Part 49 (2/2)

Payne chuckled. ”Once they're on the wagons, they won't have to worry about it. They can eat like spoiled elders, ride like kings, and sit on their b.u.ms all the way to the road as safe as a cozar at fireside.”

He grinned as she snorted. ”So, Wolfwalker, are you ready to ride?”

”Aye.” And Rishte was more than ready to run. ”We're still going on tonight?”

”You think I want to stay? We're a five-day ride out of Shockton, and we have three short days to get there.” He wheeled his dnu.

”Then I guess I'll say my ride-safes.”

”Be quick, Nori-girl. I'll wait on the road.”

She nodded. She wasn't looking forward to this. The papers she'd stolen from Hunter's belt burned in her mind. He had tried to speak to her several times as she led them out of the forest to the village, but their argument on the edge of the cliff stood between them like a worlag.

Hunter saw Payne trot away and raised his hand to catch her attention as he limped aross the street. He frowned as he watched her expression close up when he stepped up on the sidewalk. He hadn't realized how free she had been with her laughter when they were out in the forest. Now she was as stiff and reserved as the day they had met.

For a moment, the two looked at each other. Then Hunter said, ”I've been meaning to ask, make baskets from their bones?”

She shrugged, uncomfortable. ”I thought it had a nice sound to it.”

”Remind me not to get on your bad side.”

She looked toward the forest. ”All my sides are bad.”

”Not from what I've seen.” He studied her closed expression. ”You know we'll still have to get eight or nine venge riders and go after the Harumen.”

”My mother will take care of that.”

”Dione?” She couldn't be serious. He'd seen Nori's face when she'd pressed the Haruman on the cliff.

She'd been intent, digging at whatever the man knew, at any signal she could read. That wasn't the act of a woman who could just walk away from trouble. He stared at her. ”After all that's happened, all we've learned, you're still handing this off to your mother?”

If it's about plague, yes, she thought silently. There was no other who could survive it. And if there was a way to get those papers back from the bodies of the Harumen and out of the mouth of plague, Dione would find that way. Only after that would the rest be up to Nori. She said finally, simply, ”There's no need to hurry to find the Harumen. They never left the forest.”

”How do you know that?” he said sharply. ”Through the wolves?”

Her lip curled. For a moment, he caught something other than the grey in her violet eyes. The wolf snarled through her throat, and his skin seemed to crawl. Then she blinked, and became just a woman again standing in front of him, turning away for her dnu. He caught her arm. ”I need those papers, Black Wolf. I need them for the council. I can get a venge together in a day and head back into the forest.”

”No,” she said sharply. ”No,” she said more calmly. ”You can't.” He hadn't called her anything but Black Wolf or maDione since she had kicked him in his wound, and she bit back another apology. She said finally, ”It would be suicide.”

”Why?” he demanded.

She shook her head.

”It's suicide, so you send your mother in? And then rush off to Payne's Test?” He caught the guilt in her gaze. ”You-” His voice broke off. ”You aren't dropping this at all,” he realized. ”You are going to speak to the council. You're going to tell them about the attacks, the Harumen, the threat to Ariye.”

She looked away, unable to meet his gaze.

His green eyes narrowed. ”Even the Wolfwalker's Daughter would need some sort of proof to back up a story like this.” He caught a flicker in her gaze, and it fell into place for him. ”d.a.m.n you, not all my papers were lost. You held some back.” He felt the fury build and nodded at the fresh flash of guilt. ”You stole some reports, then traded the rest for Kettre.”

Silently she nodded.

”How many?” he demanded. ”How many did you hold back?”

”Two.”

”Which ones?” His voice was too harsh, and he didn't try to soften it.

Her own reply was stiff. ”One report and a letter from your sister. There wasn't time to be picky.” He glared at her, and she shrugged and started to turn away.

His hand shot out and he gripped her arm hard. ”I want them.”

She didn't meet his eyes. Instead, she stared after Payne. ”They're in your pack,” she said softly.

”But you read them.” He didn't need her nod. ”And you understood what they implied.”

Silently, she nodded.

”So you know of the threat to the counties, that the trade routes look to be ready to s.h.i.+ft, and that something must happen to cause it. Something big and something deadly. The Houses are already on the edge of war. They'll erupt over something like this. The violence will spill out into Ariye if it isn't already here.”

Again, she nodded.

His voice was flat. ”You now have a duty, Wolfwalker.”

She looked up at him, and he wasn't surprised to see his own anger mirrored in her violet eyes. Her voice was soft. ”House Wars, Sidisport, Harumen, and trade. Those are your duty, not mine, Tamrani. I already have a duty, and it reaches farther than any Haruman or House can strike.”

”So you will stand before the council.”

”Aye.” Her voice was quiet. ”It's time.” He started to grip her arm, but she stepped back. She was still wary around him, even though she could still feel his hands on her waist, the heat and strength when he'd lifted or held her, the timbre of his voice. She looked away. She had to remind herself that they weren't friends. They were barely allies, and he was from Sidisport himself, from one of the greater Houses. He would be approaching the council for his own ends, not to help Ariye.

This time, Nori would be there. She'd have to be. She would not let Hunter-or Fentris, she acknowledged-hide their secrets from the elders when they could harm Ariye. She didn't worry that she might not be believed against two First Sons of the Tamrani. She had worked for her parents for years, taking in information from their contacts and reporting to the Lloroi. Her word had been proven again and again. And she was the Daughter of Dione. Even the elders who didn't know her would listen when she spoke. After that, when the councils broke up for the day, and the doors closed for the inner circle, she would speak again, about plague. Payne might get a solo Journey after all, she thought. With Grey Hishn gone these past two years, Dione would need a partner wolf to heal herself with Ovousibas after exposing herself to plague. She might take Nori and Rishte with her to use their lupine link.

Hunter frowned as she said nothing else. He prodded, ”It's time you take up duty, but you still won't ride with me.”

She smiled without humor and shook her head. She yearned for Rishte, she pulled the wolf as much as the wolf pulled her, but this Tamrani pulled her, too. This close, he was in her senses until she wanted to touch his skin, feel his hands, taste his breath. She forced herself not to move toward him. With plague and the wolf and the taint in her mind, she couldn't afford another link that could tear her loyalties.

Instead, she slipped off the boardwalk and walked toward her dnu.

He stared after her. ”I can't believe you're just walking away.”

For a moment, she rested her forehead on the warm neck of her riding beast. Her voice was low, and she breathed into its fur, ”I cannot believe you'd let me.” She didn't think he would hear her, and she started to mount.

But Hunter dropped onto the street, took two quick steps, and plucked her from the saddle. He spun her around to face him. She didn't fight the movement, nor would she look at him, but when he tilted her chin up, he could see both hunger and fear in her eyes. ”What if I said I would not let you go?”

She looked down at his long, tanned fingers. They were scratched from the ride and one bore a long, shallow cut. And they were barely holding her. She could brush him off. She could slip past, even simply step away from him, and she knew that this time he wouldn't try to stop her.

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