Page 44 of Marked By the Enemy
He rubbed the back of his neck. “I wanted to say sorry.”
The words hit like a breath held too long. “Me too.”
His gaze didn’t drop. Not even once. I stood bare from the waist up, water beading on my skin, and waited for his eyes to glance to the place where most men looked first. He met my eyes and held my gaze. Like nothing else existed. Like he didn’t notice. Or didn’t care. I wasn’t sure which unsettled me more.
Darian rubbed his stubbled jaw. “I shouldn’t have said what I said. I don’t believe it. About the bond. About you. I just… I don’t know who I am anymore.”
“That’s what I was trying to help with.”
“I know,” he said. “And I should’ve let you.”
I nodded. “I almost hoped you’d join me.”
He blinked. “In the river? Both of us…?”
I said with a half smile, “It wasn’t about you. You just needed a proper wash.”
His eyes softened, but he shook his head. “I caught fish farther upriver. I’ll start the fire. You come when you’re ready.”
He turned, and his shoulders dropped, like something between us had finally eased. I hadn’t touched him. I hadn’t said anything comforting. And still, something healed.
Chapter thirteen
They Came Without Asking
Three days passed. On the fourth, they began to arrive.
The first was a girl—no more than nine. Barefoot, a thread of red tied around her wrist. Her hair was long and white-blonde, tangled in places as if the wind had slept in it. She emerged from the trees like someone following a map no one else could see.
Her mother came behind her, slower. Same pale skin, same white-blonde hair that caught the morning light. She was probably younger than twenty-five—too young for such wariness to show in her eyes. One hand hovered near her satchel, the other loose but ready. She didn’t speak.
But she watched everything. Every step. Every breath.
I strolled out from the edge of the Keep’s courtyard.
The girl came right up to me, chin high. “I saw your eyes.”
I blinked. “When?”
“In my dream.” Her voice had a rough lilt to it. Northern valley or east riverfolk. “They were open while you slept. Your inner eyes were open.”
Darian came to my side, and my heart skipped a beat. I wished it wouldn’t do that. I wished I didn’t notice it every time. And most of all, I hoped with all my self-worth that Darian did not perceive it through the bond.
“What else did you see?” he asked.
She glanced at him, then back at me. “Five circles. And a hand. Could have been yours.”
“Where are you from?” I asked.
Her mother finally approached us, hesitating at the edge of the courtyard stones. “We’re from Green Hollow. Three miles downriver. She woke up screaming two nights ago. Last night, she sat up and said we had to come.”
The girl kept staring at me, wide-eyed. “Do you dream often?”
She shrugged. “Never like this. Never where it stays after… except for now.”
“Show me your hand.”
She held out her left one, palm up. There was a faint circle traced into the skin. I glanced at her mother.
