Page 25 of Ash and Roses
“Samson, come off it. There’s no telling whose carrots they are,” another person says before turning to me. “We all work together to grow enough food so that we don’t need to rely just on the creatures of the forest. Don’t let Samson steal the credit.”
The crowd laughs, and someone smacks the back of Samson’s head. I can’t help but wonder if this is how things always are here. The community is small—less than a hundred people, but they work together to make sure everyone has what they need.
Movement to my right catches my attention, and I turn to find a stranger standing just a bit too close. He’s tall and thinner than the others, with brown disheveled hair. It’s warm by the fire, but not warm enough to account for the sheen of sweat coating his face. Something about this man seems vaguely familiar, but I can’t place it. He could be from Lunae, possibly a deserter who slipped away.
“Do I know you from somewhere?” I ask, trying to hide the nervous quaver in my voice. If this man is from Lunae, he can out me to everyone before I even have a chance to secure my place here.
He doesn’t answer. He only stares, his eyes piercing into mine. Is he trembling? Before I can ask if he’s okay, his head twitches fiercely to one side, and his expression turns pained for only a moment. I stand to move away from him, but relax when firm hands grip his shoulders.
“Let’s go,” Ellis tells him. His tone is firm, but not forceful. I watch as he leads the man away from the fire—and away from me.
Before I can ask what happened, Tess puts a hand on my uninjured shoulder. “That’s Morgan. He’s grappling with a sickness, but don’t you worry yourself about it. It isn’t spread through the air, so you have nothing to fear.”
“Is he going to be okay?”
“Oh, yes. He’ll be fine in a week or two.” She gestures to my plate. “Eat up, and then we should get you to bed.”
I do as she says and clean my plate because—when you’ve lived nearly your entire life on food rations, you eat what you can when you can. When I’m finished, I set the plate and fork down on the grass in front of me, but tuck the knife carefully into the sleeve of my dress. I have no reason not to trust the people here, but something about the way Morgan looked at me has me feeling much safer knowing I’ll have something to defend myself with.
After dinner, I let Tess lead me back to the castle and then to my room, where I sit by the window and stare out across the valley. The waxing moon is visible now, illuminating the kingdom in a familiar glow.
Somewhere in the distance, a wolf howls.
CHAPTERELEVEN
QUINN
“You’re back,” Ruben says as he crosses the lawn towards me in wide strides. We’re close to the same height, but he gives the impression of towering over me just as he did when I was a boy.
“I take it you found what I left for you?” I didn’t know what to do with the girl, and I didn’t trust myself to stay in this form, so I’d carried her to the edge of the forest, and left her where someone was sure to find her. The fact that Ruben is this relaxed means she at least survived her injuries.
“I did. Tess patched her up.”
“Good,” I say, passing him on my way into the castle. “Has she said anything?”
“She’s trying to hide her identity. We’ve been going along with it.”
“That’s good. We may get more out of her that way. What name did she give you?”
“Prin.”
Prin? A slip, no doubt. So she didn’t plan to hide who she was, which means she has her own suspicions. We enter the castle and I take a left, meaning to take the stairwell that leads down to the dungeon, when I notice Ruben is no longer behind me. I turn to him. “What is it?”
“She’s not down there.”
“If she’s not locked up in a cell, then where are you keeping her?”
Ruben shifts his weight from one foot to the other, and his unease troubles me. He’s not usually like this. “Tess gave her Kaylee’s room.”
“She did what?”I almost shout the words, but manage to rein in my temper. Tess is a bleeding heart, so I shouldn’t be surprised, but Lunae is our enemy. Until I know why their princess is here, she needs to be treated as such.
“I told her you wouldn’t be happy, but she said locking her up was too much of a risk. With her wounds—”
“It’s fine,” I snap, spinning on my heel toward what was once my sister’s room. As far as I know, no one has been in there since her passing, and it’s the last place I would choose for an interrogation.
“There’s something else.” I don’t have the patience for this. “She thought she was in Marein.”
Mention of Marein has my blood running cold. This can’t be about what happened there. As far as Lunae is concerned, Marein is nothing but rubble. If getting answers from her wasn’t already my top priority, it sure as fuck is now.