With the introductions over, Ailith sat and motioned for Ty to do the same. It wasn’t her place to tell the Hunter to sit, so she fixed her attention on the group upriver.

  Even though she had a million questions about Sábria’s daughter, Maida decided to ask them later. She followed Ailith’s gaze upriver. “You have your eye on someone over there?”

  Ailith quickly looked down, but she could feel the heat rising in her cheeks.

  “Oh, ho. Let’s see.” Maida found herself enjoying Ailith’s company and thought she’d tease the shiv a bit to see if that blush could get any brighter. “Since Harda and Cladine came with me, I have to say it’s Xyda who’s caught your eye. And I have to agree with you, she’s definitely attractive. Unfortunately for both of us, she’s married and very much in love with her wife, who’s not such a bad looker either.”

  Maida’s gaze traveled down to Ailith’s pleasantly plump breasts, which weren’t large, but would definitely make for a nice handful, and back up to the pink coloring her cheeks. “Not all of us are taken, though.” Not only had it been quite a while since she’d laughed, but it had been much too long since she’d had any sex. This young woman seemed like someone she might enjoy getting to know a little better. Sex had always been her go-to stress reliever before all the trouble began.

  The way the shiv glanced up at Maida from beneath her shaggy brown bangs only added to the appeal. When Ailith returned the admiring gaze and raised her brows, indicating she wouldn’t mind a tumble in the hay, Maida grinned.

  One critical talent every Hunter developed was the ability to listen to their sixth sense warning them that someone was watching. She glanced over her shoulder to where Sábria had stopped eating and had turned her attention their way. The Blade that Ailith had been referring to earlier was also watching them but with more of a glare than Sábria’s thoughtful curiosity. “Who did you say that Blade was over there with Sábria?”

  “That’s me handler, Jenx”

  “Is she any good as a handler? Are you learning a lot from her?”

  “Aye. She’s the best at th’ Temple. She’s been training shivs fer turns, and I’m th’ lucky one what got her as me handler, ya ken? I’m no better’n a fowkin’ peasant from th’ Blacktip Mountains, and I got a noblewoman what treats me like I’m somebody.”

  Maida returned her attention to her plate and began eating again. It bothered her that both Ailith’s handler and Sábria were so interested in their conversation. Did they think she was going to do something to harm the shiv? Well, wasn’t that just fucking typical? Her mood, which had begun to lift, plummeted back down into the depths of anger and despair. Fuck them, then. They were no different than any of the other Blades.

  She stared at her plate, and since she’d taken a liking to the shiv, she swallowed her bitterness and allowed herself to revert back to a time when she’d been the first to give advice to any youngster in the Temple who needed a bit of help. “No one who serves Elyon is a noblewoman or peasant, Ailith. You’re all Blades, just like those of us in the Hunters are all Hunters.”

  Ailith shrugged, “I guess that’s easy enough to say ‘cuz ya sound like ya come from a pack of nobles, aye?” She looked at Maida, waiting for her answer. She was definitely attracted to the woman, but she wasn’t sure she wanted to get involved with another noble.

  The Lady Knight she’d been involved with had taken a fancy to a skezzie duchess or some such sweiven pounit wearing all kinds of fripperies at court. She’d stopped asking Ailith to her mother’s house and one time had the sweiven gall to stop and introduce the pounit when they’d passed Jenx and her on the way to Master Lowenbrow’s shop. Jenx had stopped to greet them, but Ailith had just continued into the bookstore. She’d gotten an earful on manners from Jenx when she’d joined her in the store, but Ailith hadn’t cared. Peasants were peasants and nobles were nobles and that’s all there was to it.

  “Like I said, Ailith, none of the Blades are nobles, and none are peasants.”

  Ailith looked down and mumbled, “Aye, tell that to Lady Knight Farryn.”

  “And who’s Lady Knight Farryn?”

  Ailith lifted a shoulder, “Nobody important.”

  They both jumped when Sábria spoke behind them. “Who’s not important?” Neither woman spoke, and Sábria repeated, “Ailith, I asked you a question. Who’s not important?”

