Page 34 of Sword & Shadow
“What’ve you lot done now?” Ilain called across the way, her lilting voice carrying only the most minor concern.
Face contorted with pain, Rafferty lowered his leg, glaring at Ethenn.
The kid held up a finger. “You said not to make you feel good.”
“I’m gonna kill you!” Rafferty bolted for Ethenn, setting them off on a chase. They leaped over roots, ducked under branches, slid on the mud, and trampled over moss. It all ended when Rafferty sprinted around a tree, cutting Ethenn off before whacking him on the face with the flat of the training blade.
“Ha-ha!” Rafferty exclaimed proudly. “Now, we’re even.”
“Men,” Ilain said with a huff. Then, spotting the welling red stripe on Ethenn’s cheek, she marched over, still grumbling under her breath, to grab the young man’s jacket and tug him toward the firepit.
Evylin scooped Ethenn’s discarded training sword from the mud. “All right, Rafferty,” she said. “How about you and I have a go?”
“I’m in a right foul mood, Eve,” he declared. “So you’d best watch yourself.”
While the two prepared to spar, Thom moved back to the camp. The mud caking the back of his coat had begun to clump, and he wanted to get it off before it could stain the wool. He began to shrug it off as he approached the fire.
Ethenn sat patiently while Ilain dipped a cloth in a bowl of water. Though the cut on his cheek wasn’t deep, a thin trickle of blood welled at the corners.
Thom smirked. “That’s not going to do you any favors with the ladies if it scars, kid.”
Ilain dabbed at the cut, and Ethenn grimaced. “You do realize I’m only two years younger than Rafferty, right?” he said.
“Don’t listen to him,” Ilain said, eyes on her task. “He wouldn’t know what a woman wanted if she handed him a notarized letter detailing her desires.”
“Oh, I have experience to the contrary,” Thom noted.
Ilain sent him a bland stare. “You sure she wasn’t protecting your ego?”
He held her glimmering green gaze like a dare. “I have stories that would make you blush, my lady.”
With a disbelieving snort, Ilain turned back to Ethenn. “I think it’ll bruise,” she said, studying the skin. “That was a solid wallop he gave you.”
“That’s all right,” Ethenn said. “I felt bad.”
Ilain drew back, appraising him. “You mean, you let him hit you?”
He shrugged.
“Don’t tell Raff that,” Thom warned.
“Wasn’t planning on it,” Ethenn replied.
Ilain dabbed the wet cloth to his cheek again, then dropped it into the bowl. “Either way, I think it’d be best not to leave a reminder on your face, hm?”
She moved to take his face in her hands, but Ethenn jerked back. “What are you doing?” he asked, his voice shaky.
Thom held in his urge to laugh. Ethenn’s crush on the Fire Mage had been blatant from the start, his youth making him impossibly bad at concealing his nerves around the highlady. Thom couldn’t exactly blame him for his attraction. Ilain was a beautiful woman—her fiery hair, lithe figure, and sharp features gave her a distinctly regal elegance that was practicallyunseen amongst the Ephrian women—if one could look past her obnoxious personality.
Ethenn’s panicked reaction to her more intimate touch made sense.
The worry that flashed across Ilain’s face did not.
But then she smirked, all trace of distress gone. “Well, we could wait for Auden to get back,” she replied, a teasing melody to her raspy voice. “OrI could heal you.”
“I thought healing was a Day magic thing,” Thom interjected.
Ilain and Ethenn looked over, eyes wide as though they’d forgotten he was there.
