Page 50 of Winter's Fate

Didhe trust her? He wasn’t sure. He’d never seen magic such as hers, had not even heard of such a thing.

But he knew this: she smelled of crisp winter mornings, of sweet spices baking over a fire. She did not smell of evil. The opposite, in fact.

Callum had seen too much to believe that everything was black and white. Magic or no magic. Evil or not. It was never that simple.

“Also,” she whispered, leaning in closer to his ear, “Landon Moore is a bullheaded fool. I’m relieved not to have been stuck surviving a shipwreck with him.”

Callum swallowed, trying to ignore the way his body responded to the heat of her breath against his skin. “And pretending to be married to him?”

Laena grimaced, as if the idea were worse than the whiskey. “I’d rather be robbed.”

Mages, but the woman was beautiful. With the firelight flickering across her face, she looked like a promise out of the depths of his dreams. He’d kiss her right now, if Moore weren’t here to be his audience.

But who was he kidding? He wanted to do more than kiss her. He wanted to bury his nose in her hair, run his hands over her body. He wanted to feel her writhing beneath him, to savor every gasp of pleasure as he touched her.

Once again, it was a good thing that Moore was here.

If he kept repeating it, he might even begin to believe it.

“Why did you lie?” Laena asked.

Callum drew in a deep breath, steadying himself. A cold shower would have done better, but he doubted she’d appreciate him abandoning the conversation for a dip in the stream. The whiskey was putting improper thoughts into his head, and he owed her an answer. Truly, he did. “Hawk relieved me of my post,” he said.

“And you thought you’d prove your way back into his good graces.”

Callum took another swallow of whiskey. The stuff was beginning to grow on him. “Something like that.”

“By stealing the job?”

“In my defense,” he said, “I wasn’t entirely sober.”

She studied him for a long moment, her expression unreadable in the dark. “Yes,” she said. “We might want to work on that.”

Damn the reasons he’d concocted for not kissing her. If she kept looking at him like that, kept pressing her side to his, kept smelling like snowy days and cinnamon… he was going to pull her into his arms. To the Miragelands with Landon Moore, and whatever he’d think of it.

Unfortunately—or fortunately, depending on which of Callum’s body parts was making the argument—Landon Moore chose that moment to sit down on Laena’s other side. “Nice friends you’ve made, Farrow,” he said. “They do match the descriptions of the band of robbers that ambushed Lord Finneas’s coach not two days ago.”

“Funny,” Callum said. “You match the description of a dung-eating weasel, but I’m polite enough not to mention it. Until now, I suppose.”

Laena raised her hand to her mouth, coughing, and he’d bet the last of this deceptively fine whiskey that she was covering a laugh.

“Quip all you like, Farrow.” Demons, but the man’s voice was smug. How could Hawk not see it? “You know what the kingwill have to say when we reach Vunmore. You’ll be lucky if he doesn’t throw you in a cell.”

Hawk was his friend, close enough to be a brother to him—or he had been, once—but he was King of Aglye first and foremost.

Landon Moore was a fool and an ass, but he might very well be correct.

“We’re not going directly to Vunmore,” Laena said. “I have reason to stop at Inasvale first.”

To Callum’s surprise, Moore inclined his head in agreement. “Some of the soldiers you abandoned after the shipwreck—excuse me, my lady, that was meant for ex-captain Farrow over there—require medical attention.” He stood, offering her another bow. “For now, I must suggest you take your rest. We ride at dawn.”

CHAPTER 21

General Moore talked a great deal. Which wouldn’t have been a problem in itself—Fizz also talked a great deal, and Laena didn’t find herself wanting to slam him over the head with a cook pot—except that every word out of Moore’s mouth was a boast. He and his soldiers had reached the coast in a day and a night, the fastest ever attempted with such a host of men. King Hawk had sent him specifically to retrieve the wayward former captain. The way the man talked, she’d hardly be surprised to hear him say he’d personally installed a hook in the sky to hang the sun.

And he insisted on walking beside her, too. There weren’t enough horses for everyone to ride, and the exhausted soldiers had taken up the saddles. Laena was grateful for the walk, not least because she had no idea what would happen when they reached Inasvale. Moore had sent messengers out to assure both Hawk and Katrina of the party’s discovery. What their instructions would be after this point, Laena could not guess.

Through the day, they traveled, and Landon Moore talked incessantly. And before she slid into sleep that night, she allowed herself to wish she could return to sharing a pallet withCallum. Ridiculous though it was, she thought … from the way he kept catching her gaze from across the fire, from across the camp, she was sure he wanted the same thing.

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