  Ailith really didn’t want to discuss Lady Farryn with Sábria since she’d warned her not to get involved with a noble in the first place. “Well, first we was talkin’ about Xyda and how she has a wife, and then we was talkin’ about Jenx, and how she’s a noble and how good a handler she is, and how Jenx don’t care that I were a peasant, and she’s a noble and then this one here, I forgot her name, told me that in th’ Blades there’s no such thing as nobles and peasants, and I said that’s easy for her to say because she sounds like she’s a noble, and when you’re noble that’s kind of an easy thing to say, and well, that’s what we’re talkin’ about.”

  Amusement sparkled in Sábria’s eyes. “And you still haven’t answered my question, but that was a valiant effort to sidetrack me from finding out who you think isn’t important.” Her gaze shifted to Maida, and she was pleasantly surprised to see some of the old humor lurking there.

  Ailith clucked her irritation that Sábria never fell for her attempts to sidetrack her. “Well, it might just be that we was squakin’ about how nobles and peasants don’t mix.”

  “And how does that apply here, since Maida reminded you that we don’t consider Blades to be nobles or peasants?”

  “Not exactly true, is it, Milady, since you once told me nothin’ good never comes from a noble and a peasant gettin’ together? And since ya told me that, ya were meanin’ that I were a peasant what shouldn’t get with a noble, right? So that means ya was saying that I be a peasant, aye?” Ailith could tell that her blush was even more spectacular than it had been when she’d been talking to Maida.

  Sábria had been hoping Ailith would come talk to her about how hurt she’d been when Ryn had begun seeing Lady Anelia. During their once a fortnight briefing, when Sábria met individually with every handler to find out how the shivs were progressing, Jenx had informed her that she and Ailith had passed Lady Knight Farryn in the streets with Lady Anelia on her arm.

  Apparently, Ryn had tried to introduce them, but Ailith had ignored the gesture and stalked into the bookstore, Between the Covers. Jenx said that after the chance meeting, Ailith’s mood had soured, and she’d remained moody and upset for several days after. Now wasn’t the time to broach the subject, though, so she moved on. “I see you’ve met Ty.”

  Maida’s voice was upbeat when she nodded. “I did.” A little too upbeat, as though she was trying to sound that way.

  Like Ailith, Maida was one of the Blades Sábria had always had a special place for in her heart. Because of that, she’d come to know her well, and the slight blush that rose in the Hunter’s cheeks after she’d mentioned Ty was telling. When she recognized the way Ailith was studying Maida out of the corner of her eye, Sábria combined that with the conversation they’d just had, and alarm bells sounded.

  She knew what that look meant, and Sábria blinked at her shiv and then looked at Maida with narrowed eyes. Under normal circumstances, she would have absolutely no problem with two Blades enjoying a sexual liaison, but the thought of these two getting together was more than she could contemplate at the moment.

  The fact that Maida had gone back to eating as though she hadn’t a care in the world told her everything she needed to know. “Maida, the two of us and Prime Geller are taking the first watch. Finish your meal, and we’ll go out and scout the perimeter.”

  Ailith perked up. “I don’t mind taking th’ first watch with her, Milady. Ya shouldn’t have to take a watch, what with ya bein’ th’ Arch Priestess and all. I used to stand watch with th’ Army all th’ time, and ya know I’m really good at th’ sneakin’, aye? Maybe I can teach th’ Hunter a thing or two about trackin’ an’ such.”

  Maida side-eyed Ailith. “You do realize Hunters train for turns to track without being seen, right?”

  “Maybe I ken some things ya don’t, and maybe ya ken some things I don’t, neither.”

  Sábria shook her head, “Sorry, Ailith, but I already told Maida that she’s not going to be far from my side for the next little while. You’ll be going out with Jenx and Harda on the second watch, and then Shirin, Cladine, and Xyda will take the third and final watch. I know it’s still light out, but once you’re finished with your meal, try to get some sleep. We’ll wake you when we come back.” She looked at Maida, “You’re with me, let’s go.”

  Maida quickly stuffed the rest of her fish into her mouth, set her battered copper plate down to retrieve later, and hurried to catch up to Sábria, who’d wasted no time heading for the forest.

