Page 27 of Winter's Fate

The sight was enough to sober her. To pull her thoughts away from ice-blue eyes and half-smiles.

Brin scurried from her shoulder to her hair, objecting to the sight of the poisonous icicle. But Laena needed to examine it. To understand it, if she could. Unwrapping the crystal from its handkerchief, she held it in her lap, turning it over in her hand as best she could while preventing it from touching her skin.

And carefully, very carefully, she called for the knot of magic that lived in her core.

If she could have given the magic a physical location, she would have pinpointed it in the space just below her ribcage. At first, she’d feared that the battle with the wraith might have burned it away for good. But with rest, she’d begun to feel itstirring again. A comforting band of cold, like fingers of frost on the window after a long, dry summer.

She wasn’t sure whether to be relieved or frightened.

Laena called on the knot of magic, willing it into her fingertips, then funneling it into the crystal.

Dangerous? Perhaps. But necessary. Her power had affected the crystal before. Perhaps she could feel it more deeply. She needed to better understand.

She hoped it wouldn’t produce a wraith this time.

“Are you well, my lady?”

Laena jumped, squinting into the sun as Callum Farrow appeared before her. “Of course,” she said airily, stuffing the magic back into her core. Once tapped, it did not wish to retreat. But it did so anyway. “Should I not be?”

The corner of his mouth quirked into that almost-smile. It wasn’t so wicked this morning; instead, she detected a hint of embarrassment. “I believe someone made a few rather… inappropriate comments in your presence last night.”

Inappropriate comments that had left her aching, wanting. Half convinced she ought to rise from her bed to knock on his door.

“Someone did,” she agreed, her voice sounding breathless to her own ears. She tried to sharpen it into disapproval. “Most inappropriate.”

If he noticed her struggle, he didn’t let on. He gestured to the bench beside her. “May I?”

“Can I stop you?”

“Indeed, you can. But the remainder of the journey will be easier to endure if you allow me to apologize.”

Easier to endure. As if her very existence were a burden. But she didn’t think he meant it that way, not truly. She studied him for any sign of jest, but there was no laughter in his eyes. And shedidbelieve in second chances. She nodded. “All right.”

He positioned himself on the edge of the bench and kept arespectful distance. “I allowed myself to get drawn into the soldiers’ talk last night,” he said, angling his body toward her and meeting her eyes. “I apologize for the uncouth words that left my mouth.”

“Your soldiers were being most respectful.”

He looked at his hands. “They are good men.”

“And you are not?”

He let out a quiet laugh and sat back on the bench, still looking at his hands. His brow was furrowed, cutting deep lines across his forehead, and she had the distinct impression that it was a default expression for the man. He still smelled faintly of whiskey, but it was mixed with woodsmoke, and an undertone of sweet tobacco. There was a nick beside the corner of his mouth, a small red slice interrupting his otherwise smooth skin. A cut from shaving, perhaps.

Which she would not have seen, had she not been staring at his lips. She jerked her gaze up to meet his, but he didn’t seem to have noticed.

“No, my lady,” he said. “I am not a good man.”

She could accept that. Probably should accept that, and end the conversation. Go back to her magic delving, back to watching for the coast.

But he looked so lost, so completely forlorn, that she found herself wondering what could have happened to make him think so. She might fear his hatred of magic, but much of the world saw him as a hero. Could it be that he regretted the pain he had caused?

“Do you want to know what I think?” she asked.

“Is hearing it a condition of my forgiveness?”

“No. I do not set conditions upon forgiveness, beyond that the person be truly contrite.”

“And what if that person should betray you again?”

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