Rise of the Seven (The Frey Saga, #3)(8)

I tried to bite down on my grin. I couldn’t expect him to be sorry for the irritation he’d caused Chevelle by his advances. Besides, Chevelle had thrown him across the room and into a wall. I was pretty sure they were even.

“It was Asher,” I said. Our slow pace came to a halt as Steed turned to me. I wasn’t sure why I’d said it, probably because of the fresh memories brought up earlier. All that had come back to me the last few weeks. But once I’d started, I couldn’t seem to stop. “He found out.”

Steed placed his hands on my arms in a comforting gesture.

“I’d hidden it from him. I knew I must. But he figured it out.” I drew a quick breath. “He used it against me. He decided to take Chevelle for his own purposes. It would keep me in line.” A harsh laugh escaped. If he’d only known. “I hadn’t realized he’d caught on. I thought it was a banquet, a show of power, just like any other. But the room was crowded and he had me in a gown, not the clothes of a warrior. I stood beside him, his second.” I could still see Asher as he moved to silence the crowd. I shook my head. “When he announced the arranged marriage, all my training vanished and I couldn’t stop myself from finding Chevelle across the room. You should have seen his face.”

I looked into Steed’s dark eyes. “I couldn’t let him. I stepped forward and refused.” I took another shallow breath. “I denied him. For everyone.”

He was speechless. I had meant for him to be released of guilt. There was no one who knew the truth of it but us, Steed couldn’t have but believed it to be fact. But I could see my explanation had only made it worse.

“Later,” Steed asked, “when Sapphire was taken?”

“Yes, I decided to run with him. And they killed his mother.” I tried to keep the shame from my voice.

Steed pulled me against him and we stood in silence. My cheek against his chest, I finally breathed deep. I had never spoken of it. I couldn’t have. But Asher was gone now.

I was so wrapped up in thought, I didn’t realize the sound was advancing footsteps until I saw Chevelle step around the corner. And then, when I felt Steed shift, was struck by the fact that we were locked in embrace.

Apparently, he’d shifted to see who was approaching, because his arms dropped from my back and his chest slid away in a decidedly abrupt movement. I kind of just hung there for a moment, watching Chevelle’s frozen form at the end of the corridor.

Steed cleared his throat. I straightened. Both of us resisted the urge to explain it was not what it looked like.

I wasn’t positive how long the three of us stood so, but it seemed like an incredibly long moment before I saw Steed’s mouth quirk out of the corner of my eye.

“Well,” he said, “I’ll see you in a bit, Sunshine.”

I turned just in time to catch him wink at me and casually continue down the corridor in the direction we’d been heading. He began whistling a tune and I could only be thankful it was the opposite direction from Chevelle.

We stayed frozen for an eternity, and then I picked up Steed’s cue and smiled at Chevelle, as if everything were completely normal. “Hungry?”

He finally opened his mouth to answer but the clatter of metal on stone caused us both to pause. When no other sound followed, I waited for Chevelle to respond, his hearing superior to mine. I held my breath until he rushed toward me, and then I spun to catch him on his way past. He was heading for the noise, and he didn’t look happy.





Chapter Five


Pretender





As we ran, it occurred to me Chevelle was holding back. I was far from able to keep up with him when he was at full speed. What I didn’t know was whether he was setting the pace to stay with me, as my guard, or if whatever he’d heard wasn’t such an immediate threat. We met Rhys and Rider in the corridor and the four of us turned into the dining area to find Steed, sword to the neck of a small male elf on the stones before him.

The scene made me pause, as I’d not seen Steed use a sword, and then I realized the clanking metal would have been this elf’s sword hitting the stone floor where he now lay, arms bent behind him as if he planned to crawl backward, away from the very intimidating form of an angry dark elf. I was a little proud of my guard, he looked quite impressive at the moment.

Steed had heard us enter, was aware of who we were and that we were not a threat, so he didn’t take his glare off his captive. “Bind him.”

“Done,” Chevelle answered.

Without turning, Steed tossed the sword back for Chevelle, who caught it by the base of the blade and did a cursory examination of the handle. Steed grabbed the prisoner by his arm and hefted him up to walk beside us as we crossed to a more secure location.

Two doors down, Rhys and Rider were posted outside while Steed tossed the elf into a chair and bound him to it while Chevelle sealed the room. They did quick work and I simply stood in the center of the room to stare at this strange character. He wore particularly nondescript clothing, no markers of any kind. His hair was muted brown. He definitely did not have the look of a light elf, not that inner glow or glistening eye, but he didn’t appear to be of the northern clans either. He was young. He looked scared.

“What’s this?” Chevelle asked, suddenly beside me.

“I am not exactly clear on that,” Steed answered. “But it seems he has some business with our lord.”