  CHAPTER 15

  Sábria still held the arrow she’d retrieved from the bush, and Maida caught up to her and pointed to it. “Are you going to give that back to me sometime today?”

  The side of Sábria’s mouth lifted as she scanned the surrounding forest. “No.”

  “It’s one of my best. Do I get it back at all?”

  “No. If you wanted to keep it, you shouldn’t have shot it at me.”

  “I spent several sevendays making that one and those two you broke.”

  “Yes, I recognized your family’s pattern. And you did an excellent job on the fletching, by the way.” She ran her fingers through the perfectly shaped feathers Maida had glued to the end of the shaft. “What kind of feathers did you use?”

  Maida watched as Sábria ran a finger up each of the three lines of fletching. “I’d really rather you not do that, My Lady. Those are perfectly aligned and clean. You’re getting your body oils on them, which can change the trajectory enough that if Xyda held up another leaf, I’d probably hit her hand instead of the leaf.”

  After looking around their immediate vicinity and memorizing the rocks and bushes surrounding them, Sábria grabbed the arrow by its shaft and plunged it into the dirt. “As I said, you shouldn’t have shot at me in the first place. This arrow is no longer yours, Maida. We’ll return to get it when our shift is over. It’ll make a nice addition to the artifacts in my townhome. My father collected arrows from every kingdom he traveled to, and though I never told you, he valued your grandfather’s arrows most of all.”

  Maida stopped, jammed her fists on her hips, and glared at her. “Then, for fuck’s sake, if you knew they were special, why did you break them?”

  Sábria rounded on her. “Let me give you a heads up, Maida. If you ever shoot an arrow toward me again, I’ll take every arrow in your quiver, break them, and use them for kindling the next time I make a fire. You’re lucky you got away with losing only three, so stop whining and take me to that nobleman’s camp Shirin told me about.”

  When Maida growled and shouldered past, Sábria stuck her palm on the Hunter’s chest and shoved her back until they were facing one another again. “Look at me, Maida.” She waited until Maida reluctantly did so. “I want your word you won’t try to run.”

  With a calculating look, Maida stared at the woman she’d idolized and loved since she’d become a Blade fourteen turns earlier. “If I decided to leave, do you think anyone, including the four Hunters back at camp, could find me? And along those lines, I saw you watch me when I was talking to your shiv. You don’t trust me around her, do you?”

  “If you run, I’ll send both Xyda and Shirin after you, and I can absolutely guarantee they’d find you and drag you back in disgrace. Tell me honestly that you don’t think those two could track you down.”

  Maida was the first to break eye contact. Her boast that no one could find her had been a bluff and Sábria had called her on it. Xyda had been the one to train her as a Hunter, and she was honest enough to know that no one had better tracking abilities than the Senior Hunter. She also knew that before Maida had become a Hunter, Shirin had wanted to learn advanced tracking techniques and had interned with Hunter Ziba for half a turn. Realistically, there was no way she could outrun the two of them. Despair hit her when the reality of her circumstances dawned. “So I’m your prisoner, and you’re going to drag me back to the Temple against my will.”

  “Yes.” The look of utter shock at the confirmation of Maida’s worst fears would have made Sábria smile under different circumstances. “And my honest answer to your previous question is that I’d trust you with Ailith’s life, and with all we’ve been through with her, that’s saying a lot. I know your heart, and even though you’ve been through enough emotional and physical pain to derail any Blade, I still see the Maida I love inside you.”

  Maida stared into the trees, thinking. She’d seen Sábria’s apprehension when she’d realized Ailith might have more than just a passing interest in her. So, she trusted her with the shiv’s life but didn’t trust her to have casual sexual relations with her? That made no sense. For two Blades to enjoy one another’s bodies was so natural that Sábria must think Maida was so fucked up emotionally she shouldn’t be left alone with Ailith. She’d trust her to protect the shiv with her sword, but not to treat her well with her body?

