The Wind's Call (The Broken Lands #4) - T.A. White Page 0,56
one man's gaze went to where Sebastian hovered behind her. Greed shone in the man's eyes as Sebastian slipped his nose over Eva's shoulder in silent support.
She'd have to keep this man away from Sebastian.
"There's a spring with hot water at the foot of this hill," Eva said in as pleasant a voice as she could manage. "The Trateri said you're welcome to take advantage of it if you'd like."
The man's lip curled. "We don't need nothing from them. If you were smart you wouldn't let them use you up."
The skin around Eva's eyes tightened as she chanted to herself. You are capable; you are strong. Don't let this idiot get to you.
"Let me rephrase that. You will use the water and clean yourself. You smell."
Ollie may not have intended his gesture as an order, but Eva didn't care. These men were an embarrassment. Stubborn for the sake of being stubborn and so wrapped up in their own schemes they couldn't see the nose on their own faces.
The man's expression darkened, his lip curling as he stared at her. Violence hovered.
The Anateri behind her shifted closer, one hand falling to his sword as he leveled a flat stare on the throwaway.
Eva held still as she waited to see if the throwaway would be as dumb as he was acting.
"Vincent," Kent murmured.
Vincent relaxed, his expression shifting to one of derision as he flicked a glance at Eva. "I hope you're happy being their bedwarmer. After this, don't think you'll be getting any favors from us."
Sensing Ollie's mounting fury behind her, she held up a hand. She didn't need her friend getting involved. Eva fixed a haughty look on the man, raising her eyebrow as amusement touched her expression. If he thought to intimidate her, he had better up his game. She'd faced down much scarier people than him.
Trateri who were refused the mount they wanted were notoriously difficult. Their behavior would put this man to shame.
"You'll do exactly what you're told, exactly when you're told to do it." She leaned closer, releasing the smallest bit of the anger that was her constant companion. "That's the agreement your people made with Fallon Hawkvale. I'm sure I don't have to tell you what happens when one of you breaks faith."
She straightened. Everyone in the Lowlands knew the price of such an action. The Trateri weren't merciful to those who tried to weasel out of the deals they'd struck.
And their people had struck that deal. Every one of them came from a village that chose to bow rather than fight. Nothing wrong with that, until you decided you were no longer happy being the subservient party and then tried to take what you were too cowardly to fight for in the beginning.
"You are throwaways," she said with a dark smile. "Your own people cast you aside so they might live."
"You're the same as us," one of the men challenged.
"Don't mistake my situation as the same as yours," Eva said. "I threw my people away, not the other way around. I'm a tagalong. Do your job, and they'll treat you fine. Don't do it and face the consequences."
She whirled, faltering momentarily as she found Caden lingering behind her, his eyes thoughtful as she pushed her way past.
"Have two of ours escort them down," he rumbled in a deep voice.
Eva tried not to feel anything as she retreated toward the section Ollie had claimed, kicking herself for going over there in the first place.
It wasn't the first time one of the Lowlanders had called her a traitor. It wouldn't be the last. For some reason, they took it as doubly offensive when they found a woman in the same position as them. Only she was more accepted. Trusted and treated with respect.
Call it envy or hatred, the end result was the same. A foot in both worlds yet part of neither.
"Do what I say when I say it," Caden's dark voice said next to her. "When are you going to take your own advice?"
She snapped her gaze to the commander, fire lighting deep in her belly at the amusement and condescension she saw in his expression. "I'm a tagalong, not a throwaway," she said, using her own term. "I chose the Trateri, not the other way around. No one forced me to be here. I do what I want."
CHAPTER EIGHT
Eva’s dreams that night were full of dark things, scenes that had never happened. At least not in the way she dreamed them.