not even be seen. And perhaps they did not see Lizzan, but they saw her shining Kothan armor and took offense to it being worn by a coward.
They fell silent so quickly that Aerax suspected Lady Junica had given them one of the razored glances that she used to slice people to shreds.
Lizzan’s gaze was on the soldiers, her expression tight. Aerax knew not if any had been her friends while she served in the Kothan army . . . yet by the set of her jaw, he suspected at least one of them must have been.
The shunning had to be so much harder for Lizzan than it had ever been for him. Born nameless, he’d never had friends to lose. At least outside Koth, she didn’t have to bear seeing those whom she’d once fought beside shun and insult her.
Nor would she now. If they wished to learn what a feral prince truly was, they only needed to insult her again.
“At last we are ready,” Ardyl said to Aerax. “Your party is set to leave?”
Watching Lizzan, Aerax grunted an affirmative.
“Who is the lead guard?”
“That is I,” said Sen, a brown-haired woman whom Aerax had thought well of until the mutters had begun.
“We have asked Vela’s Chosen to serve as our escort through this unfamiliar territory,” Ardyl told them. “I understand that your people will not see or hear her. But take care what you ignore—if she gives us warning and you pretend not to hear it, and by doing so bring more danger upon us, I will slice your ears from your head. If you have issue with that, say so now.”
Her gaze swept the councilors and guards, who all remained silent—either because they had no issue with it, or because they could not even acknowledge Ardyl’s warning by Kothan law, since it regarded Lizzan. Aerax knew not what the reason was and cared less.
As if satisfied by their response, Ardyl nodded. “Kelir and I ride at the head, while Ferek and Raceni ride at the tail. Between us, arrange yourselves in any order you wish. We only ask that you do not speed ahead of us or fall behind—and do exactly as we say if any threat appears.”
“They will,” Aerax said.
“Let us ride, then.” Ardyl reined her horse around and set off.
Aerax nudged his horse forward. Angling toward him, Lizzan’s gray gelding trotted beside his. She held out the sloth’s bladder, washed and bulging with the meat she’d stuffed into it.
“If Caeb is hungry later, this is what remains of his breakfast.”
“You treat him as if still a kitten,” Aerax grumbled, and glared at the cat, who looked full pleased with himself again. “Leave that for some other weak and starving animal. If Caeb is hungry later, he can catch a squirrel.”
“There are no squirrels in this jungle.” Her eyes laughed at him. “Stop poking at our helpless kitten and take it.”
Obediently, Aerax took the heavy bladder. “Your heart is too soft for him. You’d best pray he doesn’t step on a thorn, or by the time we reach Koth, he will be riding your horse while you walk beside it.”
Though that would not happen. Because then Aerax would give to Lizzan his mount, and he would be the one walking.
Her grin said that she knew it, as well. “You are merely jealous.”
That she had fed Caeb small bites that had been lovingly cut up by her knife? “I am,” Aerax admitted, even as he watched her smile vanish—as if she realized that only friends might tease each other as she’d just teased him. “For I must be a stranger to you, but he will not be.”
For a long breath, Lizzan searched his gaze, the lake blue of her eyes full of shadowed depths. With a short nod, she finally urged her gelding to a faster pace and caught up with Ardyl, riding ahead.
This time the mutters were about him. A resentful “someone believes he doesn’t have to obey the law” reached his ears, and Aerax would have paid it no mind but for the surprising response.
“Because he does not,” Degg snapped, turning in his saddle. “His name is written in Varrin’s own book, and that is set above the Book of Law. So mind your tongues.”
Lady Junica’s brows arched high and she gave to Aerax a questioning look. He shrugged in response. A profound effect Lizzan’s words must have had on Degg, for he seemed not to be starting anew but leaping straight to Aerax’s defense.