Page 48 of Enchanted Shadows
I sensed sarcasm. “If I beat your time, you owe us all cookies.”
She gave her head a nod, smiling. “Deal.”
I took off. Halfway through, silver orbs joined my green ones. Which was cheating, yes. But I was on a mission. All the nights spent at the cabin near the barracks had significantly cut back onmy cookie intake. I’d already lost some weight. I was practically withering away.
As I crossed the finish line in ten seconds faster than she had, a silver orb came out of nowhere. I stopped it immediately, only for another to smack into my face on the other side.
“Rude,” I told her as the women laughed.
“I’ll make the cookies,” she told me with a grin. “You won fair and square.”
The women lined up to go next.
“General Raikes,” Sam called.
“What?”
“Can we just go ahead and call this the orbstacle?”
I laughed despite myself. “Sure.”
Later that evening, I walked Jorah back to the castle. I had to make sure the cookies were going to be made. Sample a few just to be sure they were up to par.
On my way back to my cabin, I took the long way and went to The Dead Lake, wanting to take in the sunset at the lake. As it finally came within view, I saw a shape near the lake. With a blonde braid.
Zara.
She was out here alone. Again. I wanted to be mad. But considering she had to hide away from her own damn family, I decided to try to dial it back and be understanding. There was a darkness to this woman. A reason she longed to be alone. If only I could get her to explain it to me.
She sat taking in the lake, throwing rocks at the surface of it. And she looked peaceful. Happy. Most men would kill to find a woman who looked at them the way Zara was currently looking at the sunset.
“Don’t say it,” she said to me without turning.
I hadn’t even made a sound, yet she knew I was there? Thatawareness training was really kicking in, it seemed. “Don’t tell you that it pisses me off you are here alone again?”
“Yeah. That.”
I walked over to where she was and dropped down to sit with her.
“No whiskey this time?” She sounded a little disappointed.
“No, but I have something even better.” I opened the small container in my hands and handed her over a still somewhat warm cinnamon oat cookie.
Her sharp inhale was all the confirmation I needed. These things could solve a lot of the realm’s problems.
“Look. I know being with the team all hours of the day is a lot to handle. Can you at least tell me when you take these trips so that I can either tag along or send Miles or another of Team One?”
“Kind of defeats the purpose of alone time if you aren’t alone,” she argued.
“I’ll do my best to make sure I’m scarce,” I promised.
She gave me a look over. “I doubt that you can be.”
Was she about to call meheavyagain? “Zara,” I groaned.
She let out a sigh. “I can defend myself.”
“That I do not doubt, but it was in these very woods that Jorah and I were cornered and outnumbered by some loyalists of Theon’s. Had the wolves not hidden her, it could’ve been far worse than it was.”
