Page 56 of The Warrior Priest
“Disappearance?”
“I don’t like the thought of you disrupting his life again,” Rufus went on. “Especially now that you look like…” He flapped a hand at my body and face. “But it’s cruel to let him go on thinking you’re dead or were abducted.Youmay not care about him enough to be kind, butwedo."
“Dead?” It was so absurd that I started to laugh, only to stop again when none of them joined in. “No. He knew I left Tilting. I wrote him a note to tell him.”
“He didn’t receive it. Who did you give it to?”
Giselle. She’dtoldme he’d read it and even what he’d said in response.
She’d lied.
I didn’t tell them, however. I felt too sick to speak. Rhys thought I’d died, and so soon after losing his beloved Master Tomaj, too. Thank Hailia he’d had these three at his side.
Rufus crossed his arms over his chest and glared icily at me. “He lights the candle every night in your meeting place, hoping you’ll see it and know he’s searching for you. Every night, Jac.”
I felt like I’d been punched in the gut. My breath came in rapid bursts and my legs buckled. I needed to sit down. I searched the vicinity for a crate or barrel, but gave up without really taking in my surroundings. “You know about that place?”
“We do. No one else does.”
“He’ll be there now,” Vizah said.
Rufus pointed a finger at me. “No, Jac. Don’t go.”
Andreas pushed him aside. “Ignore him, Jac. You should go. Rhys needs to see you.”
“No,” Rufus said again. “Look at her!” Vizah and Andreas both looked. “It’s a terrible idea. He’ll… They’ll… It’s just a very bad idea.”
“Bollocks,” Vizah said. “You know what he’s been like. Seeing her will be good for him.”
Rufus gave up on them and appealed to me. “You understand why it’s a bad idea, don’t you?We’lltell him you’re alive. That will make him feel better?—”
Andreas interrupted with a snort.
“—and he can move on, knowing you left him of your own accord,” Rufus continued. “There’s no need for you to see him, Jac.”
I’d returned to Tilting determined not to see Rhys. Hearing that he thought I’d died or been abducted had made that conviction waver, but Rufus was right. I should stay away for Rhys’s own good. For mine, too. Besides, I had another person I very much wanted to see that night, and she had a lot of explaining to do.
“Tell him I’m alive,” I told Rufus. “Then tell him I don’t want to see him.”
Rufus released a breath. “Thank you for understanding.”
“Rufus!” Vizah cried.
Andreas threw his hands in the air. “I think it’s a mistake. Jac, if you change your mind?—”
“I won’t.”
Rufus grasped Andreas’s tunic at the shoulder and pulled him away. “Let her go. She has her business, and we have ours, or have you forgotten why we’re here.”
“Zelda has gone,” Andreas pointed out. “Whatever she wanted to tell us obviously wasn’t that important.”
Rufus checked over his shoulder to see if Vizah followed.
Vizah took a few steps in their direction, then glanced back at me. He smiled. “You’re pretty, Jac. I can’t believe I never noticed before. It’s probably just as well you’re not going to see Rhys. He’s not looking his best. He really let himself go after you disappeared.” He trotted after the others.
I turned and headed for the Cat and Mouse, more furious than I’d ever been in my life.
Giselle cuta lonely figure nursing a tankard of ale. Seeing her dying friend had taken a toll. But not even sympathy could dampen my anger.
