Mist's Edge (The Broken Lands #2) - T.A. White Page 0,83
how agitated he was.
“Fallon, we need to talk about this. I think Reece is right. I need to go. I need to go back to the Highlands.”
He slammed his cup down; she jumped as her widened eyes landed on him. He advanced on her, only stopping when she took a step back.
He eyed her with determination. “You’re not going anywhere.”
“You don’t understand.”
“I understand that the first time your precious pathfinders beckon, you hearken to their call like a dog to their master.”
“That’s not fair.”
“Isn’t it? Shea, half the time, you act like you’d rather be anywhere but here. You’re always going on about becoming a scout again, but isn’t that just an excuse to hide, to pretend that you’re still one of them?”
She glared at him, her throat tight. “I want to be a scout because it’s what I’m good at. It’s your insecurities that keep me from it. Your fear that holds me back.”
“There are other options than just being a scout. Why can’t you see that?”
It was the same argument, just a different day. “You never asked what I wanted. You just assumed you knew what’s good for me. Well, you don’t. Only I do.”
He shook his head, his face stubborn. “Not in my army you don’t.”
That was the kicker. Everything was his. Not theirs. Shea gritted her teeth. This wasn’t important right now. What Reece had revealed was. “We’re not going to agree on this.”
“We don’t have to. I’ve already made my decision. I’m not changing my mind.”
Shea took a deep breath. “Reece brought up several good points. There is something wrong. The pathfinders might be able to help us.”
“We’ve gotten by until now. No reason we can’t continue doing so.”
The sound that came from her throat was angry and full of frustration. “And you call me stubborn. Fallon, there are things in this world you don’t understand. What you’ve seen so far is merely a pittance of what waits to be unleashed at the heart of the Badlands. If they’re right and the heart is waking, it will be a second cataclysm. You said the last one drove your people from their homes. These lands were once populated with ten times the people. You could walk from one end of it to the next on great roads. The cataclysm changed all that. It destroyed everything. If there is a chance that it’s happening again, we have to do all in our power to stop it.”
Fallon shook his head. “All the more reason to stay out of it. I don’t know these people and I certainly don’t trust them. For all you know this is a trap. You’ve said before how ruthless they are.”
“It’s a chance I’ll have to take.”
“You’re not going. That’s final.”
“Fallon,” Shea protested to his back.
He shook his head and walked out of the tent before she could say more. Stubborn, stubborn man. This wasn’t over.
Shea followed and was brought up short when Trenton stepped into her path with an apologetic look.
“Get out of my way.”
“I’m sorry, Shea. The Warlord has given orders. You’re to stay in the tent for now.”
Shea’s eyebrows climbed nearly to her hairline, and she stared at him with a shock that quickly turned to fury.
“Oh, did he?”
Trenton drew a deep breath. “Yes, and he’s authorized us to use force if necessary.”
Shea was quiet for a moment, her shock and anger filling her with ugly feelings that wanted to burst out. She couldn’t let them. She needed to retain control.
“And you’d do as he asked?”
His nod was somber even as the look in his eyes were apologetic. “I would.”
Shea looked away. There was a tight feeling behind her eyes and a prickling at the bridge of her nose.
“He is my Warlord,” Trenton said in a soft voice.
She nodded, not saying anything for a long moment. When she’d gotten her emotions under control she looked him in the eye. “And here I thought we were becoming friends.”
There was nothing to say to that. Shea turned and walked back into the tent, not acknowledging the soft apology that followed in her wake.
Back in the tent, she moved quickly through the communal area to the bed chamber. She went directly to a trunk at the foot of the bed, kneeling to open it. The trunk held most of Shea’s things—clothes, odd knick-knacks she’d picked up here and there and wanted to keep, including the green jacket that was part of her scout uniform and a knife she’d stolen when she’d appropriated that jacket.