Page 68 of Bull Moon Rising

When I recover, Hawk is looming over me, a heavy frown on his face. He hauls me up to my feet, brushing me off, and then cups my face in one hand, studying it. “What’s wrong with you?”

I manage a faint smile, downplaying the situation. I don’t want him to realize why I’m so stressed. “It’s nothing. Just feeling a little ill.”

He pulls his canteen out and pops the cork free, offering it to me. “Drink.” Turning, he says to the others, “We’ll go back to town. Let you rest. We’re pushing you too hard.” And then his gaze lingers on me. He reaches out and tucks a lock of scraggly hair behind my ear. “I’m sorry.”

I just sip the water, feeling like the worst woman alive. I should tell him that we haven’t been worked too hard. That I’m not sick because I’m overtired, I’m sick because the knot of anxiety in my gut seems to be growing larger by the moment. But I can’t say anything.

It never occurred to me that my two lives might collide. That someone from my past might show up in my present…and now I have no idea what to do if it happens again.

TWENTY-TWO

ASPETH

14 Days Before the Conquest Moon

Hawk hired anearby woodcutter to cart us back to Vastwarren that night, and we spent the whole next day catching up on sleep. The next morning, we head to the guild library. There, Magpie goes over the history of Old Prell and common types of artifacts that are found in the tunnels. Normally I’d love this sort of thing. I love talking about the PrellianEmpire with others, and nothing excites me more than artifact discussion. But I can’t concentrate. Barnabus’s return hangs over my head like an executioner’s axe.

I’ve been woefully blind to the dangers here. Anyone who recognizes me could blackmail me. They could demand funds from my father—funds that aren’t there. We could be exposed in an instant.

Destroyed in a heartbeat, and no one would do more than shrug. Their fortune was gone, someone would point out. Their artifacts gambled away. What did they expect?

I stare at the book in front of me, not seeing a single page. It’s a book on the pottery of Old Prell, and there aren’t enough copies for all the students, so I’m sharing with Kipp, who turns the pages with the sticky end of his tongue. The Prellian Empire was famous for its ceramics and the sorts of things they enchanted the jars and vases with. I know everything in the book already, but I’ve never seen this particular reference and part of me knows I’m going to regret being unable to concentrate. Yet every time I try to focus, I see Barnabus on his horse. I think of what will happen if he finds out I’m here in Vastwarren and not high in the mountains, safely ensconced in Honori Hold and weeping bitter tears over our broken engagement.

He’ll make a move if he knows I’m here. At home we’re surrounded by retainers and guardsmen who have no idea that our artifacts are gone. They blindly trust in my father’s might. Their lives are at stake, too.

Should I turn around and leave, then? Go back home and marry someone like Barnabus and reinforce our family’s holdings through a connection? Or is it already too late because Barnabus knows I’m here? If he lets that out, I’ll be ruined.

There’s also a small matter of my Taurian husband, but I’m tackling one problem at a time. Even if I can’t make our marriage work long-term, I at least owe it to him to be here for the Conquest Moon. He needs a partner, though he acts as if any woman wouldn’t be falling all over herself to get together with him and that mouth of his—

“Aspeth?”

I look up, startled. “I—yes?” I grab the page to turn it, pretending like I was paying attention. My fingers encounter Kipp’s slithery, stickytongue instead and I squeal in horror. The slitherskin makes a choked sound, pulling back and putting a hand to his mouth with a wounded expression that readsHow dare you. “I’m sorry,” I manage, embarrassed. “Could you repeat the question?”

“I asked if we were boring you,” Magpie says. Her graying hair is pulled back from her round face in a tight braid today, emphasizing a hint of cheekbones. She looks better than she has in the last while, though her hands still shake with tremors at times. Lark says this is a good sign, though. Hawk doesn’t agree. He’s still waiting for her to falter again.

“Oh, I’m not bored,” I exclaim, putting on my simpering noblewoman act and beaming at her. “I love Prellian pottery.”

“Excellent. Remind me of the piece we were just talking about and the common things to look for?” Her dark, heavy brows go up.

Um. I eye the page in the book in front of me. There’s a drawing of a fluted, thin bud vase with a rounded flare at the base. Looking at it makes me think of Hawk and the knot he’s supposed to get at the time of the Conquest Moon. I stare at it, trying to think of non-phallic characteristics. “Ah…”

“Leave her alone,” Hawk says, voice gruff at the back of the room. “You know Aspeth’s knowledge isn’t a problem when it comes to artifacts.”

I hadn’t realized Hawk was even in the library with us. He must have joined after we’d sat down. I glance over my shoulder at him and see his big form stretched on a bench near the wall, his hooves sprawled out in front of him, arms crossed over his chest. He slouches like a man of leisure, ironic given that his guild coat is taut over his thick arms….

“If she’s so knowledgeable, she needs to share with her companions.” Magpie’s expression is unyielding. “We don’t have time to waste. Not now.”

He straightens in his seat, hooves squarely upon the floor. Hawk leans forward, one hand on his knee as he studies Magpie. “What do you mean, exactly?”

“Remember when Lord Jent decided to go to war with that big coastal hold? And he called in a special request to the guild? We sent out teams of students fresh from the schoolroom and only half of them madeit out alive, but that wasn’t a problem for Lord Jent because he got the artifacts he needed and quickly. We’ve a similar situation now. Lord Chatworth has asked for additional teams to be sent to the tunnels to look for artifacts. He’s going to war and he’s willing to pay top price to do so.”

I can feel the blood drain from my face. My entire body, actually. I’m just a numb lump of flesh, unable to move, to speak, to breathe.

Chatworth Hold is going to war.

I can guess who he’s going to attack. I want to shoot a panicked look to Gwenna but I don’t dare turn around to meet her gaze.

This is the nightmare situation I was dreaming of. Worse, even.

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