“Sure,” he said, throttling his smart-ass urge to bow and throw Astar’s royal titles in his face. “It’s just me and the horsies here—ready for the verdict.”
Astar nodded, running a hand down the flank of the nearest gelding. “They look good. Solid and ready to go.”
“Willy.” Jak shoved his hands in his coat pockets to remind himself not to draw his blades. “If you love me at all, you’ll just tell me flat out.”
With a rueful smile, Astar gripped his shoulder, squeezing it lightly. “She said yes.”
He’d been so braced for the negative that he felt the same disorienting spin as the day before, when the abrupt skidding halt of the carriage had sent him flipping through the air. “Stella,” he clarified, “said… yes?”
“To you courting her,” Astar specified, his voice and expression stern, but there was a flicker of amusement in his eyes. “Nothing more than testing the waters, but I won’t get in the way. I’m to stay out of her business, apparently.”
“Wow.” His brain still hadn’t caught up, and Jak couldn’t think of anything savvy to say. The moment called for a commemorative remark, and he had nothing.
“It’s up to you now, my friend.” Astar shook him a bit—maybe to wake him from his stunned state—then let go. “I’m staying out of it, as sternly instructed.” He grimaced, then glanced around to be sure they were still alone. “I’d get in trouble for saying this, but let me issue the standard warnings and caveats.”
Jak inclined his head gravely. “She’s precious to me, too.”
Astar frowned, opened his mouth, then firmly shut it again. “So.” He cleared his throat. “Which route are we taking—along the Grace River or overland?”
And that was apparently that. Astar well and truly staying out of it. Maybe Glorianna had intervened with her golden son on Jak’s behalf. “Diagonal overland is two days faster, at least,” Jak pointed out, not for the first time.
“And harsher. A slower journey along the River Eva would be more fitting for our cover of a pleasure jaunt.”
“Yeah…” Jak pulled out a map, unrolling it over the nearest horse’s flank, tracing the river route with his finger. “But it’s going to be like this place the whole way. Local people and tradesfolk. We don’t need to be spreading reassurances around here. None of these people even heard about the bizarre eclipse, much less are worrying about it. And I hate to jinx us by suggesting it, but if that alter-realm intelligence is somehow tracking us and laying booby traps for us like yesterday, the longer it takes us to get to the Remus Isles, the more opportunities it has to cause us serious damage.”
“You think that was a planned attack?”
No longer concerned that he might be tempted to hurl a blade at Astar, Jak drew a slim dagger and spun it between his fingers as he considered. “Narrow point in the road, well-placed rift, a considerable supply of those monkey-lizards in a mouth-frothing frenzy, three of our people at the farthest points of their scouting circles… Yeah, I’d say it was planned, and quite neatly, too. It very nearly had us, whatever it is.”
“An unsettling thought.” Astar looked torn.
“There’s also the aspect that several of us have noticed: that you shapeshifters seem to be more vulnerable to your animal impulses than usual,” Jak tendered, bracing himself for Astar to growl at him.
To his surprise, Astar nodded thoughtfully. “You think it has to do with the intelligence? Or the rifts?”
“Both?” Jak suggested, then lifted a shoulder and let it fall. “I’m not sure there’s any way to know, but I do think that the longer this journey takes, the more we’re vulnerable to these attacks and influences. Maybe it knows we’re coming for it.” He pointed to the map. “We can get to the Midway Inn by tonight if we hustle, then to the town of Wilhelmina the following night. There’re apparently several inns there, and more regular lodging after that. Smart money says we get to Castle Marcellum, get the pass to sail to the Isles, and take care of the problem at its source.”
“Since you won my coin, we know who’s the smarter,” Astar replied. “Going the overland route is going to be the hardest on you three—you, Stella, and Lena—since you can’t shift into winter-hardy forms.”
“We’re not so fragile,” Jak replied, firmly sheathing the dagger again.
“No.” Astar looked wryly amused about something. “You’re not. All right, you’ve convinced me. Overland it is.”
“Maybe Lena could help us with the weather,” Jak suggested. “Bring spring early or something.”
Astar huffed out a laugh. “Don’t think I didn’t ask her. There was an involved explanation about vast weather patterns and upsetting the balance of nature on a whim, cascading effects, all disastrous. Short answer was no.”
The rest of the group burst out of the inn just then, laughing and talking gaily, a couple of staff following them with repacked trunks. Stella wore her white-furred cloak, the hood drawn up around the perfect pale oval of her face, her dark hair spilling in a frame between, her eyes wide and crystal gray. Blushing faintly as she caught him looking, she visibly steeled herself to walk up to him. “Astar spoke with you?” she asked quietly.
“Yes.” A grin threatened to stretch his lips, the exhilaration he hadn’t quite allowed himself to feel yet bubbling up inside. He wanted to kiss her. He also knew he had to go slowly and carefully, now more than ever. He didn’t know what to do. If he’d been thinking ahead at all, he would’ve gotten her some kind of gift for this moment. Flowers, maybe. “Thank you,” he blurted.
Her fine brows rose. “You’re thanking me?”
She’d pulled her hair back from her forehead, he realized, revealing that seductive widow’s peak. For him, perhaps. “Um, that was a stupid thing to say. I don’t know why I said it. I’m not quite sure how to proceed now.”
Blowing out a breath, she smiled. “Oh, thank Moranu—me too. I have no idea how to do this.”
“I guess we figure it out together?” He held out a hand, and she placed her gloved one in his. Lifting her hand and holding her gaze, he pressed a kiss to the soft leather over the delicate spine of her knuckles. “We’ll take it slow.”
“That would be good,” she said, watching him gravely, a world of thoughts behind her eyes. “Guess what?” She leaned closer, closing her fingers around his and lowering her voice. “I saw the lake creature again. Just now, from the cliffs.”
He whistled long and low. “You have Moranu’s own luck. I wish I’d been there.”
“Well…” She cocked her head thoughtfully. “Astar was right beside me and saw nothing, even when I pointed him to the exact spot.”
“Isn’t that interesting?” Jak considered the implications. “So, you’re thinking you’re the only one who can see it.”
A line formed between her brows. “Clearly that’s not the case, as other people have seen it over time, or there wouldn’t be the legends.”
“Only the pure of heart,” he teased, squeezing her hand.