gurgled, hoping a fresh meal might tumble to them by happenstance.
“Is Nic well tonight?” Stormbreaker inquired, his voice tight.
“As well as might be expected, given the worries we all share.” Dari had answered him out of habit, but she found herself staring at him, surprised by the force of his question.
Stormbreaker’s next comment shocked her even more. “It’s good that he could offer you ease when I could not.”
“Wha—are you—do you think—” Dari almost laughed at him, at the implication that she had met Nic for some romantic purpose, but she thought better of it.
First Aron, now Stormbreaker.
Did both of them believe she was secretly having some tryst with Nic?
The idea struck her as ridiculous. Nic was her friend, her companion. Nothing more.
Yet she did share an ease with him she had never known with another person save for her twin. And she did seek his company over everyone else’s—but that was because he helped her relax and he made her laugh. Besides, she had a responsibility to Nic, as she once felt a responsibility toward Aron, to see to his training and safety.
Dari would have discussed this with Stormbreaker, likely with some volume and emphasis, but they had reached the entrance courtyard, and two riders thundered through the archway.
Dari recognized the first man by the way he handled his horse, despite the fact that he had let his beard grow even longer, and that he was dressed in the breeches and cloak of a farmer, without his signature battle helm.
“Lord Cobb,” Stormbreaker said as the man pulled up sharply in front of Lord Baldric, and dismounted in a single fluid motion.
The other rider was less at ease on horseback, and much taller and more muscled than his companion. His hands were gloved and his face was wrapped in silken scarves like he hailed from Dyn Altar’s deserts, and for a moment Dari was reminded of Canus the Bandit. No trace of legacy issued from the second rider, but he felt familiar to Dari.
As the taller man reined his mount, that sense of familiarity doubled, and doubled again.
She was running toward him before she fully understood that she was moving, her heart pounding so fast she wondered if she would faint before she reached him. She released the protections she had wrapped around Nic, and concentrated only on her strides, on the wind in her face, and on the man in front of her.
Stormbreaker shouted to her, but Dari ignored him. All of Triune faded away from her as the rider turned in her direction, then removed the scarves from his face. Moonslight struck his high cheekbones and arched nose, playing off his dark skin and the rich, fragrant oil in his tightly cropped curls.
As he pulled off his gloves to reveal his large, powerful hands, Stormbreaker’s calls ceased, and Lord Baldric bowed his head.
Dari reached her grandfather in two steps, and threw herself into his waiting embrace.
“He wouldn’t wait,” Lord Cobb was explaining to Lord Baldric. “Not another day. Not another hour. It was this, or he would have landed a contingent of Sabor in your fields and gardens to make certain he reached her.”
Lord Ross’s arms closed around Dari, crushing the air out of her lungs as his deep voice grumbled a greeting only she could hear.
“It’s a fine thing,” Lord Ross said, “when I must take my Guard and go to war, just to see my own family.”
CHAPTER FIFTY-EIGHT
ARON
As dawn broke over the Ruined Keep, Aron’s body ached, and his head burned like his mind might catch fire and drive him into madness along with his captor. He kept dreaming he saw a glow about Falconer, bright light, like the silvery light spilling off the goddess who had so often sought to deceive him in his visions. Sometimes he thought he saw the goddess, and during those moments, Falconer would thrash and kick in his sleep, and moan like someone was torturing him. Once Aron even imagined he saw Dari standing with the goddess, holding her arm, as if lending the terrible phantasm the strength of her Stregan graal.
“No,” he whispered, surprised to hear the hoarse rattle of his own voice. His words sounded slurred as he said, “Leave Dari alone. Leave her alone!”
Aron closed his eyes, and when he startled awake some time later, Falconer was gone. Aron realized he was probably getting rid of the bodies of the hunters—whatever the manes hadn’t consumed.
In moments, the Thorn Brother would come back, and he would haul Aron