Rise (The Order of the Krigers #1)(43)

After we ate, Anders nodded off to sleep. Vidar arranged his bedroll near the fire. “I don’t know about you,” he softly said, “but I’m not tired.”

“Me neither.” My conversation with Anders was still fresh in my mind.

Vidar pulled out a stack of cards. “Want to play?”

“Yes.” A game of cards sounded like fun, and it would be a nice distraction from thoughts of the sleeping assassin.

Vidar dealt us each five cards. “It has been quite an eventful day.”

We must be playing Stolen Moons. It was a game I knew well. I put one down and drew another from the stack. “Yes,” I replied. “It has.”

Vidar laid two cards down and picked up one more. Anders’s eyes were still closed, his breathing steady. I discarded another card. Vidar didn’t have anything to play, so he was forced to draw five.

I had three moons and was ready to reveal my winning hand. “What are we playing for?”

He fought a smile. “I assume you have a good hand?” I didn’t answer. “How about we play for information?”

“Deal.” I placed my cards down. “I win.”

“Unless I have the same three cards.” There was no way he could have managed that. He laid down three identical ones. “I win.”

I wanted to strangle him. “You must have cheated.”

“Nope,” he said, chuckling. “I’ve been playing this game a lot longer than you have.”

I folded my arms, fearing what he’d ask.

“So,” he mused, gathering the cards and putting them away. “I want to know something personal about you.”

Relieved his request was so simple, I opened my mouth to say something when he cut me off. “No you don’t. I choose the question you’ll answer. Who was the last person you kissed?”

“Easy. My father.”

“That’s not what I meant.”

My face went beet red. Of all the things he could have asked me, he chose to discuss this? I was mortified.

He laughed at my discomfort. “Come on,” he said. “You promised.”

“Fine. I’ve never kissed anyone.” I covered my face, wanting to shield myself from his scrutiny. Technically, Anders had kissed me in the brothel. Although, I hadn’t kissed him back, and it didn’t mean anything.

Vidar burst out laughing. “You’ve never kissed a man before? How is that possible? You’re sixteen! Most people marry around your age.”

“I’m not most people,” I mumbled. “Now leave me alone.”

“Sorry,” he said, still laughing. “We can fix that right now if you want.”

“Absolutely not.” I moved closer to the fire to make sure Vidar didn’t do anything to embarrass me—like kiss me out of jest.

“Oh, come on. I’m only teasing you.”

I ignored him, not wanting to make a big deal out of this.

“Kaia, I’m sorry.” He sat next to me, our shoulders touching. “You know I wasn’t serious.”

“What did you do?” Anders demanded, causing me to jump.

“Nothing,” Vidar said. “Go back to sleep. I was just teasing Kaia, and she took it personally. I’m trying to apologize.” He nudged my shoulder.

“You’re lucky my ankle hurts,” Anders said. “Otherwise I’d come over there and pummel you.”

Vidar laughed. Afraid he’d tell Anders what we were talking about, I said, “I’m fine. Please let it go.”

“I’m serious,” Anders said. “Kaia tended to my injury, now I’m in her debt.” He winked at me.

“Maybe I’ll get hurt so she can fawn all over me,” Vidar said.

I had the sudden urge to be out of the cave. “Excuse me,” I said, lurching to my feet. “I’m going to step outside for a couple of minutes.” Without waiting for a response, I turned and left.

“What did you say to her?” Anders asked.

I rested against the rock outside the cave, listening.

“Nothing,” Vidar responded. “I was just teasing her; trying to get her to loosen up.”

“Why?”

Vidar sighed. “I need to talk to her about something, and I don’t think she’s going to take kindly to the news.”

“What is it?”

“Something Grei Heks told me.” There was a moment of silence before Vidar continued, “What do you think of Kaia?”

Anders didn’t hesitate to respond. “She’s intelligent, tough, and has excellent survival skills. Why?”

Not wanting to hear any more, I walked away from the cave. The trees towered above me, shielding the sky. Sitting at the base of a tree trunk, I inhaled the frigid air.

Why couldn’t I stop thinking about Anders? Why did he make me so uncomfortable? Did it even matter if we were friends? Once the Krigers killed Morlet, I’d be back in the capital with my father. My breath caught. I couldn’t think about Papa right now. All my energy and focus had to be on getting my weapon.

The wind whirled around the trees, rattling the leaves. My head pounded. Morlet was searching for me. Perhaps communicating with him while I was awake would afford me more control over severing our connection. As stupid as it was to seek him out, the desire to know more about him before I killed him consumed me. Closing my eyes, I let myself relax and forced my power out.