Page 119 of Obsidian Throne
ROWAN
The next morning, Evander was once again waiting for me. His eyes were bloodshot and hooded, a matching set to the dark purple rings underneath mine.
Sleep had clearly not come to either of us.
I only wished that this exhaustion, this hurt, was enough to stop the energy that thrummed between us, the constant awareness and longing I had for him.
I supposed I would have to settle for ignoring it.
With a sigh, I took off toward the war room, where we had yet another meeting. We didn’t speak a single word on the way there.
“Lady Rowan,” the elder Lord Lehtinan addressed me once I sat down. “What of your men?”
“We can’t honestly be thinking to let Unclanned fight--” Another lord interrupted him.
“They are not Unclanned any longer,” I spoke over the lord. “They belong to me now.”
“However…” Evander countered, and I barely resisted the urge to glare at him. “They will be offered the chance to rejoin society in exchange for their fighting for Bear.”
He glanced at me. “I think they’ve more than earned it.”
It was an echo of what I had said the night I arrived.
“I quite agree,” I said quietly, resisting the small, traitorous smile threatening at my lips. “You were saying, Lord Lehtinan?”
“Will they continue to fight with us?” he asked.
“Yes,” I answered. “They stay with me, and I don’t plan on going anywhere until this war is won.”
The men chuckled like I had made a joke, but Evander looked sharply at me, fully aware of how I meant the words. I didn’t acknowledge him.
“What will your men need?” Taras asked.
“Most of them are in need of new boots. Weapons, obviously.”
“There are plenty of spare weapons and boots to go around right now,” Taras said darkly. Of course there were. We had lost hundreds of men just in the last battle.
I nodded my thanks to him, then something else occurred to me.
“Oh, and the use of the training yard this afternoon?” I added.
Taras exchanged an uncomfortable look with Evander before turning back to me.
“Our men won’t train with them,” Taras said.
Of course, they wouldn’t.
I looked at Evander, and he raised his eyebrows the smallest fraction, letting me know this was my decision.
We were in the middle of a war, and we needed all the soldiers we could get. Evander was upholding what I had told the Unclanned, even though he didn’t have to. He was going up against his lords for this.
So, I could make an issue out of it, try to change a lifetime’s worth of Socairan ideals overnight. Or I could be patient and work with what we had.
I turned back to Taras. “They don’t need to train together. These are my men, anyway. Perhaps the Bear soldiers could vacate the training yard for a couple of hours?”
He nodded, as much in agreement as approval. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Evander do the same.
Not that I cared, obviously.