Page 63 of The Assassin's Bride

“Dead,” she announced.

Gil raised his hands in acknowledgment of her success.

Rilion pumped a fist in victory.

“A good effort, and an unexpected action.” Gil flashed her a grin. “But next time, you'll have to do it alone.”

She smiled back.

“Ah, come on. That's all the more reward you give her?” Rilion jammed his knife into place and went after the burning log. It had rolled a short distance and he used a stray stick to herd it back to the campfire.

“Certainly not,” Gil said as he slid his daggers into their sheaths and stepped forward. “I have something much better to offer.” There was a sparkle in his eyes, dull beneath the illusion, but something not even magic could hide. Approval. Pride. And just a hint of anticipation.

Her heart fluttered in response. She'd done well, met his expectations, and for the first time, she felt she might have something beyond sewing to offer.

She tilted her head back and welcomed her victory kiss.

CHAPTERTWENTY-TWO

She did not besthim the next time, or the next time, or the time after that, either. They trained each morning and again at night, sometimes with sparring matches during the day. Occasionally, Rilion joined in, and other times he fought Gil by himself.

“You're fighting harder than before,” Thea remarked one evening after he'd jabbed her in the ribs and stomach fourteen times. Some of those had been hard enough to leave bruises. She refused to complain. It was another message, something she needed to learn from if she wanted to survive. Gil meant her no harm. Anyone else would kill her.

“That is the general point of training. As your skill advances, you are matched against more competent opponents.” He took a long drought from his water skin, then reclined so he was propped on his elbows.

“That means you were holding back more than I thought.” She didn't know why she'd expected otherwise. There was no one else to train her; of course he'd temper his skill.

The smile he offered was tight, hardly a smile at all. “There is no one of lower skill here to teach you. Rilion is competent, though not my match. If you'd prefer, you may train with him.”

“Thank you for volunteering me,” Rilion put in sarcastically.

Maybe she should. Thea considered it as she finger-combed through her hair. It hadn't taken long for it to become gritty again. She longed for the bath in Danesse. She'd never experienced anything like it and probably wouldn't again.

Why wouldn't you?a small part of her objected. Tiny as that inner voice was, it was enough to make her pause and pursue the thought.

If they made it through this ordeal alive, they'd eventually return to Kentoria. How many times had Gaius kissed her? No matter how she clung to the false identity he'd presented, hewasthe king, and returning to Kentoria would end with him on the throne. What would she be then? She dared not imagine herself as a queen, regardless of her heritage. Her family had been noble enough that her pedigree had the potential to overshadow their downfall, yet gentle kisses and tender moments hardly warranted any fantasy of marriage. But oh, Light, she wanted it.

She'd entertained the idea of being his wife before. His real wife, not a position falsely assumed to make travel and business easier. A wife bound to him before the Light, honored with vows, cherished the way she'd always imagined she could be—

No.

Thea squeezed her eyes closed. She couldn't risk setting her heart on that, no matter how badly she might wish for it. Even if he wanted that—wantedher—they were not yet through the mountains between Ranor and Angroth, and the worst was yet to come. She couldn't think of it now, not even to dream. He'd been clear in explaining the risk. The chance she could lose him was hard enough. If she allowed herself to know—or evenbelieve—he meant to wed her in the end, the fear of losing him would leave her paralyzed.

Actually losing him might kill her.

She steered her thoughts in other directions as he and Rilion spoke. They studied the stars and planned their course, and she still was not sure where they were going or why, beyond that they believed the person Gil sought was there.

“Not that far north,” Rilion was saying. He pointed vaguely toward the east, making her wonder what she'd missed.

“But north of Passgate.” Gaius—he was kingly when she looked at him, stroking his chin in thought like that—stared into the sky as if it could hold answers. “We're at least two weeks away from that settlement, and that's assuming it hasn't yet snowed in the mountains.”

Thea wasn't confident making that assumption. The air had grown bitter at night. More than once, she'd caught the scent of snow on the wind, though she had yet to see so much as a flurry. It seemed impossible for the ground to still be bare farther to the north. “Where is Passgate?” she asked.

Both men blinked at her. Her lacking knowledge of geography wasn't a problem as long as they had Gaius to lead them, but a general sense of where they were and where they were going would be wise to have, if... No, no ifs. She'd already decided she wouldn't think of that.

“Angroth is shaped something like a teardrop,” Rilion said, curving the fingers of his left hand into an approximation of the country. “Passgate would be about here, halfway up the western side.” He touched his right index finger to the general location.

It told her less than she'd hoped. “And where are we now?”

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