“Ye can afford quality like that, ye can afford me rents for the season. And don’t ye be thinking of threats, young master, dragonrider though ye be. Ye don’t scare me.” He eyed Akarra. “Your fire-breather neither.”
Akarra said something in Eth, and Alastair smiled. He pulled out a silver half-dragon and tossed it into the man’s hand.
“That’s more like it.”
The farmer showed us to the barn, muttering warnings under his breath to “keep that blasted creature away from my hay.” Akarra rolled her eyes and headed for the stretch of pasture beyond the barn.
It was a squelchy business, peeling off our wettest things and hanging them from pegs or over railings. It didn’t help that we had to feel our way around in the dark, the farmer having taken the lantern and offered nothing in its place. From around us came sleepy snuffling and the inescapable smell of animals. Either their master made it a practice to shove strangers into their barn at odd hours of the night or they were very placid animals, for our presence disturbed them no more than a few minutes before the noises settled down again. Alastair felt around for the nearest pile of straw and we lay down—me still shivering, him quiet—and listened for a while to the rain on the roof.
“What did Akarra say?” I asked after a minute.
“Hmm?”
“About the farmer.”
“She reminded me what the going rate for rams is in these parts.”
I could make out only the faint outline of his features in the dark, but even so I fancied he was smiling. “Let me guess. A silver?”
“Two for a silver, actually, but she’ll be generous.”
“Do you often meet with people like that farmer?”
“More often than we like.”
“I always assumed anyone would be happy to lodge a Rider. People at Merybourne Manor talked of it like some sacred duty.”
He shifted. “Aye, and despite my, ah, first claims to the contrary, we were grateful for your hospitality,” he said. “But our work is bloody, and most decent folk would rather not be reminded why we exist. They may say otherwise, but all Riders know the truth.”
“I suppose.” I closed my eyes and nestled closer to him, partly for warmth, partly to encourage his touch. He draped an arm around my shoulders. “We’ll have a lot— Did you just say aye?”
Never before had I thought darkness capable of blushing. His silence had a crimson hue.
I sat up. “You did! You said aye!”
“Perhaps it slipped out,” he muttered. “So?”
Laughter warmed me better than anything the barn had to offer, and I settled back at his side with a grin. “Oh, don’t sound so peeved. It suits you.”
“If you say so.”
“I do.”
For a minute we listened to the rain, our moods considerably lightened.
“Have you ever wondered why I was late that day?” Alastair asked.
“Hmm? What day?”
“The day the Riders came to Merybourne. The day we first met.”
I had at the time, but since then it had hardly crossed my mind. I turned toward him and propped myself up on one elbow. “Well, I do now. What happened?”
“The first time Cedric told us about Lord Merybourne’s contract, I said no.”
“Really?”
“Really. I’d flown through Hart’s Run several years before and hadn’t found it very impressive. Come now, you can’t deny it,” he said as I nudged him in the ribs. “I didn’t fancy staying there for any longer than a day.”
“I’m sure.”
“Less than that, if I could help it.”
“All right, all right, I get the idea,” I said. “What changed your mind?”
“Akarra told you about the fiasco with Cedric’s woman in Edonarle, didn’t she?”
I thought back to our conversation on the hill outside of Hunter’s Forge and the aftermath of his first disastrous proposal. Akarra had set the facts straight afterward on any number of misconceptions I’d formed about her Rider, including his interference in my sister’s relationship with Cedric Brysney. That Brysney had only recently had his heart broken by a faithless fiancée when he came to Hart’s Run was not something I’d be quick to forget, no matter how much I wished to. I nodded, then, remembering he couldn’t see, added, “She did.”
“That woman plagued him from the moment she arrived in Edonarle. Lingering around his favorite tavern, inquiring at the guesthouse where he and Charis stayed, that kind of thing. He wanted nothing more to do with her, but she was, ah, determined.”
“To do what? Win him back?”
“If possible. She wanted his fortune and his famous name.”
I tried out one of the Eth phrases I had heard Alastair mutter on occasion. “Ahla-na’asheen.”
He laughed.
“Did I say it wrong?” I asked.
“Depends. Were you trying for accursed or arithmetic?”
“The former.”
“Ahla-na’ad-shaheen, in that case,” he said. “And I’d agree. When Merybourne’s contract came, Cedric couldn’t sign it fast enough. Charis too.” He paused. “Actually, it was Charis who asked me to join them.”
I reached out and found his hand. His voice still caught whenever he talked about his fallen friend. “And you said no?”
“At first. Then Cedric told me everything that the woman from Hallowsdean had done since she arrived in Edonarle. I was . . . well, angry may be an understatement.”
Having been on the other side of his protective nature, I could understand the reaction. “I can imagine.”
“Maybe it was foolish, but I went to find her. I told her to give him up, to return to Hallowsdean while she still had a shred of honor left, or face House Daired and House Brysney in the High Magistrate’s Court.”
“I gather from your tone that conversation went extraordinarily well.”
“She, ah, got the wrong impression.” He cleared his throat. “Of my intentions.”
My eyebrow shot up. “Oh?”
“You needn’t worry, khera, she wasn’t as persuasive as she thought she was. But neither was I. She didn’t give up. Just found richer quarry.”
“So you didn’t come to Hart’s Run for your friend’s sake?”
He shifted and faced me. The rain had lessened and the moon must have been peeping through the clouds, for enough light fell through the barn slats to see his expression. He wore a faint smile. “Well, not only for my friend.”
Straw poked at my cheek as I moved closer. “Is that why you were late, then? Dodging the attentions of this artful young lady?”
“Hardly. I signed the contract as soon as I next saw Cedric. Akarra and I meant to leave at once, but there was a murder at the docks and Akarra thought it was odd enough to warrant investigation.”
I frowned. “Odd? Was it the Tekari?”
“We never found out. The first mate of a vessel from the Principalities was found dead in the hold of the ship when it docked, but none of the other sailors saw anything and the captain had already burned the body before we arrived. We had to hand it over to the City Watch.”