Page 133 of The Duke and the Disciple

He cradled her neck in one hand, leaning in for a soft kiss. It was gentler than the exuberant one he’d laid on her when Elfreth had announced their union sealed, and more intimate than she would have expected in the home of others. “We did the right thing.”

She nodded. “I know.”

He glanced at the squabbling siblings. “It’s not how I imagined this day would go, but I’m happy. Are you?”

Aesylt had made a vow to herself that if Valerian agreed to her harebrained idea, he would do so knowing the full accounting of her truths, past and future—even if they hurt. “To be honest, I don’t know what I feel right now. I have this sense of being disconnected...” She sighed and scanned the room. “Like I’m here but not.”

His smile faded. “You’re not having regrets?”

“Not regrets, no.” She kissed him. It reminded her of the excitement of childhood, not the womanhood she’d discovered under the stars of the Wulfsgate bell tower. “I just think I’m still in shock, V. My head is looking to the future, but my heart is still lagging.” Her smile felt almost real. “It’ll pass.”

Valerian pressed his forehead to hers. “I know what will take your mind off of it. But...” He squeezed her leg. “Not here.”

Her heart inched toward her throat. She’d known what she was offering Valerian was more than a piece of paper. But her belly turned at the thought of intimacy with anyone. It reminded her either of the hole inside her or the emptiness deeper still.Know truly what you ask for before you ask, or you’ll be poorer after receiving it,her father used to say, and oh, how she understood the words finally. Like an arrow to the chest. “Not here,” she agreed.

“Now, we’re accustomed to a lovers’ need for discretion, but I can’t help myself wondering if the two of you are Vjestik,” Elfreth said.

Aesylt startled, adjusting herself on the rough bench. “Why do you ask?”

“It’s in the eyes,” Faustina said knowingly, waggling hers.

“Nay, you sow, I was gonna say theaccent.”

“Oh, theaccent, like you’re some kind of expert now!”

“And just what do you know about eyes then, more than most folks having two of them?”

Aesylt shifted her gaze to her lap with a grin. Valerian chuckled to himself and patted her leg before reaching across the table for the pitcher of sharp cider. She was already a little tipsy when he poured her a second mug, and she knew it wouldn’t be her last.

“Drink up, mates,” Elfreth said, raising his own glass. “The nights are cold here, and there’s more than one way to warm them.”

Their midnight rideproduced only futility. A squall had formed before the men even left Wulfsgate, making travel so perilous, they’d eventually had no choice but to turn back and wait for it to clear.

Going against the counsel of Dereham’s top men, Rahn and Drazhan had pushed on anyway but found themselves lost, snow-blind, and near hypothermic. Drazhan had suffered a sprain in the melee, but they’d narrowly avoided anything worse.

But nothing worked against them as much as having no idea where Aesylt had gone... whether she’d fallen into trouble of her own. Her trail had gone cold just beyond the keep. They’d questioned the north and south gate guards, but they’d claimed no single riders had left, only a caravan headed north.

North then,Drazhan had grumbled, but they’d already guessed as much.

Rahn slipped into a daze watching the blacksmith sharpen his sword. He hadn’t ever owned one until Drazhan had had one made for him. Rahn faintly remembered holding his father’s steel, which had been far heavier than it had looked. As a six-year-old, he’d tried to hoist it only to fall, sword and all; his father’s tender chuckle had lessened the sting of embarrassment as he’d helped him up.About six more years on you, and we’ll be ready to visit the forge.

Sometimes those memories were his to revisit, and sometimes they were lost altogether. But whatever access he had to them were only glimpses of time. Vignettes of what might have been, not what was.

Uli had shared there’d been a confirmed sighting of Marek in the night. The roads had been cleared, and their group would depart again soon, except their second attempt would have a more defined radius and at least an hour of daylight.

No one said what they thought, but no one had to.

If Marek was out there, and Aesylt was out there, the rescue effort had become a race against time.

Drazhan and Rustan’s men had gathered at the other end of the courtyard and were waiting for the signal to ride. They didn’t need practice. Men like them had more training on a midweek day than Rahn had garnered in his entire life. The one and only time he’d killed had been?—

A bolt of violent pain split his head, and he went reeling into a post.

The faces of Calder and Dacian Rhiagain materialized, as clear as they’d been that day.

Rahn shook his head and lifted his sword, but the flash behind his eyes had him lowering it again.

“Let go! There’s only room for two of us!”

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