Page 44 of War

When he sees me, the horseman’s eyes come alive. My heart stutters a little at the sight.

Out of fear, not flattery. At least, that’s what I tell myself.

The horseman stands and comes up to me, and he’s just as intimidating as ever. He reaches out to touch me, but I flinch away before he can.

Things are different now.

War frowns. “You slept in my arms only two days ago, and now you can’t bear my touch?”

If I didn’t know better, I’d say that the horseman sounded a tad wounded.

“I didn’tmeanto sleep next to you,” I say.

“Didn’t you though?” he throws back at me. “I lavished your bed as best as I could, and still you came for me.”

“Stop rewriting what happened,” I snap.

He steps in close. “Am I?”

“I wouldn’t knowingly sleep with you,” I say. “Not while you’re butchering my kind.”

“I am doing what I must, just as you are,” he says. “Can you fault me for it?”

“Yes.” I damn well can.

“If you knew what lay on the other side of death,” he says, “you would know it is nothing to fear.”

“And what about pain?” I add.

“What about it?”

“If you don’t care about the fact that you’re killing us, what about the pain you’re causing us?”

“Your kind only feel it for a short while.”

I stare at him. He doesn’t get it. Pain is pain, and death is the end—maybe we go on in some other form, but it isanend. Our bodies die, and all those earthly hopes and dreams die along with it. He’s overlooking the fact that there’s worth in life itself.

I step back. “Why did you call me to your tent?”

“The fight tomorrow is not for you,” he says. “You are to stay here, in my tent. I will have all the amenities you might need.

Ah, so he is happy to kill people, but when it comes to me, he doesn’t want me touched by his violence.

Surviving is no longer good enough.

“What if I want to come along?”

War’s eyes narrow. He stares at me for a beat too long, and I have to fight the urge to fidget.

“What mischief are you up to?” he says.

“Why are you worried?” I say a tad defensively. “What could I possibly do?”

“You could die.”

“If you’re so confident God sent me to you, then surely you know He will spare me—or are you unsure after all?”

The horseman’s mouth curves up. “Challenging me will get you nowhere, wife.”

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