Eva didn't deceive herself into thinking Drake did it out of the kindness of his heart. If it had been only her and Jason here, he would have followed her into the trees and nothing she could have said would get him to change his mind.
Caden's presence made Drake's vigilance less necessary. It meant secondary tasks, like making sure Eva's nearest and dearest were protected, could be taken into account.
The underbrush crunched under Eva's feet as the cool depths of the forest enveloped her.
She hadn't always been able to call the trees by their names. Where she'd grown up, the only thing that mattered was recognizing those plants which benefited humans from those that posed a danger. Conversations with Reece since then had deepened Eva's knowledge about trees.
These days she knew they fell into two broad categories. The first were known as deciduous. These trees changed color in the fall and were bare during winter. The second were coniferous, known for having needles instead of leaves. This second type never changed their color or lost their foliage.
The Highlands heavily favored the second category. Something about the altitude and cold making them a better fit—or so Reece had explained.
Eva didn't understand all of it, but she'd been happy to learn more about this place.
Before long, Eva picked up the murmur of voices as she slipped through the trees, coming to a stop when she found herself on the edge of a circle of dead trees. Their branches were stripped bare of greenery, and they looked disturbingly like skeletons.
A feeling of death pervaded the surroundings, making Eva pull her jacket around her a little tighter.
The tree at the center of the dead circle captured her attention as she moved closer, noticing Caden and the rest out of the corner of her eye. Roscoe and Ghost stood a short distance away, talking softly to each other. Reece had taken a knee and was observing something on the ground, his focus intent. Fiona and Jane were next to each other, keeping half of their attention on the pathfinder and the rest on the tree.
Eva put them out of her mind as she became absorbed in what she was seeing. The trunk seemed to be moving, the illusion that its bark was crawling toward its crown leaving behind a sense of wrongness.
Eva made a choked sound as she realized that wasn't bark moving but rather insects that bore a strong resemblance to cicadas. Hundreds. No, thousands of them.
She staggered back as she realized the tree wasn't the only thing covered in the cicadas. They were on the ground too and present on many of the surrounding trees.
No wonder the trees were dead. The cicadas had consumed everything important, leaving only husks behind.
Caden caught her arm, steadying her. "I've got you. It's okay."
Eva didn't respond, too caught up in her horror.
"Why did it have to be bugs?" Roscoe asked.
Fiona's expression was severe. Almost brutal as her hand tightened on her sword, looking as if nothing would please her more than to receive an order to exterminate.
Ghost seemed removed from events. Almost apathetic as he reached over to poke the swarm with a tree branch he'd grabbed from somewhere.
Reece's hand shot out to grab the branch and hold it immobile. "How about let's not poke the strange insects before the pathfinder figures out whether they're likely to eat us or not."
Ghost gave him a frown that said he didn't understand the other man's concern.
Reece's expression was long suffering as he set the stick down, careful not to disturb any of the bugs.
"I'm surprised a pathfinder would be scared of a few bugs," Roscoe said.
Reece aimed a flat look at him. "Really? You're going to tell me you're not?"
Point to the pathfinder.
After what happened last time, they all had an instinctive abhorrence to anything that crawled. It was hard not to when you ran into insects that resembled flowers that were capable of turning you into a plant.
These cicadas weren't the same, but none of those present wanted to test their luck.
"That's what I thought," Reece said when Ghost didn't argue. He rose to his feet. "They might be smaller than a beast but their numbers more than make up for it. Ask Shea to tell you about the time she ran afoul of a tricksi swarm. It's quite the tale."
"What are they?" Caden asked.
Reece's pause didn't make Eva feel any more confident. Even less so when he shook his head with a perplexed look. "I'm not sure."
Roscoe raised his eyebrows. "Do my ears deceive me? A pathfinder who doesn't have an answer?"
Reece scowled. "For the last time—I'm not my cousin. I don't share her delusions of grandeur."
Ghost and Roscoe smirked as Fiona looked on with a flat expression.
"Though if I was a betting man, I'd wager these had something to do with what happened to the red back," Reece finished, wiping the levity from their faces.
Eva had a feeling he was right.
"What makes you say that?" Roscoe asked.
"A swarm of never-before-seen bugs less than a hundred meters from a red back carcass that has been consumed down to its bones in not even a full evening? You're telling me that doesn't strike you as strange?" Reece asked.
Roscoe shrugged. "Everything about the Highlands is weird."
Reece shook his head and raised his eyes to the sky. "Why did Shea have to befriend you louts and then stick me with your company?"
Eva didn't know what possessed her to tug on the pathfinder's tail as she gave him a sweet smile. "Consider it punishment for your previous sins."
Reece scowled, looking baffled. "What sins?"
There was a hint of wickedness in Eva's expression as she fixed Reece with a teasing look. "I'm sure she'll be happy to tell you all about them the next time you see her."
Reece's sputter finally cracked Fiona's emotionless façade as a hint of humor peeked out of her friend's face.
"Nice one," Fiona told Eva. "It's about time someone checked his ego."
thirteen
Caden allowed himself a small smile at Reece's expense. The look of shock on the pathfinder's face was priceless. He hadn't expected that. Not from Eva, a woman he probably considered quiet. Maybe even harmless.
That was his mistake.
Quiet didn't mean weak. Sometimes a gentle exterior was nothing more than a cover to hide a priceless treasure you might be fooled into thinking didn't exist.
Caden certainly hadn't. His oversight almost cost him the beauty that was Eva.
It was why people never expected her claws. They forgot that the best hunters were silent before the strike.
Maybe that was why he was so attracted to her.
She was loyal but fierce in her protection of those who'd earned her esteem. Kindness threaded through every action she took. Even when she was giving you a piece of her mind, it was for a reason. Sometimes to keep you from being stupid. Often it was to protect another.
It was how she'd broken through to a heart as jaded as Caden's. He was used to people using others. It was far rarer to find a person who gave all of themselves to the tasks they undertook. Who felt so deeply that they were unable to walk away even when they knew it was safer, both emotionally and physically.
He'd seen the way Eva had struggled to find her footing in an unfamiliar role. Her uncertainty was hard to watch. Caden would have liked nothing more to step in to solve her problems, but doing so would only have done her a disservice in the long run. He'd rather cut his hand off than do anything that would clip her wings and prevent her from blossoming into her full self.