Page 45 of Blood Weaver
He wiped his bloody sword on one of the soldiers’ sleeves and glanced at me, unaffected by my outburst. “And what was I supposed to do? Try and negotiate peace?” he deadpanned.
That was obviously a jab at me for what I attempted to do between him and Caelan. I knew I was asking for the impossible, but I didn’t want the death of my people on my hands.
“They were innocent,” I said coldly.
He snorted. “Innocent? There are no innocent soldiers in war.”
I opened my mouth to retort, but nothing came out. I couldn’t argue with his logic, which frustrated me to no end.
“Come on. Let’s go before more come looking.” Ronan sheathed his sword, grabbed my wrist, and hauled me out of the clearing.
“Wait!” I attempted to stop him, but he was undeterred. “We can’t just leave them there!”
“Don’t worry about them. You need to start worrying about yourself,” he gritted out, his stride never wavering.
“We need to at least bury them!”
Ronan stopped and gave a heavy sigh before turning around to face me. “I’ll come back later and bury them, Leila. But first we need to get you out of here before more Valorian soldiers show up!”
Knowing it was useless to argue, I took one last look at the dead Valorian soldiers and let Ronan drag me back to the cabin.
14
During the few days that had passed since the incident with the soldiers, Ronan and I had barely spoken beyond what was necessary to coexist. I’d be lying if I claimed I wasn’t slightly uncomfortable. Not with him, per se, but with the situation in which we’d found ourselves. Every day spent with him enmeshed me further with the Crimson Clan chieftain’s son. No matter how mad he was at me, Ronan was still protecting me. And that was something I couldn’t deny, even if I didn’t understand his motives.
We were finishing up breakfast when there was a knock at the door. We waited with bated breath until we heard, “It’s me, Silas.”
Ronan quickly went to open the door, but I stayed seated. I no longer felt comfortable knowing about Clan business. Even so, it was hard to feign ignorance since they weren’t whispering and the cabin was so small.
“How was your journey here?” Ronan asked as he patted Silas on the shoulder.
“Not easy,” Silas admitted. His crimson eyes flashed between me and Ronan. “Eldwain closed their borders to all outsiders.Our reinforcements are waiting on the east side of the Central Plains while a small group of us cut through Lomewood to get here.”
“Good work, Silas.” Ronan smiled for the first time in days. “Where is the Valorian army now?”
“Gathered around the borders of Lomewood, close to the mountains,” Silas answered. “There are wanted posters all around town looking for you and …her.” He motioned to me stiffly.
Ronan peered over his shoulder at me and then quickly looked away. “We’re … aware.”
“What is our next move?” Silas asked.
“Let’s meet up with our reinforcements, and then we’ll talk about the plan.”
An awkward silence followed and Silas looked over at me, which let me know they intended to keep their plans a secret from me. I rolled my eyes and stood, deciding it was time to start collecting my things to leave.
“Where are you going?” Ronan asked as I started to shuffle around the room.
“Packing up.” I carefully packed the herbs I’d collected while we were marooned here and avoided his gaze.
“You should probably stay here for now,” he said as he followed me around the room, leaving Silas standing by the door. “It’s safer.”
I shrugged. “Eventually someone will stumble upon this cabin. I’m not going to hide here forever, and I need to find out what’s going on with Selene.” Her stony silence worried me. Something was wrong.
“I can find out what happened to Selene and bring her to you,” Ronan offered.
I paused my packing and looked over at him. “Why?”
“Why what?”
