Page 99 of Obsidian Throne

Or perhaps I could find a way to cart him away from the battle and protecting his people and see how much he enjoyed that.

On that enticing thought, the camp came into view.

There were mostly men, with a few women and children scattered throughout. Every one of them looked up when my horse’s hoofbeats sounded on the frozen ground.

Bundled in furs and tattered cloaks and blankets around small campfires, they stared at me with each step we took forward.

A tremor of fear shot through me. I was relatively unarmed, knowing that a couple of swords wouldn’t do much against more than forty seasoned warriors.

Perhaps I am still as reckless as I ever was.

But this was my only chance.

Dismounting, I walked half the distance toward the nearest men, waiting for them to come the rest of the way to me and hoping fervently they didn’t decide to kill me on sight.

Sure enough, two of them walked toward me. The man on the left had black hair and hazel eyes, where the one on the left had hair so pale it was almost white, and curiously colorless eyes.

But they were both tall, both sporting the telltaleBbranded into their foreheads. Both thin to the point of being gaunt.

And both surveying me with wary, haunted expressions.

I lowered the hood of my cloak, and the men stilled at the sight of my cursed hair waving in the wind behind me.

“You know who I am.” I didn’t bother to phrase it as a question, but they nodded anyway.

“What’s your name?” I asked the man with dark hair, speaking in the common tongue.

His eyes widened, and I wondered when the last time someone had bothered to ask that was. Did anyone treat them as human?

The man looked back at the group behind him before turning and finally answering. “Andrei.”

I looked at the man next to him.

“Maxim,” he offered with a grunt, suspicion lining his eyes.

I had given a lot of thought to who the Unclanned really were, what they wanted, and some of it was as simple as restoring their basic dignity and humanity.

“Well, Andrei and Maxim. I am Lady Rowan Stenvall.” I dipped my head in respect, the way that all nobles greeted one another before gesturing to my horse. “I brought food, and if you’ll allow me to distribute it, I would very much like to speak with you all.”

They glanced at each other, then back at me.

It was a gamble that they wouldn’t just kill me and take the food anyway, but I was banking on curiosity and the oddity of someone showing up, offering them something and then asking for their permission about anything, to stay their hands.

Somehow, it worked.

A relieved whoosh of air escaped my lungs as they nodded in unison.

Now, I just had to convince them.

CHAPTER FIFTY-NINE

ROWAN

Convincing them was not going well.

I explained what I wanted, and what I had to offer in return.

They would fight for me, and in turn, I would make every effort to have them reintegrated into society here. In the event I couldn’t accomplish that, or that they didn’t want to stay, they could come to live on my vast holdings in Lochlann.