Page 68 of Arrows and Gems
“I think Tucker was more worried by the hurried exit than he would have been by that information,” she observed without thinking.
“Yes,” Cap sighed, his shoulders sagging. “I made the wrong choice. Again.”
“Cap,” Helena said with concern, “you’re allowed to make mistakes.”
“My mistakes could cost lives, Margit.” His voice had a harsh edge as he looked away. “This one would have cost yours if Erwan was better at following orders he disagrees with. If it had been any other guard that found you...”
“You came after me,” she offered. “You would have caughtup.”
“Again, if it were any other guard, my actions would have put people in danger. He is not the only one that knows my face.”
“The name you threw away must have been quite popular,” Helena mused. “What was it, again?”
A branch snagged some of her hair. Wincing, she twisted in the saddle to pull it free, then froze when it curled away from her.
“Cap,” she whispered, “Do we have any magic-users in the camp? Or should I be worried?”
She heard his boot scuff on the feldspar under their feet before he released an exasperated sigh. “Jean, save your energy for finding a campsite. Leave Margit alone.”
Looking back, Helena saw the forester’s hands curled in strange shapes at his waist. He dropped them with a grin, and the wood sprang back to its normal shape.
“Sorry, Cap, I couldn’t resist. You officially accepted Margit a week ago, but she hadn’t been initiated yet.”
“If you used magic on that branch just now, why didn’t I feel it?”
“Because I sent it through the ground into the tree,” Jean-haut replied with a wink. “If you had touched the branch, you might have felt it.”
“Why not send it through the air?” she asked. “Were you trying to take me by surprise? Or can you not do that?”
“Oh, I can,” he assured her. “But air isn’t my element, nor have I trained with it, so it’s not an efficient medium for me. It takes less magic to send it through the ground.”
“So your element is earth?”
He shook his head. “Water. But there’s enough moisture in the cracks of the rocks to ease my way.”
“And Rouge’s element is fire?” Helena asked.
Cap raised an eyebrow. “Are you sure you’re not a spy?”
Brushing it off, Helena replied, “Just observant. I had plenty of time to watch people while I was growing up. When I wasn’t looking for an adventure, that is.”
“Your sheltered life included adventures?” Jean-haut asked.
She hesitated. “They were very personal adventures.”
“Like harassing your brother when he came to visit?” Cap interjected wryly.
She smiled down at him. “Exactly.”
“So what happened with your brother and his young lady?” Jean-haut asked. “Did she send him packing after her encounter with you?”
“You got to marryKaty? It’s not fair!”
Taking a deep breath, she shoved the painful memory aside and focused on the two men walking beside her horse. She had been angry and full of dashed hopes a year ago, but she wasn’t alone anymore. She had friends. Real friends, whose care for her didn’t depend on familial relationships or concern for her title. She didn’t need to be jealous that Axel and his childhood sweetheart were happy together.
“She married him,” Helena said simply.
“You didn’t try to stop it?” Jean-haut teased.
