Page 15 of Untempered
And not too many other places. The Butcher’s men were in charge of training the militias across our country. Every year, we had to work hard to undo the damage their beliefs and processes did to Raider’s Ban. Most didn’t bother to watch the Watch.
Luca’s words died in his throat, and a smile touched his mouth, as if there were anything good about this entire mess. I resented his happiness, and I had no damned right to.
“She would love Raider’s Ban.” His smile was misty, and Kadan smiled along, too. I didn’t, but fortunately they didn’t expect me to. “I was with her the first time she slipped her guards, years ago now—she would’ve been eleven, mayhap. We went for a ride, and a storm blew in, driving us into an inn beside one of the watchtowers that guard the roads. The man running the inn was obviously known to the guards. Well, the men got roaring drunk and spent all their coin dicing with the innkeep. The next day—” his smile widened at the memory, and I was glad that my resentment didn’t “—she stopped off, had a cordial and biscuits. As soon as they got comfortable, she was telling them she’d be back soon, no need for them to stir themselves.”
Kadan grinned at the tale. The look he sent me was swift and unreadable. “And you spoke sense, of course.”
“I tried,” he said, frowning. “But she…well.” His frown deepened, and he took a sip of the spirits. “She insisted I could protect her.”
Kadan’s brows rose, his grin still intact. “Oh-ho. Careful who you tell that tale to. Riding unchaperoned through an orchard with a Duchess-to-be? That belongs in a ballad, friend!”
It wasn’t like Kadan to make those sorts of comments, especially about someone so young. I hid my surprise poorly, judging from the look he sent me that clearly saidplay along, his charmingly crooked smile fixed as he flashed it in my direction.
“We were chaperoned, of course,” Luca said, shooting him a quick, quelling look. “Audrey’s maid is never far from her side, and that woman is sharper than any knife I own.” I glanced at Luca, but there was no undercurrent or inference in the statement. He didn’t know the depth of truth in his words. “But the point, which you’re missing entirely, is that Audrey takes risks of her own that complicate things.”
How dare she live her life. I turned back to the fire, mentally running through the other candidates we could put forth in Luca’s place.
But Kadan was the one they wanted. And he refused.
Kadan, making a bit of a show of how little he cared—with some shrugging, sinking back in his chair, and a voice both mildly disinterested and cheerful—said, “To me, she sounds like a woman of many resources.”
“She is,” Luca agreed on a sigh. “Just enough to get her into trouble. No one needs to experience Victor’s wrath twice.”
Silence descended between us in the wake of those words. Personally, I’d never seen the Butcher at work, but I’d seen his ilk. Unlike Kadan, shit didn’t shock me.
“Once you’re wed…your claim will be all the stronger,” Kadan said quietly.
His claim wouldexistbased entirely on hers. I didn’t say that. We all knew it. By himself, Luca was the second son with little to inherit of his father’s tiny, poor holding.
Luca sighed and ran his hands through his hair. I didn’t look at him, hunched over his knappchs, anxious and completely misinterpreting the situation. He didn’t see how she’d been molded by violence into someone with finely tuned survival instincts. He’d never understand the cost, or the benefit, of those skills or help her use them in a way that allowed her to reclaim herself. To him, she was a conveniently appealing stop on the journey to taking power.
She was wasted on Luca.
Kadan flashed him another grin. “If that doesn’t make you happy, I do have a lot of very fast horses, friend. You could spend your wedding night in a different type of saddle.” I thought of the woman who’d been ready to cut my throat only hours ago. If he attempted to pressure her into the marriage bed, he’d be eviscerated. Mayhap we needed a secondary strategy. I didn’t want that for her.
Before Luca could get too pissy about the very mild reference to the wedding bed, Kadan said, mild as fresh mare’s milk, “I take it Audrey can ride.”
I deliberately didn’t look up. She might be passable with a knife. Perhaps even better than passable. But she needed some help handling her horse.
At least the question shut Luca up for a moment, though. “She’s adequate and would adapt fine from side-saddle,” he said slowly. “I don’t know, Kadan. It would be a big risk.”
“Doubtless,” Kadan agreed with a shrug. “I won’t press you to take it. But if it feels like the best chance…”
Luca offered his hand, and Kadan clasped it in his own. I tried not to think of her missing opportunities to manage her horse or the reverberations of those deadly hooves on the ground so close to us.
“You always did talk me into things I’d never consider myself,” Luca half-laughed, shaking his head. “Mayhap that’s why I love your company.”
“Could be my golden good looks,” Kadan suggested, ruffling his fingers through his hair comically. “My charm. The way my farts smell like daphne.”
“That all helps, without question,” Luca agreed dryly, enjoying the joke, though it was an old one, as he held out his hand to me. “It’s good to know I have people I can trust.” He looked between us as if he wanted to remind us—me—not to speak to anyone, but wasn’t quite sure how to say it.
I sat there in silence and waited, wondering at what point in my life I’d become a man who didn’t give a shit about treason.
“We’ll say nothing of this,” Kadan assured him, standing. “And Chay barely says boo.”
“I wasn’t questioning?—”
Of course he’d been questioning. And, more out of love for Kadan than Luca, I said, “You know my family. You know my history. If you need a friend—”or if she does“—you know I’ll support you.”
