reassure him that her riches didn’t matter anymore. But it was more than that. He knew it was. “How do you know your destiny, Caleb?” she asked him quietly.
“It was decided long ago.”
Every word she spoke was like a knife to her heart though she didn’t know why. She didn’t want to know the answers, and yet she was powerless not to question him. She knew he hated her father and would avenge the land, but he had promised to spare her father’s life. There was something else that plagued him.
“By who, Caleb? Who decided your destiny?”
He looked away from her large, questioning eyes. “I…”
“Giving the princess the grand tour of our illustrious village?” Jonas appeared before them and patted Caleb’s back.
“Yes,” Caleb answered, returning his gaze to her. The thing he was about to tell her drifted away with the slight breeze that blew Willow’s hair across her face.
Willow heard the exchange, but she was not listening. She stared into Caleb’s eyes knowing that whatever it was he was trying to tell her would tear them apart. He knew it too, for his regret poured over her making her feel cold and alone.
“How’s your sister?”
“Better.” Caleb finally turned to Jonas and put his hand on his friend’s shoulder. “Why don’t you go pay her a visit? She’s no longer betrothed.”
But Jonas shook his head. “Which means she will want to fight with us again. You should have let her marry Ermile.”
He left them and Caleb watched him go. “Stubborn oaf.”
Willow watched Jonas depart as well. The Warrior exuded self-confidence and strength, but when it came to Shauna, he looked like a boy unsure of his own steps. “He would rather let the woman he loves marry someone else than see her fight again.” She looked after him and wiped her eyes. “Jonas is a different man than what I’d first considered.”
“Yes,” Caleb agreed. “He mystifies at times.”
Willow was only partially relieved the previous conversation was over, feeling like she had escaped certain death, but hating to have the knowledge of it linger over her for days.
“But he doesn’t forget that Shauna chose things to be this way,” he told her.
“Yes, but she didn’t choose them for the reasons you believe, Caleb.”
“Willow, just take a look at my house. She surrounds herself in luxury while our neighbors sometimes go days without food. She runs off with the fool and almost gets taken by Catchers…!” He let his words trail off.
“She might truly like her riches. I don’t know,” Willow told him. “But they are not the reason she left Shondravar and agreed to marry Ermile. She went because Jonas wanted her to leave the Warriors.”
“And so she left us anyway,” Caleb pointed out, “and blamed Jonas for it.”
“He broke her heart.”
“She broke his,” he countered.
“He shouldn’t have tried to live her life for her. First he trains her to fight and then he tells her to stop.”
“She had been injured and it frightened him,” he told her sounding irritated.
“Is it safe to walk back to the cottage without you?” she threw at him.
“Of course. No Catcher would dare—”
“Because I would prefer to be alone.” She turned on the ball of her foot and headed back, hoping he didn’t follow.
He didn’t.
She made it back safely to the house and went directly to her room. She was angry enough to not want to see him for the rest of the night. But when she saw the small chest of drawers by her bed with the lily in the vase and the figurine, she sat on the edge of the bed and thought about the future.
She didn’t care if he was stubborn. She loved him. She was sure she did. The thought of being without him was unbearable. She trusted him. She wondered if she would ever feel safe with anyone but him.
Someone knocked on her door. Was it him, come to beg her forgiveness for speaking to her through his teeth?
She opened the door and smiled at Shauna standing on the other side.
“I thought I heard you return.”
“Come inside.” Willow moved aside to let her enter then shut the door and invited Shauna to sit in one of her own chairs. “Do you need help with supper?”
“No. It’s Caleb’s turn to prepare it,” Shauna let her know with a sigh.
“Are you all right?”
“Yes,” Caleb’s sister told her, falling into a chair nearest the window. “I just miss him.”
“Ermile?” Willow asked.
Shauna dipped her brow at her. “Jonas. Although if Caleb asks, tell him