It was the next part that gave him trouble, the sliding forward and easing into position behind Dari, then gripping her waist as Blath raised her huge wings to fly them out of Dyn Cobb.
As wind blasted against his face, his senses, his very essence, he forced himself to keep his hands perfectly still, lest she take offense to any of his movements.
Why do I torture myself?
And yet how would I even begin to change what I feel for her?
• • •
The sun was bright in the morning sky by the time Blath landed in the Den courtyard. It was so late that the fael’feis was finished as well, and most of Stone was already about the day’s business. Blath had flown low and wide the last length they had traveled, to avoid villages and passersby and entered Stone with the High Master’s towers for cover, but her muscles had grown tighter with each moment they were so exposed. When they rejoined each other in the courtyard after changing into fresh clothing, Blath’s first words to Dari were, “Our trips need to stretch overnight, and we should shelter during the next day. We cannot take such chances so frequently.”
All the aches in Aron’s muscles intensified when he saw Dari’s wordless, pained surrender to this pronouncement. He wished Blath would head inside to the Den and leave him to talk with her, to see if he might finally find the comforts that would matter to Dari—but he had no fortune in that respect. Blath seemed opposed to leaving them alone for long stretches, except on hunts for Kate, and even then, she was overly attentive the moment they returned to her sight. He sought to catch the Sabor woman’s eye to try to signal her to give them some privacy, but she seemed opposed to that, too.
Aron considered asking Blath about why she didn’t like him, especially after she had saved his life and he had saved hers the night before, but the bells along the battlement began to ring. It was a quick pattern, and he couldn’t help gazing up at the nearest bell cove. “Stone Guild, coming home from a journey.”
Dari’s brow furrowed, as did Blath’s. “There are no traveling parties due to return today,” Blath said as Iko came out of the Den door to shadow Aron. Raaf wasn’t with him, but only because the boy was likely be waiting near the stables with Tek already saddled for Aron’s mid-morning talon-back weapons training. Windblown had taken Zed on a hunt, but they weren’t due back for many days.
“Where’s Stormbreaker?” Aron asked Iko, fighting the sudden lurch of unease that threatened what little store of energy he yet possessed for the day. “We bring news of Canus the Bandit.”
Dari’s expression and even Blath’s mirrored Aron’s distress as Iko responded. “The High Master went to the main gate over an hour ago. He has been waiting there, watching over the horizon.”
As if they were possessed of one mind, Dari and Blath started for the main gate and keep at the same moment Aron did, and Iko followed only a step behind. After the night of poking about darkened village doorways, checking barns and stables, questioning Stone informants, and standing down dragons, the walk seemed overly long to Aron. His breath came shorter with each step, but his curiosity and concern didn’t wane with his body.
“Perhaps someone happened upon Canus the Bandit or his nine terrified outlaws,” he murmured, doing what he could to ignore a fierce stab of disappointment at that thought. Other than Dari’s presence, the thought of capturing the outlaw raider was the only thing that stirred Aron’s emotions to the point where he felt completely real and fully human.
“I doubt that,” Dari said. “I can’t believe Canus would get himself captured so easily—and those nine are probably still running, and may run all the way to the shore and sea in Dyn Mab. When Stone goes after that dark-hearted monster, they’ll have to send the best at Triune.”
“It will be whoever draws a stone on the bandit,” Blath reminded her. “Fate rules such decisions, not Lord Baldric or any of his guildsmen.”
They reached the main keep and walked quickly through the rock passageway marking the keep’s center. In moments, they reached the courtyard, just as the main gate began to open. Aron spotted Stormbreaker coming down from the battlements, with Raaf hurrying along in his wake. Energy sparked around Stormbreaker like a thick yellow-black cloud, and thunder