Page 286 of Salt Between the Wolves

Neither seemed eager to be the first to speak.

Kael shifted slightly beside him, and one of the riders behind Eira glanced between them with poorly concealed curiosity, but Soren ignored both, his attention never leaving her.

Eventually he swung down from his horse, and the movement seemed to break whatever tension had settled over the road.

A moment later Eira dismounted as well.

For several heartbeats neither moved, now close enough to see the faint shadows beneath her eyes, the road dust on her cloak beneath the snow, and to understand exactly how far she had traveled.

The irritation returned, stronger this time, and relief came with it, making the combination unpleasant.

"You shouldn't be here."

The words left him before he considered replacing them with something better, something more welcoming.

Eira stared at him for a second, then one corner of her mouth moved, not quite a smile but dangerously close.

"Hello to you too."

A few of the warriors suddenly found the surrounding snow very interesting, and Kael looked away altogether, but Soren ignored them.

"You crossed half the north."

"So did you."

"I had a reason."

"So do I."

The answer arrived immediately, without hesitation or apology, exactly as he should have expected.

For the first time since seeing her, something inside him eased, not because the situation had improved—it hadn't.

White Pass still waited, Vargan still waited, and war still waited.

But Eira was here, and for reasons he preferred not to examine too closely, that fact alone made the future seem marginally less impossible.

For several moments neither spoke as snow settled across cloaks and shoulders, the road stretching empty behind Eira while the mountains remained silent.

Soren was the first to look away, not from discomfort but from habit, because there was always another problem demanding attention, and this one happened to involve several thousand armed people.

"How many did Leander send with you?"

Eira glanced toward the riders behind her. "Eighteen."

"Too few."

"They were meant to travel quickly."

"Which is not the same thing as safely."

A familiar look appeared in her eyes, the one that usually arrived shortly before an argument.

"I wasn't aware I required permission."

"No," Soren said calmly. "You required better judgment."

Several of her escort exchanged glances, one looking alarmingly close to laughing. Eira noticed, and so did Soren, but neither commented.