Fearless (Nameless #3)(54)
Zo leaned over, and with hands hovering over Eva’s swollen stomach asked, “May I?”
Eva nodded and Zo set her hands on her pregnant belly. She closed her eyes and gently pushed her love into the womb of the unborn child. A boy, if her reading of the baby’s spirit could be relied upon. “You bear the child of a chief.” Zo smiled, pulling away with some reluctance.
Eva beamed at her soon-to-be husband as Stone shook hands with the other men in the competition.
“I bear Stone’s child. That is all I care about.” She spoke softly, her hand still supporting her belly while staring longingly at the man she loved.
Throat tightening, envy gnawing away at her insides, Zo had to look away. Eva and Stone reminded Zo too clearly of what she didn’t have. Of course she knew Gryphon cared for her, and when she approached Laden last night after Gryphon had seen her safely to her tent and demanded to know whether Gryphon had asked for her hand, Laden had been gentle in saying he hadn’t.
How foolish she was! Her cheeks heated even at the thought of wearing her mother’s dress to the Ostara. She’d let the romantic idea of Gryphon’s proposal cloud the fact that, though Gryphon might care for her, he likely wasn’t in any frame of mind to make his connection to her permanent. He’d been different since arriving in camp, so quick to criticize her people. And whenever he smiled there was always something restricting the emotion. Something holding him back.
Cheering from the crowd drew Zo out from her useless self-pity. Eva whistled her approval along with the rest. Her hair had grown a few inches since it was shaved inside Ram’s Gate. Today she wore a wreath of wildflowers like a crown on her head. Combined with her dark eyes and high cheekbones, she looked nothing like the girl who’d knifed a Ram scout on their journey here.
The games lasted all day. Men sat in pairs on the ground, holding a small rope with their feet pressed against their opponent’s. The object was to pull the other man off the ground. There was spear throwing. Shot-putting. Sword fighting with blunted, wooden blades. Even a contest at the pond to see which man could hold his opponent under the water the longest.
“I hope you don’t believe the talk,” said Eva, not taking her eyes from the games.
Zo frowned. “Talk?”
“About Gryphon. They’re just rumors. People are fools when they’re afraid. Whatever the Wolves believe, the Freemen are behind Gryph.”
“Eva,” Zo said, frustrated now, “I don’t even know what you’re talking about.”
Eva hesitated, clearly regretting bringing it up in the first place. “It started with the fire the day before you left. Every few days something else happens. Men gone missing. The damn on the river breaking. A day’s worth of newly crafted spears destroyed. Last night more than thirty men were up sick. Some think the food stores have been tampered with.”
“And people believe Gryphon did all of these things?”
Eva frowned. “Not everyone. But the problem is, no one can prove that it wasn’t him.”
“That’s ridiculous!” said Zo.
Could she really blame the Wolves for pointing their finger at Gryphon? He was the only Ram, aside from Joshua and Eva, in the camp. Laden’s words the night of the fire rang again in her ears.
He has motive.
Zo shook her head, ashamed she’d even entertained the idea. This was Gryphon.
“Ridiculous,” she said again, mostly to herself.
At Eva and Stone’s insistence, the wedding was a simple affair. Eva’s bleached wool dress kissed the floor, plain except for the green braided sash that sat above her rounded stomach. She’d traded her wildflower crown for one of wheat mixed with different textures and shades of leaves. The yellow wheat created something of a halo around her head.
“The wheat is a Ram symbol for abundance,” Gryphon whispered to her.
Zo almost made a remark that food was all the Ram ever thought about, but refrained. There was nothing funny about hunger. Living in the Valley with her parents as a child, Zo had seldom experienced the pains of hunger. But inside the Gate, hunger was a constant companion. Especially among the Nameless.
Laden stood before Eva and Stone, facing the vast congregation of Allies who’d come to witness the event. The crowd quieted with expectation as Laden looked between the couple. Instead of launching into a long speech about the sacredness of the occasion, the Commander simply nodded to Stone and stepped back, as if to let the pair sort everything out on their own.
At the unspoken cue, Stone stretched out his hands toward Eva, palms up. Eva smiled at him, tears gathering in her eyes. She reached out to him and placed her hands down on his forearms. He gripped her forearms in return, and together they stared at one another for several long moments.
Zo drank in the adoration of Stone’s expression as he whispered words to his bride. Words not shouted for the crowd. Whatever he said, it belonged to Eva alone. Zo leaned forward, her breath catching at the sweetness of the sacred moment.
The couple paused. More tears, but no words.
Gryphon must have sensed Zo’s anticipation because he leaned down and with his breath tickling her ear said, “It is Ram custom for the bride not to accept his vow until she’s taken the time to consider his promises. A way to keep him in suspense.”
A shiver of longing rushed up Zo’s spine as she and Gryphon locked eyes. One heartbeat. Two. She studied every inch of his face so close to hers. His thick black lashes and rich brown eyes. The masculine contours of his cheeks. The stubble along his jaw.