Page 41 of Sword & Shadow
She settled her chin on his shoulder teasingly. “Wouldn’t dream of it, darling.”
Watching the exchange suspiciously, Deckard startled when Evylin’s arms threaded through his to clasp around his waist.
“Did you forget I was back here?” she asked with amusement.
“Momentarily,” he admitted.
She scooted closer, legs pressing against him on both sides. “I’m rather offended. Am I so forgettable?”
They swayed with the gait of the horse, its hooves clomping and squelching on the dirt and mud road beneath them. Deckard’s suspicions shifted from his brother to his wife. He still couldn’t pin down what was causing this return to normalcy. He wanted to be grateful for it and lavish in the comfortable way she leaned against his back. But he couldn’t. Not when she seemed to have moved on from Hewitt’s death so suddenly and completely.
Still, he would take whatever closeness to her that he could get.
Resting his hand on hers, Deckard glanced over his shoulder. “In a million lifetimes, I couldn’t forget you.”
She released a soft laugh. “What a charming sentiment.”
“I’m a charming man,” he quipped.
Evylin slipped one hand free to reach up and tug the hood of his cloak from his head. He began to protest, turning to scold her when the sudden presence of her lips on his bearded cheek halted him. He gaped at her, baffled.
Her smile sparkled in her amber eyes. “More than any other.”
Unsure how to respond, Deckard let out a small puff of a laugh. He didn’t feel the humor of it, though, confusion clouding his head. Evylin had grown increasingly casual with her flirtation and touch since they’d entered Wauld. And while it initially made his chest fill with the warmth of hope, now it twisted like a knot.
Something was wrong. He just couldn’t puzzle out what.
Staring at the path ahead, Deckard scanned the tree line. His subconscious formed into Hewitt’s phantom, standing there with his arms crossed as they neared. His gray eyes summoned Deckard, a call to walk through the forest and think through this problem.
He just needed an excuse to go out alone.
CHAPTER TEN
38TH OF GALATAE, 1574
“I’d forgotten what a joy it is to have your own horse,” Ilain said, patting the newly purchased mare.
Rain sleeted through the tree cover. They’d taken to traveling the roads, the forests too densely grown to allow for travel on horseback. Deckard and Auden had returned from Vaulley that morning with two more mares, one for each woman.
Thom reached over and took her hand playfully. “Just when I thought we were closer than ever.”
Evylin spurred her speckled gray horse to ride through the gap between Ilain and Thom, forcing him to release her. “The day you two start getting along is the day I’ll relinquish my sword,” she said.
Settling back into his saddle, Thom smirked. “You may have to give it up sooner than you’d think.”
“Hogwash,” she replied. “Whatever nonsense this is, it isn’t real.”
Ilain twirled a lock of her red curls thoughtfully under her heavy gray hood. “She’s awfully insightful, isn’t she?”
A curious frown came to Thom’s face, cast in shadow from his own cloak.
“What can we say, Evylin?” Ilain said. “You’ve caught us.”
“I knew it,” Evylin declared. Then she tapped her saddle hesitantly. “What exactly have I caught you in?”
Sharing a look with Thom, the fire-haired highlady smiled. “For the betterment of the troop, we’ve called a truce. No more nasty remarks on either side.”
Thom sighed. “It’s a difficult burden, but I’m man enough to bear it.”
