Page 138 of Unrivaled
“Did you mention specifics, by chance?”Kadan pressed, a grin, a teasing note, softening his words.
Luca sent him a long-suffering look that was answer enough.I was forcibly reminded of how out of my depth I was, watching them playing this game from the outside.Give me horses, swords, fighters—sure.This dance I couldn’t follow.Or I wouldn’t.Alongside the rush of resentment was a little flicker of relief that I hated even more than the dark anger.
I didn’t want to be grateful to Luca for marrying her and protecting her from worse.
Every morning, I walked past her bed, full of mountains of blankets even in summer.Would Luca move into her tower, or simply visit her?Would I have to creep past his sleeping form?Watch as he fawned over her, proving how little he knew?
Would she hear me, if I tried to tell her again?If I spoke gently, without blame?
The thought of her shrinking made my guts to liquid.
She’d respect the broad strokes of what Luca was doing, I was sure of that.She wouldn’t agree with everything, but she’d understand that he was doing what he could and what he knew to bring about change.
She could be the warrior Queen he’d need.
“Have you considered that she might want to stay in La’Angi?”I asked Luca, without thinking the question through.
He glanced at me, and for a moment I saw the flicker of something cold and calculating, something deep, that chilled me.“I expect she’ll want to keep the family together,” he said, as if the idea was foreign.“I can’t imagine why she’d want to remain there.It’s full of ghosts for her.”
Silence fell for a moment as Kadan and I both stared at Luca.
“Have you seen how hard she’s worked for this?”I asked, waving a hand in the direction of the faire.
“There are people everywhere who need her,” Luca said, with a quick shrug.
The fury in my veins burned uncomfortably hot.I took a moment to breathe, but the air acted like a bellows, fueling the fire.The moment made space for all the memories I had of her.Memories of winter, and plague, of grief and fear.Memories of her unwavering determination.Mayhap shewouldcare equally about people everywhere, but these wereherpeople.Any fool could feel it.
“A history that isn’t all sunshine is stillherhistory,” I told him, flatly.
“I haven’t heard her mention a family,” Kadan said, lifting his brows, and I resented that change in topic for a moment.She deserved to be allowed tochoose.
I couldn’t even consider the topic of family.We all knew what she’d be expected to do, and Luca seemed happy enough to maintain those expectations.
The door opened before Luca would respond.A tall, whip-lean man stepped in.He wore standard garb for a local, but his dark hair was long, pulled back in a horsetail, and his ears were pierced with small silver cuffs.The scar where one had sat in his brow was all that remained of the facial piercing.He didn’t glance around as he shut the door behind himself.
Luca stood.“Hello, Wuden,” he said, offering his hand.
The name, paired with the glimpse of hawk-like nose and long, angular face, jolted my memory.
I’d met Southerners.They didn’t all look like they were related to Ylva.This one was older.I couldn’t put a face to the nameWuden,though, nor trace it back to its source.Isolde?Ylva herself?Audrey?Those days had been a blur of horrors and hope.
The man ignored Luca’s outstretched hand.For a moment he stilled, his head cocked to one side, his brilliant blue eyes fixed on the middle distance as he focused on something beyond our understanding.
A chill went over me.For just a moment I was back in a headlong gallop, watching Audrey’s seat in her saddle, helpless to do anything if she fell.
She hadn’t.She’d stayed glued to Storm.
She’d only come unstuck hours later, in the dead of night, with no men on her walls to open her gates and her safe person lost to the violence of Ylva’s rescue.
The man’s eyes cut to me.It felt like he was reading my soul.
Here was our Southern rebel.But only one, and not three.I glanced at Kadan, who returned my look impassively.I realized, in that moment, that though I’d been invited by Luca, the invitation had truly come from Kadan.He hadn’t asked me along to keep Luca’s neck whole, but because he trusted me to make the right call when the dice were thrown.
It made my mouth go dry, but I knew my place.I stood, breaking the spell and offering the Southerner my seat.I didn’t merely stand in front of the door but set my heel against the base of it.No one was forcing their way in.
“I said three men,” he said, to Luca, stopping beside the chair.
Luca waved a hand at me.“I’ve two friends with me only, as you can see.”
