Page 95 of Tarnished Crown
Not that I could gauge anything of the sort from his expression this morning. He hadn’t so much as glanced in my direction, speaking only to Luca and Taras and even telling Mila goodbye before I got to her.
Which was for the best, of course.
In the light of day, it was easy for me to see how grateful I was for that water glass. How far might things have gone without it? And would I have been able to recover from that?
Mila’s warm embrace wrenched me from my thoughts. Concern was etched across her features, but I just shook my head at her questioning look.
“Have a safe trip, and I’ll write to you as soon as I’m ho--back at Bear Estate.”
“Of course. And maybe I’ll see you soon.” An uncharacteristically nervous smile played at her lips as she shot Taras a glance, and I backed away to let them have their goodbye.
Now I just had to prepare myself for an entire journey seated on Evander’s horse after last night’s...complication.
CHAPTER61
Ihad been right to be concerned about the horse, but had somehow neglected to think about the tiny beds at the inns, which were even worse.
The first night we stopped, I was forced to wonder how sustainable any of this was. The bed was barely big enough for both of us, and whether Evander and I consciously thought or talked about what had happened between us, the lightning crackling between our bodies was evidence enough.
“I’ve been thinking.” My voice was somehow louder in the near darkness of the room, the small flickering fire barely providing enough light for shadows. “I’m mostly healed now, and armed. There’s no reason I can’t return to my room at the Estate.”
Why were those words so hard to say?
“No.” Evander’s reply was immediate. “Mairi comes bearing orders from my father, feigned or otherwise. I might be limited in how I can intervene, but I am still the only one who can so much as question those without consequence.”
I heard what he wasn’t saying, that to put the men between myself and Ava would only lead to one of them getting hurt. It almost had already, with Yuriy.
Not for the first time, I contemplated telling him the truth. But could I trust him not to act on that truth, and inadvertently put Davin in danger? I considered what I knew about Evander, coming to a decision.
“I don’t know that she will come after me again. That was--that was more of a warning.”
The bed shifted as he rolled on his side to face me.
“A warning for what?” His voice was dangerously quiet.
“Because I know who she is.” I told him the truth, about Mairi, about her threat to Davin, all of it.
He didn’t respond. Was he angry? Shocked? His expression was completely obscured by the shadows. When the intensity of the silence was too much for me, I finally spoke again.
“You didn’t notice the lips?” I asked, trying to sound casual.
“No.” He shook his head, huffing out an irritable breath. “I only noticed because you and Davin have the exact same smirk. Mairi—Av--never smiles. But if anything, that makes it twice as likely that she will try something else. You did a mediocre job, at best, of pretending to be beaten by her.”
“Iwasbeaten by her,” I said bitterly.
“No. You weren’t.” He said the words without a trace of doubt. “Truth be told, Lemmikki, you held up better than most of the soldiers do.”
Somewhere inside me, a small weight lifted. “And you?” I asked. “Are you ever going to tell me what you did?”
I said the words teasingly, expecting a story about a rebellious young version of Evander, so I was utterly unprepared for his response.
“Mairi--Ava,has always had her preferred methods of punishment.”
My blood froze in my veins. The scars that looked older,smallerthan the others. How long had she been doing this to him?
“How many times?” I had never heard this kind of quiet lethality in my own tone before.
“I stopped counting.” He said it casually, like it didn’t matter.