Page 55 of Heart of Defiance

Jostein surveys the outer walls of my cabin with an unreadable expression. “So, this was your home after you left your aunt and uncle’s house.”

I nod, my arms coming up to hug myself loosely. In the thin early morning light, the weathered logs and crooked door seem more depressing than I remember.

Iko steps closer to me and presses a kiss to my temple. “Hey, it looks a damn sight better than the rest of the buildings in town right now.”

His teasing tone manages to bring a smile to my lips, if a bittersweet one. The Darium soldiers missed my cabin in their fiery rampage—not bothering to venture into the woods, I guess. All the structures on the familiar streets have crumpled into blackened cinders.

I glance instinctively toward the treetops in the direction of the hill that held our memorial. They didn’t skip those stone walls, even though they couldn’t burn them. The limestone slabs lie scattered and cracked across the hilltop.

We’ll pay them back today. Whether it changes the course of Velduny’s future or not, they’ll know their brutality has its own consequences.

I run my fingers through my hair, still slightly damp from the quick dip I took in the river. Maybe we should have stayed by the water’s edge, enjoying the peaceful burbling while we can.

But I’d wanted to see whether my old home was still standing.

“It wasn’t so bad living here,” I say. “No one usually came out this way, so I had the spot to myself away from the judgments. I learned a lot, having to find and hunt my own food, mend any tools I needed.”

Jostein slips his hand around mine. “I suppose it’s hard to say I wish you’d lived differently when I don’t know who you’d be without what you’ve endured. But I hope we can make every day from here forward bright enough to erase some of those old hurts.”

I squeeze his fingers, smiling at him and then Iko. “You already have. I can’t regret anything that brought me to you.”

Iko beams back at me. I think he’s going to dip farther to claim a deeper kiss, but at the same moment, the crackle of the underbrush brings the three of us whirling around.

My pulse only has the chance to lurch once before I recognize the gleam of coppery hair on the approaching figure. Relief sweeps away every other emotion I was feeling.

Landric, looking no worse for wear than he did when he rode off several hours ago, comes to a stop at the edge of the glade. “Captain Amalia said you’d gone over to the river. When I didn’t find you there, I thought this was the next most likely spot.”

He pauses, his gaze traveling over the cabin and its surroundings: the scruffy patch of garden overgrown with weeds in my absence, the mossy outcropping of stone withthe crevice that holds the tools I’ve scavenged that our neighbors discarded as trash. His mouth tightens.

Jostein keeps his hand in mine. “You delivered your message to the duke’s son?” he asks.

Landric jerks his attention back to the squad leader. “Yes, and a good portion of the Darium force there as well, since I was yelling it from a distance. It’s a good thing I had your horse—thank you. They definitely would have preferred to hold me for further questioning.”

He tilts his head back toward the town, where most of our remaining resistance is gathered. “A couple of sentries reported in right after I arrived. It sounds as if my ‘warning’ had the intended effect. The Darium soldiers at the lake haven’t started to march yet, and they sent a messenger toward the border. The rest of the army under High Commander Livius is approaching, but they won’t reach us for another few hours yet.”

I exhale in a rush. “Good. Then the people working their gifts will have more time to prepare the area.”

Our magic-blessed allies have already thinned and weakened the stone beneath the earth across about a half-acre of land at the edge of the town, but the more distance we can cover, the more of the army we can topple in one blow.

Landric smiles. “I thought you’d want to know as soon as possible.”

He pauses, and I find I don’t know how to answer. The memory of our kiss last night and the things I overheard him saying clashes with the presence of the men I’ve already embraced as my lovers on either side of me.

Jostein and Iko said they’d welcome Landric, but how exactly am I supposed to handle this?

In my uncertainty, Landric’s stance turns awkwardly stiff again. He dips his head as if to take his leave, and a protest leaps to my throat.

He’s had to witness me in the arms of these two men more than once—and handled it more gracefully than most rivals for a woman’s affections would. How can I say I care about him if I’m not willing to put the shoe on the other foot?

He loves me. He said it last night, even if not to me. I don’t know if the ache of emotion inside me can match that statement, but I need to show him how much he matters to me.

Before he can move, I release Jostein’s hand and hurry forward. Delight glints in Landric’s eyes in the instant before I grasp the front of his tunic and lift my mouth to his.

He cups the side of my face and kisses me like I’m a long drink of water after a day of riding. Even after I ease back, I keep holding on to him. “I’m so glad you made it back to us safely.”

The corner of his mouth quirks upward, but his crooked smile is gentle now. “I knew I’d better not let you down.”

When I glance back at the other two men, my heart thumps with a hitch of nerves. Jostein’s posture looks a bit tense, but his smile is undeniably fond. And Iko is outright smirking.

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