Page 84 of Unrivaled
“I should’ve killed him before he set foot in the city,” she said, with a note of bitterness that surprised me.“Those men, Isolde—they were just sailors, mostly.Just poor, down on their luck fools.”
“…Who took money to kidnap you,” I reminded her.
“We don’t know that.”She stood and began pacing.
“If we’re splitting hairs, my lady, we don’t know they were down on their luck, either, or foolish, or poor.In fact, we don’t know much, except you’re alive and they aren’t.”
“Most of them fled,” she said, digging through her clothes.“I’m alive.So are they.”
“Chay and Thomas earned their keep, though,” I offered, hoping she’d notice the name I’d left out, going into my room to set down my basket.
“And Kaelson,” she said.
Happily, I took up the change in direction the conversation took.“Kaelson?”But she’d already confirmed what I’d guessed myself.
“I let him know to meet me at the steward’s when I got the summons,” she called.“He must’ve been closer than the others.”
“How fortunate.”Luck was fickle, but I wasn’t.I doubted it’d only been luck, anyway.I kept an eye on Kaelson.He knew what he was doing, and he had good intuition.It wasn’t the first time he’d been where he needed when he was needed.There was a certain type of magic to that sort of insight, but I doubted the gruff old veteran would ever acknowledge such a thing.“I trust you got to admire some shield work, then?”
“I did.”When I came back in, she was working on her undergarment.I went over to lend a hand.“And some sword work.”
I glanced up at her, but it wasn’t the misty-eyed adoration in her eyes.Her brows were drawn, and her long mouth pulled a little to one side, as she did when she was lost in thought.Relief rushed through me.If this half-assed assault had driven her back into the knight’s arms, we would’ve lost a lot of progress.Puzzlement I could deal with.Pining, less so.
For a few moments she hesitated, her breath drawn, clearly waiting to speak.The quiet stretched out.I waited, the leather laces tight against my fingers, the smell of her soap in my head.I’d hear it all, eventually.Or I’d learn it.
What had Kaelson seen?
“It was actually really interesting to watch,” she admitted, distracting me from my thoughts.
She wouldn’t have meant sailors dying.The way I held my tongue rather than speak that thought out loud was evidence that Ididwalk the path of the Wife sometimes, complete with tact as well as grace.“Oh?”
“The way they fought,” she explained.“Chay was everywhere.”
I didn’t look up from the last lace I threaded.“Is that a good thing?”
“I…don’t know?”
She was catching on.
“Thomas looked…relaxed.Effortless.”
I hummed in agreement, stepping back to get her skirts.“Hedoeshave experience.”
“The war didn’t go forthatlong,” Audrey objected.“And Chay’s seen plenty of combat.”
If she’d sounded like she believed those statements, I would’ve been worried.“So why did Thomas make it seem so easy?”
“I didn’t say that.”
I flicked her a quick, unimpressed glance and tossed over her skirts.
She stepped into them, frowning still.“Chay was important.He targeted a significant opponent and kept him busy.But Thomas and Kaelson…they did everything else.”
“And you?”
“I was surplus,” she said, with a bit of a laugh.“I could see shots, Isolde, but I had no bow.Chay got me a knife, but I only used it a few times.”
I could imagine the way it would’ve happened.“Thomas and Kaelson are trained for the melee.They know how to work together.Chay is trained for individual combat.”