  Sábria watched Maida’s shoulders stiffen and lift a barely perceptible amount. As an observer of human nature, she always looked for those telltale signs in her Blades, small gestures that were unique to each woman that gave her a hint about what was going through their mind. The unconscious shoulder movement and the color rising in her cheeks were Maida’s “tells” that she was upset or angry about something. Really, though, in the past, they hadn’t appeared very often. When Maida had been at the Temple, she’d been so easygoing and ready with a smile or a pat on the back to anyone who might need encouragement or praise. “What is it, Maida? Talk to me.”

  Maida’s churning thoughts were nothing new. Hatred and anger were second nature to her now, and she embraced the emotions as a way to ground herself in the here and now. Let Sábria think she was her prisoner. Maida’s gut was telling her to keep her thoughts to herself, pretend she was just fine, and then leave at the first opportunity.

  Realizing her hands were fisted at her sides, she made a conscious effort to relax and smile. “You said you wanted to find the Nobleman’s camp? I passed it on the way in. There are several noblemen, and at least one is a Knight. There are about fifteen guards, men and women, and seven servants, men and women.”

  The forced smile worried Sábria. Even though Maida was trying for friendly and upbeat, the gesture missed the mark by a mile. Perhaps now wasn’t the time to push her Blade, so she opted to let her pride in Maida’s observational skills show through instead. “All of the reports I received from Xyda when you were in Hunter training said you were always attuned to your surroundings and that your attention to detail was excellent. I was so proud of what you achieved, what you’d become.” She sighed, “I kept a close eye on you, you know, your first couple of turns as a Hunter. But lately, things here have been…stressful, and I’m sorry to say I lost track of your progress.” Sábria put a hand on Maida’s shoulder. “When you needed me the most, I let you down, and for that, I’m truly sorry.” Unbidden tears came to Sábria’s eyes, but she didn’t try to stop them. “Can you forgive me?”

  Maida stepped back, leaned against a tree, and raised the sole of her boot to rest against it. She then broke a stem full of leaves off a nearby fern bush. Grasping the stem between her thumb and forefinger, she slid her fingers down it, stripping the tiny leaves off and watching them fall to the ground. “I didn’t know you had a daughter.”

  While the statement in and of itself had no obvious connection to Maida’s forgiveness, Sábria had been raising young Blades long enough to understand where the sentiment was coming from. With a sigh, she lowered herself onto a moss-covered log. “I gave her up for adoption when she was an infant because I was a child, myself. I thought she was safe and recently found out that I had unknowingly abandoned her to a horrible fate, just like I did with you. I seem to be making a habit of that lately.”

  “Recently? You said things have been stressful lately. Was finding out about her part of that stress?”

  “Very much so. And before that, I was gone when some horrible things happened to Ailith, and I wasn’t there to stop them, either. It seems to be a recurring pattern in my life lately, and to be honest with you, Maida, there are times that I don’t feel very wise or powerful. I wish I were all-knowing, but I’m not, and I’m sorry I wasn’t there for you. If I could have stopped this whole fiasco with the Hunters and the Temples before it got so far out of hand, I would have.”

  Sábria leaned forward and, with a tired sigh, rested her forearms on her knees. As she stared down at her boots, a familiar weight descended as though someone had covered her shoulders with a thick, wet blanket of overwhelming responsibility.

  Maida dropped the leafless stem, walked to Sábria, and sat close enough for their knees to touch. “After the first time they beat me, I thought for sure you’d hear about it and come. When they did it again, I was convinced something had held you up the first time, but for sure, you’d come and make everything okay. But you never did. Then, Harda was the Hunter watching out for me when I took a runner into the Temple at Osaran. By the time she found me, they’d already kicked me in the head. She says I was unconscious for two days, and I kept calling for you.”

  Swallowing the lump that had formed in her throat, Maida pulled in a deep breath, hating how shaky her voice was sounding. “About four days after I woke up, Cladine showed up in our camp. She said that if I learned to keep my mouth shut, maybe the Blades would stop beating me. She said it was my fault and that, of course, you knew about it, and you’d never come because I’m such a failure and an embarrassment to the Daughters. So, the fourth time, they threw a bag over my head and hit me with sticks and the flats of their blades and then dumped me in the river. I laid on the bank half in and half out of the water hoping to die because I believed what she’d said.”