The Wind's Call (The Broken Lands #4) - T.A. White Page 0,55
same to her?
She started toward the group as Ollie strolled up to her, using a towel to rub at his wet hair. "You going to talk to them?"
She shrugged. There was no judgment in his tone, just curiosity.
"Might as well. This trip is supposed to take weeks. I'd like to know the people I'm traveling with."
The better to separate the troublemakers from allies, she thought.
He grunted, even as amusement curled one corner of his mouth. He knew her past. Some of it anyway. There were parts she kept to herself because no one but her needed to know those bits.
He knew she didn't normally hang around the throwaways, didn't eat with them, or talk to them the few times their paths crossed. It wasn't because she didn't want their stigma to rub off on her as some of those who had embraced the Trateri feared. She simply didn't have time for some of their narrow-minded ways.
“Hey, thanks for brushing down Caia,” Eva said.
Ollie looked briefly startled. “That wasn’t me.”
She cocked her head. “Who was it then?”
Ollie glanced Caden’s way before trying to smother a smile. “I wonder.”
Eva frowned at the implication and examined the commander closely, the insinuation not lost on her.
“Maybe he felt guilty for earlier,” Ollie teased.
She snorted. “Unlikely.”
He’d have to feel he did something wrong to feel guilty.
Ollie shrugged. “You never know.”
Eva rolled her eyes. He was always the first to give someone the benefit of the doubt.
"If you're going to talk to them, see if you can get them to take a bath. The warriors will be done with the hot spring soon." The two of them glanced at the throwaways. "I think they'll be more likely to listen if that tidbit comes from you."
Probably. The throwaways might be part of the Trateri army, but they were unwilling participants, liable to resist and mouth-off whenever they thought they could get away with it. If Ollie went over there to suggest they take the opportunity to bathe, they were likely to refuse out of spite.
"Some of them stink. I don't think they were making use of the communal shower tents back at camp," Ollie muttered. For a Trateri, the words were considered a high insult.
Barbarians they might appear to many in the Lowlands, but they took pride in their appearance and hygiene. Cleanliness was important to them.
Eva found herself unsurprised to hear that the throwaways might not have showered. If these men were anything like the ones from her village, they would consider bathing in front of others as beneath them.
Eva squeezed Ollie's arm before starting across the camp, conscious of Drake shadowing her and Sebastian keeping pace with a lazy shamble.
She shot the Kyren an irritated glance. "Is there a reason you're following me?"
He grumbled under his breath.
Eva shook her head before continuing. She pasted a friendly smile on her face as she neared the five throwaways. One of them noticed her approach and said something in a low voice to the others. Suddenly she was the focus of the entire group.
Out of the corner of her eye, she caught Jason looking at them with interest as he slowly chewed the forkful of stew he'd put in his mouth. His gaze was alert and sardonic as if she'd proved some inner bet of his.
A short man with a stocky build and blocky features spat on the ground, narrowly missing Eva's boots. "Might as well turn your ass back around. We don't want you over here."
Eva took a deep breath. The sting from his words didn't land. She wouldn't let them. She'd made her choice long ago, and she'd known at the time her fellow Lowlanders would judge her harshly for it. That was alright. She was happy with her decision.
She didn't speak for a long moment, conscious of how those Trateri within hearing distance had paused, looking over at them with careful expressions.
Eva looked away from the short man, making sure to glance at each of the others in turn. Kent, the redheaded man who'd helped earlier avoided her gaze, glancing away as his shoulders curled toward his ears. Misery reflected off his face. He might not be happy with the way she was being talked to by the short man, but he wasn't going to do anything about it.
That was okay, Eva told herself even as heat moved up her neck. It made this entire journey that much easier. If they wanted to ignore her, she'd do the same for them.