Page 48 of Winter's Fate

And he said hebelievedher. How long had it been since someone had believed her? She’d had to extract a rotting crystal from her garden to convince Katrina of the danger facing Etra.

Callum believed her, trusted her, with no evidence or proof, only her word against what he’d seen in the cabin. And in fact, the evidence pointed harshly against her; he could not be blamed for attributing the lingering scent of the heart-tithe to her magic rather than Milla’s.

Yet Callum believed her. He trusted her.

Tears stung her eyes, rising quick and fierce, and she blinked them away, hoping he would attribute them to the dryness of the fire, the exhaustion of the day.

Callum must have interpreted her silence as a denial, her tears as fear, because he let out a breath. “But I’ll stop, if you ask me to.”

As if to demonstrate the truth of it, he drew back, allowing the coldest air she’d ever felt to drift between them. This was a cold she did feel, hollow in a way she couldn’t explain.

Laena brought a hand to his face, drawing him back toward her, tipping her face to meet his.

And yet before their lips could touch, a horse screamed at the edge of camp. Torches flared throughout the woods, and the startled figures of the bandits scrambled up from their pallets.

“Up with you, criminals,” a man’s voice commanded. Callum cursed, releasing Laena as he leapt to his feet.

“Demons,” he said. “It’s the King’s Guard.”

CHAPTER 20

They were lucky that Landon Moore hadn’t sent his soldiers roaring into the camp on horseback, or half the bandits would’ve been trampled.

It hurt to think of them as Landon Moore’s soldiers when they should be Callum’s. But there was no use in denying it to himself. Soon, he would have to admit it to Laena, too.

But first, he needed to save their allies. He owed them a debt.

He made his way to the center of the camp, where Moore was lording over Maynard, his chest puffed like a pheasant’s, sword primed as if he planned to dispatch the man without a trial. His gods-damned hair was arranged into a golden swoop that hardly even moved, as if he hoped the bards would sing of it with as much awe as they did of his deeds.

When Callum inserted himself between the two men, the look on Moore’s face would have captured the bards’ attention, for certain. His eyes went wide as moons, his lips parted in shock. He actually dropped his sword, the fool.

“You,” the general breathed. “We thought you’d been lost at sea.”

Another soldier coughed in the background, and Callumfound Edmun in the crowd, his sword half-heartedly raised in Fizz’s direction. Young Godfrey stood beside him, looking bedraggled but alive. Huck and Archer, Reggie and Bertrand. His men werealive. Callum could have cheered.

Instead, he leveled his most hardened glare at Landon Moore. “Don’t sound so disappointed, General. And tell your men to unhand Mr. Maynard.” Callum wasn’t entirely sure whether Maynard was the man’s given name or his surname, but at the moment, it didn’t matter. “He and his fellows are helping us to Inasvale.”

“Us?” Moore glanced around, his lips already starting to curl into an insolent response when his gaze landed on Laena.

She was standing beside the sleeping pallet, her hands propped on her hips. Callum thought his own glare was a hardened one? Hers would have shattered diamonds.

And if Moore had held off his attack for one more minute, another blessed minute, he’d have been kissing her. Yet another reason to curse the man.

Though perhaps Callum ought to thank him instead. Laena didn’t yet know what he was, and she was about to find out. Better that Callum did not give in to temptation, kissing her before he was even sure it was what she wanted.

She’d seemed sure enough herself, truth be told.

“The Etran emissary,” Callum said.

Gretchen swore. “Iknewthey were important.”

Maynard was frowning. He hadn’t guessed it, and Callum didn’t think he’d have used it against them anyway. If anything, the man was probably insulted that Callum had lied to him.

“Lower your weapons,” Callum said, “or King Hawk will know why.”

Edmun and Godfrey followed the order, along with Huck and Archer. All the soldiers who’d accompanied him to Etra, in fact.

The rest waited for Moore’s nod before stowing their swords.

---