Page 18 of Brighter Than Gold

I chuckled, and looked up at him, waiting. “It stayed the same,” I said.

“Not a lie,” he replied with a wink. “All right, umm, I know how to sew.”

No change. “I love mackerel.”

I focused, and suddenly the steady thudding of his pulse quickened ever so slightly. “Wait, that was the lie, wasn’t it?”

“Very good,” he praised. “I fucking hate fish.”

“That’s incredible.”

It seemed to lift an invisible weight off of Callan’s shoulders to see me smile.

“On your feet Rats!” Lazio bellowed suddenly.

I took a deep breath, my short distraction ended.

Callan hadn’t yet made a move to stand, he reached out and grabbed my hand. “Stay safe, Princess,” he whispered.

I swallowed hard. I was scared for him. Who knew what he would be forced to do tonight, and if the worst happened, then I would be alone with the Rats.

“You too, general.”

Before long, all the men set out on foot and the camp was eerily quiet. I sat and watched Douland tinker about for a while, but soon my head grew heavy on my shoulders. I fought off my exhaustion for as long as I could, but in the end it won, and I curled under the blanket in my tent and closed my eyes.

* * *

Callan

The Cormie Rats and I trudged back exhausted from the tannery, but I kept to the front of the gang, eager to make sure Reyah was safe back at the camp. It was still dark, dawn was a few hours away. I broke into a jog up the steep hill when I saw her pale skin and dark hair peeking out from the tent flaps.

“Are you all right?” she asked, her eyes roving over me.

I nodded, lowering my body to the ground, and sat with my elbows resting on my knees. It took me a moment to catch my breath and settle my nerves.

A few feet away, Lazio’s men threw more logs onto the dying fire. In no time at all the fire was blazing, the men celebrating their victory with wine and whiskey. As the fire’s light stretched towards us, I felt Reyah’s stare. I looked down at myself, seeing what she saw.

I was covered in blood. None of it my own. I’d done terrible fucking things to innocent people, and I was soaked with the evidence. Of course I felt guilty about it, but there was no end to the sacrifices I would make in order to protect this woman, Princess and future mother to Burke’s child.

I looked up and caught Reyah’s eye, and my stomach dropped at her horrified expression.

“Reyah—”

“You…you killed people?” she whispered. She swallowed several times in quick succession.

I didn’t know how to console her, instinct made me want to reach out and take her hand, but she was looking at me like I was a monster. I suppose she wasn’t entirely wrong to think that.

“I have to do whatever Lazio says in order to keep you safe.”

“No… no don’t say that Callan.” There was a lilt in her voice that told me she was fighting back tears. “I can’t have those people’s blood on my hands!”

The woman started to spiral, I saw the thoughts running through her mind, the guilt and the anguish.

“Look at me, Reyah.”

She shook her head, her breath quickening into hysterical pants. I took her shoulders firmly in my hands and made her face me.

“Look at me, Princess.” I growled the words low enough that only she could hear me. Her pretty blue eyes instantly snapped to mine, and slowly her panic began to cool.

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