Page 164 of Sword & Shadow
“I’ve told you.” Hewitt crossed his arms. “If your opponent isn’t going to fight fair, you can’t either.”
That was the lesson Deckard struggled to master.
Rafferty held out his hand to help Deckard up, sniggering all the while.
Deckard grabbed the weasel’s hand, then swept his leg, dropping Rafferty to the ground next to him. With all the speed he could muster, Deckard rolled to his knees, tapping the point of his sword to Rafferty’s chest.
“I win,” Deckard said.
Hewitt laughed, and Rafferty smirked. “Now, you’re getting it, Colonel,” he said. “Takes a weasel to beat a weasel.”
Deckard stood and sheathed his sword. He’d have to buff out the nicks later. “I’ll try to take that as a compliment.”
Rafferty popped up nimbly. “You should. All this time with me has made you less boring. Miraculously, I’m actually rather fond of you now.”
“I feel I should be bothered by that sentiment,” Deckard remarked. “I’ve never been friends with a criminal before.”
“I’m an entrepreneur,” Rafferty corrected. “And whoever said we were friends?”
Deckard raised his brow. “You just—”
“I said I’m fond of you. I didn’t say we were friends.”
“I assumed the two were synonymous.”
Rafferty gave him a wry look. “I assumed the same could be said for marriage and sex. Guess we were both wrong.”
Hewitt snorted.
With a disparaging frown toward the ghost, Deckard let the quip go. Rafferty’s jokes about his and Evylin’s relationship had irritated Deckard the first several days, but he’d quickly learned to let them pass unheeded. The “three” questions Rafferty bartered for easily became twenty as they trained. Then it grew to fifty. Now, Deckard thought they were nearing the hundreds, and while he hadn’t answered most of them, he’d grown numb to the indelicate topic.
In fact, Deckard found it somewhat liberating to discuss the situation in abstract terms every now and again.
“We all make foolish assumptions,” Deckard said, then moved toward the horses. “Come on. It’s time we got back.”
Rafferty hopped on his horse while Hewitt appeared farther up the path. The ghost rarely walked. He simply appeared where Deckard wanted to see him.
They guided their horses through the waters and inlets of land. “Really, though,” Rafferty said casually, “what was it that kept you from sealing the deal with Evie? It wasn’t...” His eyes darted over Deckard’s person, growing wide. “I mean, youcan—”
“Yes,” Deckard interrupted, heat creeping up his neck. “I chose not to.”
“What, ’cause you’re a gentleman?” Rafferty asked mockingly.
“No, it was far worse than that.”
“Eh?”
“I’d seen what she could do with a sword.” Deckard passed Rafferty a flat glare. “I didn’t care to test her lenience with unwanted affection.”
Rafferty guffawed while Hewitt shook his head. “Liar,” the ghost accused.
“So you were afraid of her,” Rafferty concluded.
And though Hewitt was right—Deckard was a liar—Rafferty was correct as well.
“In a way,” Deckard admitted. “I take the duty of a husband seriously. Beginning our marriage by abusing the role to suit my masculine desires didn’t seem advisable. And I didn’t want her to hate me.”
“Sure,” Rafferty said. “I get that. But that was months ago. You’d become quite friendly. You slept all snuggly-like. And, from what I’ve heard, you spent some quality time snogging too.”
