Page 45 of Sun Elves of Ardani

Kadaki looked confused, then annoyed. “It’s my own.”

The men exchanged a look. “You’re in the Queen’s Army?”

“Yes.”

Neiryn glanced down at her uncertainly. They might believe that a small young woman was a soldier if she told them she was a mage. But she didn’t want to tell them that, because they’d report it back to their superiors.

“And the elf?”

She paused. For too long. “An ally,” she said vaguely. “An Ardanian.” Neiryn all but cringed. The men didn’t believe her even a little.

There was a flash of movement, and then an arrow was flying toward them. Toward Neiryn. Kadaki shifted in front of him and raised her hands. Neiryn sensed magic in the air.

And then Kadaki flinched, gasping. Neiryn saw blood on her arm. The arrow had hit the edge of her hand and carved a line through her sleeve, down her wrist.

He shot a ball of fire into the trees. It hit one of the men, and the other turned and ran. He was deep in the cover of the woods before Neiryn could get another clear shot. He debated chasing the man down, then turned to Kadaki instead. She was gingerly holding her bloody hand.

“What happened?”

“I tried to stop the arrow—I don’t know what happened. The spell went wrong.” She seemed more upset by the failed spell than by the fact that she’d been hit.

He put his hands on her shoulders, steering her back toward the log. “It’s all right. You’re still regaining your strength after what happened in Kuda Varai.”

She just shook her head, angry.

“Take it easy. Let me see your hand.”

She let him roll up her sleeve and hold her hand, though of course he could do nothing for it. As he examined it, she was already waving a healing spell over it. Slowly, the cuts began to close.

She looked up at him as she finished, and he let out the breath he’d been holding. His heart was pounding. Kadaki’s hand was shaking slightly.

“You could have been a legitimate citizen,” she said, scowling. “You could have been completely innocent. They had no way of knowing otherwise. I can’t believe they just—just shot at you like that.”

He snorted. “I can. They’re Ardanians.”

She gave him an annoyed look.

“Are you all right?” he asked.

“Fine.” She cast another wary glance toward the trees. “We should keep moving.”

He nodded, glad to have another task to point his attention outward instead of inward.

Because it was easier to think about moving forward today than to contemplate what tomorrow held.

Chapter 13

It was late when Kadaki padded down the hall to Neiryn’s room. The house was quiet, but she could still see light from the crack beneath his door. She hesitated in front of it.

She needed to talk to him about what had happened in the ruins. She needed to explain that it hadn’t meant anything. They’d both been under a lot of stress. She’d said some things she hadn’t meant, obviously. Things she would never have said or done under normal circumstances.

She knocked softly, perhaps half-hoping that he wouldn’t hear and that she’d have an excuse to avoid the conversation.

“There’s no one here,” he said from behind the door.

She sighed. “Open the door, Neiryn.”

There was a pause, then the door opened. Neiryn grinned down at her. The blacks of his eyes were massive, consuming the yellow.“Kadaki,”he said, with such warmth that she could almost feel the word pushing away the cool air around them. She blinked in surprise when he pulled her inside and closed the door behind her. “I’m so pleased to see you.”

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