a battle that would clear her name. That victory she would celebrate.
But Lizzan had also just orchestrated her own death. She would not change that fate, not with her family’s honor at stake. And yet . . . the way Aerax looked at her now. The way he spoke her name, his voice so deep and warm. As if everything were not finished between them. It had to be, though.
It had to be.
Throat aching, she shoved her chair back. “I need a drink.”
CHAPTER 13
AERAX
Lizzan had told him that she would find her own way to the alliance. And so she had. Already the southerners and Krimatheans seemed to welcome her as they all celebrated in the public room at the inn. They listened with full attention as she stood on a table to recite the tale of Ilris’s mother—and then they shouted encouragement after Kelir asked her to tell them how she had defeated the bandits at the river.
From a bench at the edge of the room, with nearby seats shoved aside to make space for Caeb’s huge body lounging beside him, Aerax laughed with the others as she made the bandits out to be bumbling fools who had shot crossbow bolts into their own leader before practically impaling themselves on her sword . . . though not one word of it did he truly believe. Bumbling thieves would not have plagued the road for as long as these had. Only the most ruthless and dangerous of thieves could have, and her victory had not been mere luck.
Caeb sat up when his part in the story came. Again there was laughter as Lizzan described something akin to a curious kitten playing with a rolling stinkbug, instead of a savage beast slowly ripping apart a man who’d meant to kill the woman he loved.
“It was well done,” Aerax told him quietly, scratching the cat’s ears. Caeb yawned before resting his big head on Aerax’s lap and purring contentedly.
So Aerax was content, too. That contentment could not last, he knew. Soon he would have to turn again to his purpose. Soon he would fulfill the destiny that the goddess had given him. You must become who you truly are. He might pretend that was a huntsman, as he preferred to be, or the feral prince that Koth had made him. Yet those were what he’d been and what he was—and a villain was what he must become.
But not yet. This night, he would sit content with his eyes and ears and heart full of Lizzan.
At a table nearby, Uland, Degg, and Lady Junica were embroiled in a quiet argument that Aerax paid little attention to. The other Kothans would not acknowledge Lizzan’s presence, let alone fill themselves with her, yet that was not the reason for their discontent. Instead Aerax was likely the reason, after he had told them that he intended to continue north with the southern alliance, instead of first returning south to Krimathe and then traveling with Riasa and her warriors north along the plains road.
Little could they say against his intentions. The alliance with Krimathe was made, the councilors no longer required a snow-haired prop, and a Kothan prince should never be gone from the island longer than necessary. The northern road they were on now was the fastest route back to Koth. There was also no need for him to return to Krimathe with Riasa and wait for her to gather her warriors—Uland and the councilors could lead them north on the plains road.
The only argument they’d made was that they had not enough guards to split into two parties. There Aerax had pointed out that he would have enough protection traveling with the Parsatheans.
He had not said that Lizzan alone would be protection enough.
For she was the true reason he intended to travel north with the alliance. The councilors had known, as well, though they could not refer to her.
Yet even they could not know the full reason . . . that where Aerax would go, Lizzan would also come. For Aerax knew that she’d seen him first coming out of the temple. Just as he’d only seen her before she’d run back inside.
That she’d lied and said it was Seri only meant that she was not done running from him. She’d needed to hide the truth—and Aerax would let her.
But he would not force her to travel with Kothans who spit on her. Better that she travel with the southern alliance and make friends among