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“Yes.”

The newcomer continued across the market toward them. Dreven's tail lowered.

Kesta glanced at him. “You dislike him.”

His silver eyes remained on the approaching male.

“Profoundly.”

Kesta slipped the blue water chit into her pocket and closed the reader.

“Good. I was worried market day might become boring.”

Dreven turned his head. Despite the tension gathering in his shoulders, amusement flickered through his eyes. Then Rath smiled again. And Kesta knew, with absolute certainty, that whatever he had come to trade, it was not water.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

The Offer

Rath crossed Ash Camp’s market as though he had been invited to inspect it. Kesta disliked him before he reached the infirmary awning. It was not his size. He was a little shorter than Dreven, broad through the shoulders and heavily built, with copper-gray skin and a left horn broken close enough to the skull that the old injury had healed into a blunt dark ridge. Nor was it the pale armor worn by the four Red Basin fighters moving behind him.

It was the way he looked at people. His attention never rested anywhere casually. It measured the water queue, the patched condenser pipes, the crowded medical awning and the children watching from behind the market stalls. By the time his gaze finally settled on Kesta, she had the unpleasant impression that Rath had assigned values to half the camp. Then he smiled at her. Not with surprise. Recognition. Dreven had become motionless beside her.

Kesta glanced at him. His expression revealed very little, but the tip of his tail had stopped moving and the muscles beneath his jaw had tightened.

“You know him well?”

“Well enough.”

“That sounds ominous.”

“Rath believes honesty excuses nearly anything if delivered without shame.”

Kesta looked back toward the approaching commander. “I’ve met administrators like that.”

Dreven’s mouth moved faintly, though the humor never reached his eyes. Rath stopped several paces from them.

“Kesta Frank.”

The fact that he knew her full name sent a cold ripple beneath her skin.

She folded her arms. “You have an advantage.”

“Rath of Red Basin.”

“I gathered the Red Basin part.”

His gaze dropped toward the copper markings around her wrist. “Your arrival has become difficult to miss.”

Dreven shifted half a step closer. Not in front of her. Kesta noticed the distinction immediately. Rath did too. His smile widened.

“I had heard Ash Camp’s commander had altered his claim habits. I assumed the stories were exaggerations.”

Dreven’s silver eyes cooled. “Market law protects traders, Rath. It does not require me to enjoy them.”

“Fortunately, I did not come for your enjoyment.”

His attention returned to Kesta.