a man’s britches—”
“Rafferty.”
“Right.” Rafferty leaned against the front of his saddle. “Anyway, the problem now is, Ethenn thinks Ilain likes Thom and that Thommy’s stringing the highlady along.”
“Children,” Hewitt muttered.
Rafferty kept going, unaware of the ghost’s complaints. “Over the past month, Ethenn’s been getting more and more upset with Thom in defense of his ladylove.”
Deckard drew a hand along his jaw, trying to process the complexities of Rafferty’s explanation. “If their regard is false, why wouldn’t Thom just tell Ethenn?” he asked out of pure curiosity.
“’Cause he’s an idiot.”
Deckard shook his head. “You’ve lost me.”
Rafferty drew back, studying Deckard with his light gray gaze. His mouth opened, then shut as though judging his next words. “I can’t tell if you know or not,” he remarked, frowning. “Surely, you know. It’s obvious.”
A sneaking suspicion tingled at the base of Deckard’s skull. “Know what?”
Rafferty tapped his fingers against his saddle. “I could have sworn you knew. What with how testy you two have gotten, I thought you must have figured it out.”
“Rafferty, tell me.”
“Now, don’t kill the messenger, all right? I told him to move on.”
“Move on from what?”
“Well, Thom is a talker,” Rafferty noted. “Mostly when he’s had one too many ales, but also when he’s irritable. Which is most of the time. And as I’m the one who’s mostly around, I’m the one he’s mostly talked to.”
