lips. I wished we hadn’t had to lie to her. “I hope our paths will cross again.”
Edan and I waved goodbye as Orksan and his family left. Vachir wasn’t among the group; I hadn’t seen him since midsummer’s night. That unsettled me, but there was nothing to be done.
“I think you’ll like her more than Pumpkin,” Edan said, handing me the reins of my new horse. “Balardan mares aren’t as strong as A’landan ones, but they’re fiercely loyal.” He chuckled. “She’s even got freckles like you.”
I approached my new horse carefully. Pumpkin used to kick whenever I got too close. “Does she have a name?”
“In Balardan, but Orksan welcomed you to pick a new one. I’m naming mine Rook.”
“I’ll call her Opal.”
Opal’s freckles were like dots of honey, but the rest of her mane and coat were white as silk. She gave off a little neigh when I reached out to touch her cheek. I fell in love with her immediately.
“You like her more than me,” Edan pouted.
“That’s not hard to do.” I petted her mane again; then I offered Edan a small smile. “But thank you.”
He cleared his throat. “Have you finished the shoes?”
I huffed at the reminder. By my calculations, I was at least a week behind in my sewing. I took out my needle, certain I could finish embroidering one of Lady Sarnai’s sleeves before we were off again. “No. My own are in good repair, and I need to work on the sun-woven dress.”
“I suggest you readjust your priorities.” He pointed to the Mountains of the Moon rising in the distance. While most of the mountains had gentle, sloping curves, one was so steep I almost mistook it for a pine tree. Even in the summer, it was capped with snow. “See that?”
“Rainmaker’s Peak,” I said, nodding. My hands worked while I glanced up. “It looks like a needle piercing the sky.”
“You’ll be climbing that.”
“What?” I gasped. “It’d be suicide.”
“Not with the proper shoes.”
With a sigh, I put aside my work and riffled through my sketchbook for the design Edan had drawn. I reached for my scissors to start cutting the leather. It was becoming habit to use them now, and I appreciated the help. They instinctively knew the size of my foot, and within minutes I had a perfectly good sole to work off.
“How will you enchant them?” I asked, holding the sole up to my foot.
“With magic that’ll get you to the peak. Alive.”
“What about down?” I asked.
Edan mounted his horse, motioning for me to do the same. “We’ll worry about that later.”
Up ahead was the Dhoya Forest, but we followed the river until we absolutely had to leave it.
We stopped to rest at a small, bubbling spring. I washed some of my clothes and fought the urge to leap into the water for a bath. Not in front of Edan, anyway. Still, it was good to wash my face for the first time in weeks. My skin was still healing, but already the cooler, more humid weather was helping with the blisters and peeling.
Edan watched the sky, a grim expression darkening his face. “We can’t take too long here.”
I scrubbed at my palms. “Why not?”
“We’re close to the mountains, but we need to cut farther north if we’re going to reach Rainmaker’s Peak. The next full moon is in four days. And night in the forest is dangerous.”
I frowned. I hadn’t seen him work his magic since we’d collected the silk thread from the desert. “Now that we’re out of the desert, can’t you use your magic to bring us through the forest safely?”
Edan pursed his lips. “That’s not how it works.”
“Then tell me.”
“You should learn to use a dagger,” he said, changing the subject. “There will be far more dangers here than in the Halakmarat.”
“Why?” I wrung the bottom of my shirt dry. “Because you’re planning to disappear again at night?” I didn’t wait for him to come up with an excuse. “Where do you go, anyway?”
“I go to my tent, just like you,” said Edan, wariness tightening his voice.
My fists curled at my sides. “Stop lying to me. I’m tired of it. You might think me a fool, but I’ve been around you long enough to know you’re keeping something from me—”
“Maia,” he said. “Calm yourself.”
“I will not calm down!” I shouted. “I was attacked by wolves, and where were you? You came back with a gash on your arm and never explained how you got it. And