Page 210 of Season Warriors & Wolves

I grabbed her hand before she was about to leave too. “Are you going to run away from answering me again?”

“No. But if I tell you to trust me, will you?”

“Always.”

I let her go.

Maybe this time I shouldn’t have done either. Trust or let her go.

Because she lied.

The tent curtains pulled open, and I flinched a little. “The hells, Cai.”

He frowned at me, rushing to put a hand on my brow and another on my pulse. “You look unwell? Shall I call for a healer? What is it, Nia? Where does it hurt, is it your scar again?”

“Cai, I am fine. Not unwell, not the slightest. You on the other hand.”

“Not me,” he said quickly. “Eren, I think his stomach is hurting again. Do you think you can check on him again, he just left for Taren.”

We both knew it was not his stomach. “Why do you care, you don’t even know his middle name.” With that, I pushed past him and left.

“Jonah,” he called after me and I stopped. “His middle name is Jonah. I have no idea why that matters, but please, do this one favour to me.” Lifting a salted caramel candy between us, he waited, the wrapper shaking just like his hand. “Please.”

I took the candy. “You know I hate sweets.”

He smacked a big kiss on my cheek. “Can’t really carry carrots with me at all times, little rabbit.”

Chapter forty-two

Black Knight to B6

Snowlin

The music was louder than usual in Alaric’s favourite old tavern in Fernfoss that had opened after weeks just to house this one last night. The space was packed and most bodies were sweating and laughing away. Perhaps their last days dancing to the sound of strings and drums. They would be marching to them soon.

Nia and Moriko were there first. The Autumn Queen had spent more and more time in Olympia, learning Nia’s culture, interacting with it and letting her spend more time in her city despite her new courtly duties in Hanai as queen consort.

Surprisingly, Mal and Thora arrived both at different times while Cai and Eren came together. My husband was last to arrive and I quickly patted the space beside me for him to sit.

The table had gone through at least five rounds of ale, but I’d only occasionally sipped Kilian’s in an attempt to be conscious enough to remember this night with all of us together before we left to our allocated camps tomorrow.

Kilian’s ears were almost steaming. He glared at his brother and his chosen companion. Mal had brought the woman he often visited in one of his preferred brothels to join us.

Cecilia, was it not? Like that sheep disease. Was it a sheep disease?

I nudged Kil’s shoulder and his jaw tightened. “This was time to spend with family.”

“He clearly sees her a lot and probably considers her family.” I frowned at him. “Don’t tell me that you don’t approve of her because of what she does?”

“I don’t approve of her because she sees no issue in feeding all my brother’s addictions. The drunker, the more tired, the more vulnerable he is, the more pleased she is.” He ran a finger down my cheek in an attempt to smooth my confusion. “They met when he was just sixteen, Snow, and you might have guessed correctly if you thought she must have been older than him. The woman is also an Empath. Make the connections on why she chose my brother who was half her age to be the one that keeps her the richest whore in Adriata.”

“Want me to kill her?” I whispered.

He chuckled, throwing an arm over my shoulders and tucking me to his side. “You think I am below murdering her?”

“A little?”

“It wouldn't be the first, my love, and perhaps not the last that I would and have killed for him. If only…if only I could kill what haunts him inside that thick, fat head of his.”