Grumbling to himself, Roscoe settled down.
"There is an army out there." Caden gestured at the mountains. "They're looking for us and when they find us, they will try to kill us."
Quiet filled the air as the Trateri traded looks.
Confidence exuded from Caden as a smile spread across his face. "I say let them find us. They will discover why we are called Trateri."
Cheers greeted that proclamation, Roscoe and Ghost letting out loud whoops of approval. Fiona beat her legs with a hand as she released a war cry.
"What about the Kyren?" someone yelled.
"Fuck the Kyren."
Eva didn't see who said that last as she looked around.
Caden held up his hands, gesturing for silence. "This is not the Kyren's fight. It is ours. The Trateri take care of their own problems, do they not?"
"Yes, they do," several voices cried as one.
Caden nodded once in approval. "Your individual leaders have your orders. Follow them and if you see the enemy, show them the depths of your determination."
Caden moved through the crowd as they converged on Gawain and Van.
"You're in charge of those from the original mission," Caden informed Fiona when he reached them.
Fiona grimaced. "It's days like these when I wish I'd remained an ordinary warrior."
"You had your chance," Caden said without an ounce of sympathy.
Fiona gestured at Roscoe and Ghost. "You two—with me."
"Does this mean I won't get to play the game?" Brisa asked, sounding disappointed.
Roscoe paused as he gathered the last of the cards. He handed them to Brisa.
"What's this?" she asked, taking them with a puzzled look.
"You hold on to them for now," Roscoe said, climbing to his feet and reaching a hand down for Ghost.
The muscles in Roscoe's arms bulged as he pulled the other man up to standing.
"When we stop for the break, I'll teach you how to play. You're only borrowing them. Understand?" Roscoe lifted his eyebrows to reinforce his point.
Brisa didn't respond immediately, staring down at the cards with an emotion that was difficult to decipher.
Roscoe rolled his eyes. "Don't make a big deal about it. Those are my backup deck."
"Liar," Ghost said around a cough.
One corner of Eva's lips lifted at the uncomfortable look on Roscoe's face. It wasn't often she got to see the other man off balance.
The Trateri rarely gave away their belongings and for Roscoe to do so was unexpected.
Brisa cradled the cards to her chest. "You honor me."
Roscoe pointed at her. "You're not keeping them. I mean it. Those are mine. You're just holding onto them for me."
Brisa's expression showed she wasn't listening. "I will treasure them always and never let damage touch them. When it comes time, they will be passed to my favored offspring with instructions they be preserved for all time."
Ghost clapped Roscoe on the shoulder. "Yup. You made a mistake there. Those cards are now property of the Tenrin."
Roscoe made a sound of protest, looking like he was debating reclaiming his cards.
"Let's go. You've had your time to play. Now, we work." Fiona snagged Roscoe by his collar and dragged him in her wake.
His head twisted to take one last look at Brisa and the cards.
She waved happily.
Jason rolled his eyes. "At least I'm not the only one she upsets."
Caden stopped beside Eva and frowned after them. "Something I should know?"
Eva looked up at him. "So many things, but in this case you're better off leaving it alone unless you want a few new gray hairs."
Rather than look put off, Caden seemed intrigued. "Oh? Sounds interesting."
He would say that, but then he was never the type to shy away from difficult situations.
Rather than expand, Eva nodded at the Trateri. "That was quite the speech you gave."
Some might even call it impressive.
"I only said what needed saying. The Trateri have always been at their best when they've been stuck between a rock and a hard place. They'll weather this storm as long as they remember that."
Eva didn't think it was so simple.
"You took the issue of the Kyren and made them secondary. After what you said, no one is going to think twice about the fact they're not present in this," Eva said quietly.
The Kyren's abandonment at a pivotal point could have prejudiced the Trateri against all mythologicals.
Eva wouldn't have even been able to blame them for such thinking. It was hard to swallow the Kyren's absence right as they were under threat.
Caden's words helped mitigate the situation, making it clear such thinking was flawed and leaving the door open later should the Kyren ever choose to retract their decision.
Eva couldn't shake the sense he'd done it in part for her.
It would be so easy not to care about the Kyren's reasons or to dismiss the fact the Trateri had broken the rules first.
Caden hadn't done that. He'd gone out of his way to smooth over any issues in favor of a possible future cooperation.
Eva loved him for it. Warmth filled her chest.
"Sometimes you amaze me," Eva told Caden.
One side of his mouth curled in a lazy smile. "It's not much."
Eva lifted a hand, cupping the back of his neck as she pressed her forehead against his. "No, it's everything."
His nose nuzzled hers as they stood in a rare moment of peace, simply holding each other.
It was a respite right before the cusp of battle. A brief span of time when her heart felt synced to his. As if she'd lived an entire life just for this second with him.
Then the moment passed, and the world intruded as the Trateri started mounting their horses.
Eva was the first to draw back, her arms dropping from his shoulders. "Is Fallon aware his faithful shadow is so good at politics?"
Caden held very still. Something in his posture made Eva's senses go alert. A wild possessiveness burned in his eyes.
As if he'd like nothing more than to snatch her back.
Her expression softened as she let love shine in her gaze.
Caden closed his eyes, taking a deep breath as he reinforced his mask. When he opened them again, he was in full control. The commander so many admired, and the lover Eva considered her own.
"Who do you think taught me?" Caden asked in a voice that Eva would have considered normal if not for the loss of control she'd just witnessed.
"I'm surprised."
Caden's lips quirked, most of his mask already recovered. "You shouldn't be. Fallon makes use of every tool in his arsenal. Sometimes he can't be everywhere at once. It helps to have someone he trusts who can act in his name."
"And to do that, you have to understand politics," Eva finished for Caden.
He made a small sound of assent.
Eva watched him carefully. "You know you're more than a tool."
Caden smoothed a piece of hair back from her face. "We're all instruments, alea na. It just depends whose hands guide our fate."
Caden picked up one of her hands, examining it before lifting it to his lips to press a gentle kiss on its back in an unspoken promise.