Page 68 of Blood and Fate

He was already on Lena’s hate list; this wouldn’t change anything.

“Okay!” It was a conspiratorial whisper shout, and he couldn’t help but chuckle as the girl took off in the direction of the village proper.

“Hi,” Adalyn shouted as a greeting as she raced off.

“Hello.” The responding voice held laughter, and Kais turned to see Satori.

Adalyn had skidded to a stop in front of her. “I’m going to get my whip! I’m coming right back! Do you want to watch? Uncle Kais is going to show me how to use it. Maybe he’ll show you, too. You’re very pretty. Uncle Kais thinks you’re very pretty, too. I know, he told me. Just now. He thinks—“

“Bug!” Kais shouted to get the girl moving again, especially before she said anything else. Though as he looked at Satori, he found he wasn’t embarrassed with Adalyn calling him out.

“I’m going!” Adalyn shouted and took off again as Satori laughed, watching her go.

Very pretty. Kais let his eyes linger on the woman as she watched his niece run off, allowed her laugh to wash through him. Bond or no bond, the woman was beautiful, and he welcomed the effect she had on him.

CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

SATORI

She lay on the mat, breathing in the cool air. She’d slept far better than she had expected on the ground, not to mention she hadn’t froze. Though she supposed that had something to do with the proximity of Kais’ tent. However, the extra warmth had disappeared some time ago, and she’d woken up. She wasn’t cold, really; she still laid there, buried under the covers. That wasn’t the problem. The problem was climbing out from beneath those covers and dealing with the air.

She was willing to ignore her bladder’s prodding as well as her stomach’s growling if only she could remain warm for a few more moments. When she could avoid it no longer, she slid out from beneath the folds of the blankets and quickly dressed, exiting her tent and finding a place to relieve herself.

She followed the voices and the scents. A group of people were gathered outside Marta’s hut, but it was clear the majority of the people had already eaten and dispersed to do their own thing. When she made it to the food, she found something she’d never seen before. There were eggs, sausage, and cheese, but they were all wrapped up in a piece of dough so it could be carried and eaten as one stood or even walked. She would have to remember this when she went home. Tessa would love it.

Breakfast in hand, Satori began to walk the streets of the small village. Marta, the woman who had been responsible for feeding them and who had also stored their tents, had a small shop. She sold almost exclusively handmade items. Candles, soaps, socks and scarves, jams and pickles. If it could be made by hand, it was available in the shop.

Satori wandered the shelves, reading every single label and wishing she had some money to purchase some of the things for herself. Maybe one day she would be back.

She passed a pump house built over a stream that diverged from the river. A large barrel sat outside the door with a ladle hooked to the side. A sign said, Drinks. Satori paused to have a drink of the fresh cool water before she continued.

Voices from the treeline drew her attention, and she approached to find Kais and his men seeming to be practicing or training, though not seriously. They seemed to be goofing off, mostly. Kais stood in the middle with his whip, placing something on a large log. Stepping back, he sent the whip out in front of him, and it unfurled to the tree trunk, snapping one of the pinecones to the ground, leaving the other two undisturbed. It was amazing how precise he could be with such an odd weapon. He repeated the action twice more, easily flicking the last two remaining pinecones to the dirt.

Laughter and applause broke out, and Satori saw Adalyn standing off to the side, enthusiastically clapping for Kais. He motioned toward her, and she ran to replace the pinecones.

Satori stepped closer, enthralled by the precision with which he wielded the long leather strap. She’d never seen a weapon of its kind before. Adalyn rushed back to Kais’ side, and he repeated his earlier actions, knocking two of the three pinecones off the log.

The little girl announced she had questions, and Satori moved in closer, hoping to also learn a bit more about the whip. But Adalyn didn’t mention the whip. Instead, she started talking about how pretty someone was. Satori assumed she meant her mother, but she soon realized they were talking about her.

She stood there wanting to listen but also not wanting to hear. But then the conversation was over, and Adalyn was running up to her, talking faster than she could breathe. And then she was gone just as quickly, and Satori couldn’t help but laugh. When she looked up, Kais was watching her. She felt her cheeks warm and hated herself for it. Why?

In an effort to get some of the attention off her blush, she pointed to the whip. “You’re very good with that. I didn’t expect it could be so precise.”

“With enough practice.” He held the whip out toward her. “Would you like to try?”

She was interested in how it worked. “Okay.” Still, her feet wouldn’t move.

Kais cracked a smile. “You’ll have to come a little closer, Princess. At least close enough to reach the whip.”

“Of course.”

She nearly rolled her eyes at herself as she moved closer. The chill of the air left with Kais’ proximity. That was one thing she might actually miss when she finally made it back home. He offered so much warmth physically. But when she met his eyes, she realized they held warmth, as well. Warmth entirely different from what she could feel.

Kais moved slightly to the side so she could stand where he had been. He handed her the whip and when she took it, she was surprised again at its weight. Wrapping her hand around the solid handle she realized that must be where most of the weight lay, since the rest of the weapon was basically just a rope.

She gave it a little swing, snapping her wrist.

Kais held up his hands. “Whoa, wait a minute. We don’t snap our wrist; we use our whole arm. Like this.” He stepped behind her, his chest extremely close to her back, and covered her hand with his.

---