Page 53 of The Rebel's Prize

"That was...intense," he said after another moment. "But no, I feel fine. Though I would prefer it if I could show you just how fine instead of letting you go." His voice had dipped lower, the rasp in it making her want him all over again.

"Something to look forward to at the end of the day," she said.

"Then may the goddess grant us swift travels," he said and kissed her again.

* * *

The goddess wasn't quite as cooperative as Lucien had hoped, but they still reached Fierra just before sunset. The long ride to Nysalla followed by a lengthy series of portal jumps, supplemented at times by time spent on horseback to reach the next portal they needed, had been nearly as tiring as a day in the wagon.

Chloe curled her fingers through Lucien's while they waited for the guards to sort themselves out as they exited the final portal and moved closer to him, appreciating his warmth. The night air in Fierra was cooler than Fallea, though still nothing approaching cold. He smiled at her, his thumb rubbing gently across her wedding band as though reassuring himself it was back where it belonged.

She smiled back. “You’re still feeling well?” she asked, sending a questioning thread of power through him. His heartbeat, though perhaps a little fast, felt steadier than it had the day before, and she got no sense of anything wrong. The color was back in his face, the circles under his eyes gone. Clearly the bond was helping him. She'd still had flashes of his memories during the day, but if he was feeling anything different about the bond this time around, he hadn't mentioned it. And it seemed a small price to pay for him to be well again.

"Satisfied?" he asked, shaking his head, obviously sensing what she was doing. But the emotion that came through was amusement, not irritation.

"For now," she said, tossing her head. "But you'll tell me if you feel ill again, won't you?"

His expression softened. "Yes. Though I imagine you'll be the first to know anyway."

"Good," she said.

Silya, standing beside her, smiled approvingly. When the seer had seen them while they ate a hasty early breakfast before departing, she had looked pleased but asked no questions.

Lieutenant Envier looked around and beckoned to Lucien with a wave. Lucien squeezed Chloe's hand once and then joined the group of men on the far side of the portal. The lieutenant started talking again.

From their serious faces, Chloe could only guess that they were strategizing, and the thought made her somewhat annoyed to be excluded. She had no intention of sitting quietly and letting the men do all the work of catching Deandra.

"If you want to join them, Lady Castaigne, just go and join them," Silya said quietly.

Chloe blinked. "That doesn't sound like the polite Andalyssian female way of doing things."

Silya laughed. "Well, you may have noticed that I am not exactly a polite Andalyssian female. Besides which,youare not Andalyssian, and you clearly want to be part of their plans. So do not let them exclude you. Your husband does not strike me as the type who would be concerned by a wife who wants to be involved."

"No," Chloe said softly. "He's not."

Lucien wanted to keep her safe, yes, but he had never tried to make her smaller. Unlike Charl, who had distracted her from what had been her original plan for her life after the Academe, convincing her that there would be plenty of time to join the corps once they'd had a few years to settle into their marriage and the aristo life he enjoyed so much.

She winced slightly at the memory but then shook her head. She had no way to alter the choices she’d made, and she didn't want to waste any more time on regret. Not when she could spend it being happy.

Nodding at Silya, she straightened her shoulders and walked over to join the men.

The lieutenant noticed her first and sketched a quick bow. "Lady Castaigne."

"Perhaps you should call me Lieutenant de Roche, Lieutenant. At least when we're discussing strategy." It couldn't hurt to remind the man that she held the same rank as him in the army. "I assume that's what you've been doing."

Lucien nodded. "Just discussing the best approach to get to the barracks."

She frowned. "Is there any particular need for secrecy before we reach Basali?"

They were still hundreds of miles away. It would take two days at least once they were aboard the navire to get there. There was no reason to think Deandra was anywhere near Fierra.

"Just being cautious," Lucien said. "They have to know—or worry, at least—that we’re looking for them. We don't want anything unusual drawing attention. And we have to assume that whatever method they’re using to communicate and plan, whatever network of support they’ve formed, is good."

"Hopefully not as good as the Imperial army," Chloe said, trying to ignore the fact that so far all the Imperial forces had been caught unprepared by the attacks to date. "And the sight of soldiers can't be uncommon here if they have a barracks large enough to land a navire at. Granted, the navires themselves may be of interest, still being new." It had only been less than a year since Imogene had finally made her idea of flying ships work. But the emperor was rapidly expanding his fleet of navires, as well as the crews of water mages and blood mages required to fly them.

Lieutenant Envier shrugged. "They still draw some attention. Which is why we don't necessarily want anyone to know this one has come to collect passengers."

That made sense. "Does that mean we stay in civilian clothes and move to the navire after dark?"

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