Massi leaned into him, elbowed his side. “More you than us, but yes. We’ve got the makings of a formidable army.”
He laughed. “The makings of one? I thought we had one.”
“We don’t know how well they can fight,” Revek reminded him.
“We’ll see soon enough. And if they need improvement, we have some time before we make it to Fernwell, if we don’t meet with any resistance.”
“They have to be willing to improve.” Revek sounded like he didn’t think they would be.
“Ava can help with that. They see her as one of their own.”
“Even though she isn’t,” Revek said.
“She is as far as we’re all concerned, from now on.” Luc turned to look at his old friend. He had been different since Luc had returned from his capture. Negative. Always quick to assume every obstacle was impossible to overcome.
“So we’re starting out with lies.” Revek tilted his head in challenge.
“Just like old times, my friend,” Luc reminded him. “Just like pretending to fight for the Kassian, and then betraying them on the battlefield, or had you forgotten you fight with the Turncoat King?”
Revek held his gaze for a beat and then looked away. “Of course not.”
“Is there something you want to tell me? Is something wrong?” Luc had wanted to ask this a few times in the months since he’d returned.
“No. I’m just tired. I want this to end.” Revek shrugged. Gave a lopsided smile. “Not all of us have met our heart’s choice and had a grand adventure with her, you know.”
“Or him,” Massi reminded him. “Maybe there’ll be a handsome Venyatux in that column who will carry me off somewhere private.”
“Shut up,” Luc told her, and then rode forward to meet the column and find Ava, while Massi’s laughter rang out behind him, warming him through.
Chapter 9
Ava stood, hesitant, her tent in her hand.
Did she put it up? Or assume she would spend the night with Luc?
She didn’t know, and felt foolish standing there, debating with herself.
With a huff, she set the tent up anyway. Stored her things there.
She had been off duty since late afternoon, as they approached the Rising Wave.
She had looked for Luc, but she guessed he was busy working on the logistics of merging two massive armies, and she didn’t ask for his whereabouts.
She missed him.
Wanted the closeness they’d had this morning.
But she would have to meet his other friends, the lieutenants he’d been through the Chosen camps with, and they might treat her with the same suspicion as Dak.
Again, she huffed. So what?
She had faced harder obstacles than that. The Queen’s Herald, for one.
Although she didn’t care what her cousin thought of her, and she did care what Luc’s friends thought. They were important to him.
With a sigh, she shrugged her shoulders to loosen them, pulled on her cloak, and started walking through the camp toward the Rising Wave.
She was hailed by friends as she wound her way between tents and the campfires that were being lit as the sun set.
She waved back but didn’t let herself get distracted until Deni called to her from a campfire, and as she turned toward him, she felt her cloak tingle.
Someone nearby did not mean her well.
She stopped to look around more carefully, relaxed a little when she saw Nabi was sitting with the group.
She already knew he didn’t like her.
“Have you eaten?” Deni asked.
“Not yet.” Maybe she should. She had no idea whether Luc would have eaten a meal yet or not.
She drew closer, and the working in her cloak intensified its warning.
She looked at each face, and decided it might be someone watching from a distance, not one of the people sitting around the fire. Even Nabi didn’t dislike her this much. That prize went to whoever hunted her.
She forced herself not to look around. Not to give away that she knew he was watching.
“Off to find the Commander?” Deni asked her.
“Yes.” She took the bowl he handed her with a smile.
“Looking for more luxury than we can give you?” Nabi sneered from the other side of the fire.
When she looked up, she kept the look of amusement firmly in place, although her feelings had turned to irritation.
Nabi was a problem.
It suddenly occurred to her that her rejection of his offer of bed sport, shortly after she’d joined the column, had clearly not been well received, no matter that she had done it politely and firmly. He’d managed to persuade a number of women to invite him to their tents since then, and he'd been nothing but trouble to all of them afterward.
“Well, possibly more luxurious than my traveling tent,” she agreed with him.
“If you think a foreigner is better than one of your own.” Nabi's tone was ugly enough to attract the attention of others.
“The Commander is certainly the best one for me. And our people agree, it seems, given the size of our army here to join him.” Ava scooped the last bite of stew out of her bowl, and stacked it with the other empties in the bucket beside the fire.
She didn’t look Nabi’s way as she waved goodbye to Deni, but he didn't notice. He was watching Nabi, his face set in disapproval, and Ava left them all to it, weaving through the small knots of soldiers chatting after their meal, and skirting around games of boules and pins.
She crossed the narrow space between the two columns and stepped into the almost identical tent world of the Rising Wave.
People sat around the fire, relaxing at the end of another day’s travel, although there was a sense of excitement in the air here she assumed came from the arrival of the Venyatux.
A few people looked at her curiously, but no one stopped her or challenged her right to be there.
Her hair was not in the Venyatux style, and both sides had very similar clothing, so she guessed there was no reason to suspect she was a stranger.
She headed toward the largest tent in the column, set at the very heart of the Rising Wave.
She frowned as she walked toward it. Luc should not advertise his location so obviously, if this was in fact his tent.
At least there was open space around it, so whoever approached would be exposed and could be—
“Halt. Who are you?”
Her cloak told her the woman blocking her way meant her considerable harm.
Ava considered her carefully. This might be one of Luc’s friends. One of his lieutenants. “My name is Ava. I’m looking for Luc.”
“Luc’s been with Ava since late this afternoon. Try again.” The woman pulled out a knife, as long as Ava’s forearm.
Ava lifted both hands. “But he hasn’t been with me.”
A man roared out an unintelligible shout to the left of them—a feral, out-of-control sound—and as Ava turned to look he ran toward her, pulled back his arm, and threw something at her.
She leaned to the right, and a long metal object flew past her, so close she felt the air of its passage brush her cheek.
The man was running full tilt now, and he roared again as he leaped the last few steps toward her, hands outstretched.
Ava crouched down, and he flew over her head.