Page 24 of The Rising Wave

She wondered if the blood had helped. Strengthened the suggestion to the hounds that the way they needed to go was to the east.

Or perhaps the strength of the blood was merely its effect on her. It had made her determined no more of that blood should be spilled.

She would have to experiment and see which it was.

And now she was free, she could do so.

She wanted to be as powerful as she could be when she found Herron and finished him.

He had left her mother to starve to death, had taken her father's life. Kept Ava herself a prisoner for years.

There was a reckoning to be had.

Luc woke with a start, almost tipping her from his lap, and then tightening his arms around her in reaction.

“They passed us by.” Ava looked up at him, and he gave a slow nod.

“The hounds were pulling them east, and when they found the horse, they thought we'd tried to trick them by sending it ahead without us.”

She smiled up at him, and he smiled back, and something in the way he did it made her think he smiled often.

She hoped there would come a time when she could do the same.

“So what's next?” She didn't try to move out of his arms. She was warm and comfortable.

He had to be less so, he was up against a tree, with the weight of her across his legs, but as he hadn't indicated he wanted her off him, she was happy to stay where she was.

“The Rising Wave will be on the eastern plains, and that's the general direction the general and his men have gone, so we need to head northeast for now, until we can turn south and join them.”

“What is the Rising Wave?” she asked.

He frowned down at her.

“I was a prisoner in the fortress for nearly two years,” she reminded him. “And no one told me anything. The queen herself could be dead, for all I know.”

“The queen isn't dead.” Luc's forehead smoothed. “The Rising Wave is the rebel army.”

“Do you think they'll have given up hope you're alive?” She worried her lip. “They might have fallen into disarray and gone their separate ways.”

He stared at her. “Why would they fall into disarray without me?”

She tried a small smile on him. “Because you are the person the Herald calls the Turncoat King?”

He sucked in a breath. “I told you I was not.”

She pressed her lips together. Settled in to get a bit more comfortable. “I know, but I didn't believe you.”

He closed his eyes, leaned his head back against the bark of the trunk. “They won't have fallen into disarray. There are strong leaders in command of the battalions, and they'll keep things together.” He looked down at her, and she felt ensnared in his gaze.

Her lips parted, and she felt a fizzing in her blood.

She lay against the bare skin of his chest, the heat of him warming her hands, her cheek.

Something hard pressed against her thigh, and she sucked in a breath as she realized what it was.

The heat in her blood pooled between her legs, and she ran her hand up his chest to his neck, curved her hand around his nape and pulled him closer.

He hesitated a moment, then cradled the back of her head with a hand and kissed her, his other hand sliding up to cup her breast.

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