Page 32 of Tarnished Crown
But as excited as I was, Evander was more closed off than ever. Each mile further from the estate we rode, he became more and more sullen. Did it have something to do with the encounter with Lady Mairi?
Before I could help myself, I asked a question that had been niggling at the back of my mind for some time.
“How long have Lady Mairi and your father been married?”
I could swear his shoulders tensed, but he stayed silent, not even looking in my direction. For a moment, I wondered if he had even heard me.
“Twenty years,” he finally said.
Twenty years?The answer caught me by surprise.
“So, right after the war, then?”
“Yes,” he answered flatly.
My mind reeled. After everything...after a war that the duke started because my Aunt Isla wouldn’t marry him, he had turned around and just married someone else from Lochlann instead?
Was it always his back-up plan? Did he meet her because of the war? Take her captive? If he was satisfied with any marriage from Lochlann, then why did he wage a war?
Thousands of innocent people had died in that war. My grandparents had died in that war. Lochlann was ripped apart because of it, and I could still see the scars it left in my parents all these years later.
I opened my mouth to ask another question when Evander went even more rigid in his saddle.
“Be sure your hair is tucked inside your hood, Lemmikki. And stay quiet.”
My heartbeat thundered in my ears, but I didn’t question him. The usually unflappable man seemed very...flapped.
I pulled my hood lower and did my best to ensure there were no stray strands of red curls peeking out. Our horses slowed their pace as we crept two by two through a narrow ravine.
The thing that had spooked Evander finally came into view, and I held my breath. Just off the narrow road was a campsite hosting close to twenty people, including three small children.
I sank down like I could disappear into my cloak. The last thing we needed was to anger them further by allowing them to see how much of an enemy I truly was.
That or, perhaps, they would all be just as terrified of my hair and urge us to leave more quickly... Without knowing, it wasn’t a risk I was willing to take. So, for once, I listened to Evander and did my best to be as invisible as possible.
Six large men moved slowly to stand in front of the others in an attempt to shield them from view. All but the children had the telltaleBcarved into their foreheads.
Besklanovvy.
Evander’s men didn’t draw their swords, they didn’t spur their horses into a run, they simply stood still and waited to see what he would order.
A small head peeked out around one man’s leg, and blue eyes stared up at us with a mix of curiosity and fear. A woman at the campfire spoke to him in rushed, whispered tones in one of the Socairan dialects, and he ran over to her.
Still, no one else moved.
Fear coursed through my veins. Fear for what Evander and his men would do to these people, who didn’t appear to be a danger to us.
Fear for myself if I was wrong about that.
My hand went to my sword, both for my own protection and because I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that I could not sit here while Evander or the other Bear Clan soldiers cut down innocent children.
Even if I didn’t have a real chance of stopping them.
After a tense silence, Evander raised one of his hands.
“We wish to pass peacefully.” The deep timbre of his voice echoed through the ravine, and the Unclanned tensed at the broken silence.
The six men looked at each other, muttering something amongst themselves before looking back at Evander again.