He left me to consider that thought while he went to attend to a few things, not even bothering to stay and clean up after his brawl.
Before he left, he pleaded for me to remain in the tent. Then, for good measure, he stopped to talk to the guards on the way out, most likely to tell them not to let me leave.
Usually, that would have rankled me, but this time, it was fair. Even if the guards weren’t there, I had already decided to respect his wishes and stay put. And really, it was the least I could do, knowing he was essentially my keeper while we were here, and I was apparently making his job very difficult.
Plus, I found that I no longer liked when he was upset with me.
I paced the empty tent, avoiding the thoughts that kept trying to creep in through the quiet. Ones about what the Summit meeting would look like, how Davin was faring back at Theo’s estate, how my family was dealing with the news of our disappearance.
Shaking my head, I stamped that last thought out for good.
No good could come from dwelling on what I couldn’t change.
I filled the rest of my time looking through the gowns that Lady Mila had sent over, and silently thanking her for providing options that weren’t as rigid as the ones from Clan Elk.
When Theo finally returned, I took a grateful breath that I no longer had to suffer with myself as my only company.
I was fully prepared for more tension to descend upon the already overly-burdened tent of awkwardness, but instead, he had a shy smile on his face, all traces of earlier annoyance having vanished.
He came straight to me, holding out a bracelet of woven silver and gold twisted over each other.
“I seem to recall you saying something about friendship bracelets?” Mirth sparkled in his eyes, but it took me a moment to place the reference.
When I did, I threw my head back and laughed. It had been shortly after he brought Davin and me up from the dungeons, when he removed our rope bindings. “I can’t believe you remember that.”
“You’re not easy to forget.”
Warmth unfurled inside of me with an intensity that was rather terrifying. Between this and all of the moments we shared on the road, it was too easy to forget who Theo and I were supposed to be and why we were here.
Clearing my throat, I took a step back.
“Why, thank you, Lord Theo.”
“Of course.” He inclined his head. “May I?”
I held my arm out in the space between us, and Theo went to gently clasp the bracelet around my wrist. His fingers brushed the delicate skin there, and tendrils of heat crept from the pinpoints of contact.
I pulled my wrist back only to see something I hadn’t noticed before. One of the charms from the booth we had visited, a detailed silver carving of the most beautiful flower I had ever seen. I gasped, meeting Theo’s eyes.
“It’s a Lotus flower. They’re rare, complex flowers. Difficult to keep alive.” The corner of his mouth tilted, and it took everything I had not to lean forward on my toes and press my lips against that smirk.
“That doesn’t sound like anyone I know,” I said instead. Then, in a more serious tone, “Thank you. Sincerely.”
He looked away. “Well, you could hardly be a proper Socairan woman without one.” At my questioning glance, he expounded. “Most women don’t leave home without them. Even the villagers have a version of them, though they are usually leather bands and trinkets carved from wood. They get hidden under the long sleeves in Autumn, but in the Summer you’ll be able to show…” He trailed off, and I wondered if he realized what he had just let slip.
The idea of me still being here in the Summer had never been raised. Either the Summit would vote against me, and I wouldn’t be anywhere, or they would let me go home, and Summer was well after the pass opened.
But Theo had spoken about it like he expected me to be here then, or at least like he wanted me to be…
The idea sent a thrum of…something through me, that might have been terror or elation or any of a thousand emotions in between. Whatever it was, I didn’t have words for it.
So I gave into my earlier impulse, standing on my tiptoes and leaning forward hesitantly to press my mouth against his. I had only closed half the distance when he leaned down, wrapping his arms around me and kissing me with what I might have called desperation on another person.
“We’ll get through this,” he murmured against my lips. “One way or another.”
On the tour earlier, I had somehow missed the ominous black tent in the very center of the encampment. That, or Theo had intentionally kept me away from it.
Torches lit the path leading up to the entrance, while nine heavily armed guards blocked anyone from entering, each of them wearing a color to represent the clan they were from. All of them faced forward with the same serious expression, as if they were an army preparing for an approaching enemy.
And maybe they were.
I took a deep breath, straightening my spine, and put one foot in front of the other to keep moving forward.
Because that’s what you do when you’re headed toward certain death, right? You go to it willingly, like a naive pig to the slaughter.
There had been times this past week when I let myself forget what this was all about, forget that I was a prisoner at all. Standing before this tent, it was impossible to ignore.
At least Davin had stayed behind, relatively safe. Though, I could have used his commentary to lighten the mood right about now...
Theo stopped walking, his body shifting to face me.
“Remember, we need them on our side.” His fists clenched at his sides, and his brows were pinched with worry. “Don’t speak up unless you are asked a direct question, and just—” His voice trailed off. “We will do our best to protect you, but they need to see you as one of their own.”
There was something in his eyes that made me want to believe that there was a way out of this. He seemed so sure, so confident, that for a moment I did believe him.
That belief died the moment we entered the tent.
The space was fraught with tension. It thrummed in the air and through each and every one of the men at the table. Remembering Iiro’s instructions, I gave a demure nod to each of them in turn, taking advantage of the eye contact to scrutinize their features for signs of how they might lean on this issue.
The expressions were largely closed off, but not openly hostile. I had almost begun to relax when my gaze landed on the occupant of the seventh chair.
My heart dropped like a stone into my stomach, and a small noise of disbelief escaped me.
What is he doing here?
Haughty gray eyes stared back at me, an amused smirk mocking my surprise. It was the young lord I had run into scarcely an hour ago, the one who already seemed to suspect who I was. And hated me for it.
Lord Evander’s expression turned to open disdain when I stepped into the light. I swallowed hard, unease quickening my pulse.
Less than a day in, and there was already one vote against me.
