Page 54 of A Promise of Peridot
“Actually, I do,” Griffin said.
Mari rolled her eyes. “Of course you do.”
The firelight gleamed in Kane’s eyes. “Why didn’t you catch us any, then, Commander?”
I tried not to smile.
But Mari saved Griffin a response. “Why couldn’t we have stayed in Frog Eye?” She tried to nestle into a wide tree’s roots, curling her feet up underneath her, but couldn’t seem to get comfortable. “At an inn? With a mattress?”
“We’re enemies of the kingdom, witch,” Griffin said, kicking over an empty linen pack, which Mari slid between her back and the gnarled tree. “We can’t risk being seen by Amber soldiers.”
And the entire town, if not the whole kingdom, is likely peppered with sketches of my face that sayTraitor.I focused on Fedrik, examining the condensation on his metal mug. While I relished the fact that he had no idea who I was, he also had no idea how dicey this excursion was. Guilt and envy fought for dominance.
“Arwen could slice them to bits in a heartbeat,” Mari huffed to no one in particular.
“You know how to wield a sword?” Fedrik asked, impressed.
I blushed a bit. “Just the basics.”
“Don’t be modest, Arwen, your skills even impressed Griffin.” Mari dipped her head toward the commander in question.
Kane’s brows quirked up beside me. “When did you two train?”
“In Serpent Spring,” I said. “On the way to Peridot, the first time we came here.”
“She was better than I expected,” Griffin added, eyes dancing. “But I was faster.”
“Griffin said the same thing about the woman he tossed from his bed this morning,” Mari quipped.
I spun to face her. No way he had revealed anything so intimate, and to Mari, nonetheless.
“I’m kidding.” She smirked. “We all know Griffin’s never touched a woman.”
Laughs erupted around the campfire. Even a wisp of a smile cracked at the corner of Griffin’s mouth.
“The witch is welcome on every one of my doomed adventures,” Kane said, wiping a hand down his face to quell his laughter. Mari gave him a look that said,Lucky me.
My heart stirred with warmth. Maybe their friendship didn’t bother me as much as I had previously thought.
“You know,” Kane said to me, under his breath. “If you ever wanted, I could show you how to beat him at his own game.”
“Who, Griffin?”
“Or anyone who has a bit of experience on you.” His quicksilver eyes gleamed in filtered moonlight, as if it was drawn solely to him, like the rest of us were. “I’m not as good as Dagan, but I’m here, if you’d like the help.”
“Thank you.” I swallowed, our détente feeling slippery and new. “Maybe another time.”
Kane gave me a subtle nod of his head, but his eyes were solemn.
“I never thanked you for letting Trevyn live,” I added, the words serving as my own olive branch. “For lettingmelet Trevyn live.”
“I didn’t do it for you,” he admitted, eyes focused on the rim of his tin cup. “He was harmless, we weren’t going to be in Citrine long... I didn’t think I’d stay up nights worrying that Trevyn would be the one to get you.”
“Do you do that? Stay up nights worrying about who will get me?”
His silence was like a knife to the heart.
“You brought a lute?” Griffin said to Fedrik. My eyes cut up to see the prince rooting through his pack.
