CHAPTER FIFTY-FOUR #2
“Yeah, well, I don’t.” Rafferty rested his elbows on his knees. “I was happy with the seven of us. Course, it would have been better if Hewitt were still around, but we were doing all right. Then we split, and now these people have shown up. It’s like we’ve been infiltrated.”
Deckard chuckled lightly. “It’s only for a time. They’ll take us to the Alliance, then we’ll restock, finalize our plans, and head back to Ephria. There’s a chance we’ll never see them again.”
“I’m not so sure,” he muttered sourly. “The winds of change are about. And I’m not just talking about Isla’s magic.”
“What are you talking about, then?”
His silver eyes narrowed, still flicking around the camp. “I’ve told you—I see things others don’t. And I’ve been watching all day.”
“What is it you’ve seen?”
“Auden is acting strangely.”
Deckard felt his brow pinch together. “How so?”
Rafferty opened his mouth to speak, but their attention was diverted as Evylin joined them.
She’d tied her hair back in a braid again, the plait draped over her shoulder.
Her lips were tipped up in an amused smile.
“What’s this about?” she asked, brushing a finger along the crease between Deckard’s brows.
Deckard forced his expression to relax. “Nothing. Rafferty’s just being paranoid.”
“I’m not paranoid,” Rafferty insisted. “I’m onto something.”
Evylin slapped the man’s shoulder gently. “Well, go be onto something elsewhere. I want to sit there.”
With a huff, the weasel grumbled his way to the nearby patch of ground. “Couples are insufferable.”
“Don’t sulk,” Evylin said, taking his abandoned seat. “I’ll listen to your theory if you’d care to share it.”
“It isn’t a theory. It’s an observation.”
“What have you observed, then?” she asked, her hand resting half on Deckard’s on the log between them. She angled her legs, blocking their hands from view. He spread his fingers so hers would fall into the space left behind. Her thumb traced circles along the back of his hand.
Rafferty’s constantly moving gaze drifted around the camp.
He leaned toward them, voice low. “The thing is, Auden’s been acting off.
At first, I thought it might have to do with that viastasis stuff.
But Ilain’s behaving perfectly normal—even if she is brazenly flirting with Loxley instead of Thommy. ”
“What about Auden’s behavior seems off to you?” Deckard asked. He flipped his hand, properly interlocking their fingers. “I haven’t noticed anything.”
“Me neither,” Evylin agreed. Her grip loosened on Deckard’s, her fingers slowly teasing through his. He’d never known how potently seductive holding hands could be until that very moment.
Rafferty raised his white-blond brows. “How could you not? He isn’t talking to us. At least, not the way he used to. The Calders have always been friendly, but now, Auden is practically ignoring us.”
Deckard considered the assessment. He supposed it was true.
Ever since they’d left Renaul’s, Auden had said little, and what he had said had been directed toward the Alliance members.
The change in his demeanor hadn’t given Deckard pause because the Mage was naturally reserved, and they were all tired.
He had assumed that any oddity stemmed from the exhaustion.
But now that he considered it, Auden had given them all wary glares and abrupt replies since they’d left the catacombs.
“Still,” Deckard said, wanting to give the highlord the benefit of the doubt. He angled his hand to press against Evylin’s thigh. “We’ve been through quite an ordeal. He and his sister experienced the worst of us all. There’s a chance he just needs a good night’s sleep.”
“Would you believe me if he were glaring at us now?” Rafferty asked.
Evylin rolled her eyes, casually glancing toward the camp. “He’s right,” she said quietly. Her fingers shifted, playing with his wedding band. “Auden looked away right after I caught him.”
“Could he tell you were checking?” Deckard asked, rubbing his finger along the side of her leg.
Her eyes were dusky as she held his gaze. “I don’t think so.”
“What are you doing?” Rafferty asked, frowning at them.
Deckard and Evylin turned to him, the movements of their hands going still.
“What are you talking about?” Evylin asked.
Rafferty quirked his brow. His chin jerked in their direction. “Your hands. They’re rather active.”
Breaking all contact with one another, Deckard drew his hand to his side while Evylin set hers in her lap. “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she said flatly.
As much as he tried, Deckard couldn’t help the smirk that tugged at the corner of his lips.
Rafferty caught it. “Colonel?”
“Leave it be, Rafferty,” he said, then edged closer to Evylin.
There was no reason to hide their renewed relationship.
No one knew the danger it had been in only a few days ago.
At most, they’d assumed that, due to Hewitt’s death and Evylin’s grief, they were going through a rough patch.
Reunited, they could behave as they once had, as any married couple would.
Evylin seemed to be of the same mind, passing him a playful grin. She bumped her knee against his.
Rafferty scoffed. “You’re flirting with one another,” he noted. “That’s cute.”
“Shut up, Raff,” Evylin said, then leaned into Deckard’s side anyway.
Just as Deckard began to rest his arm behind her back, Auden arrived at their side. “I need a word,” he said, voice thick with agitation.
Rafferty muttered something about “told you so,” while Deckard and Evylin tensed.
Without waiting for a response, Auden continued, “You need to give the Relic back to Rafferty.”
Deckard drew in a long breath through his nose. He should have expected this.
“Now,” Auden concluded.
Before Deckard could get a word out, Evylin answered for him. “No.”
Auden’s rich green eyes flared. “No?”
“After everything we just faced,” she replied steadily, “it’s wiser that Jonn continues to carry it.”
“Wiser?” Auden repeated, nearly shouting the word.
Everyone in the camp froze. Sitting together, Ilain, Isla, and Jarrad’s expressions showed varying levels of confusion and surprise. At the fire, Ethenn and Emmaas stopped talking while Thom paused in attending to the roasting meat. Rafferty let out a low whistle.
“After everything,” Auden retorted, “I should think you’d want him to give it up most of all. But I suppose you’ve changed your mind now that he can give you what you want.”
Deckard bristled at the suggestion in the man’s tone. He set his hand on Evylin’s hip protectively. “That’s uncalled for,” he said, speaking as he might to an unruly soldier in need of reprimand. “I understand you don’t trust my magic, but—”
“Of course, I don’t trust it,” Auden interrupted, towering over them. “We established its danger weeks ago. Yet, time and time again, you insist on using it for your own selfish gain.”
Deckard prepared to refute his claims, but Auden kept talking over him. “You don’t care if it kills us all, do you? Not if it results in—” His hand thrust in the direction of Deckard and Evylin. “Whatever the hell this is!”
Everyone continued to stare back and forth between Auden and the couple. Deckard shifted uncomfortably, feeling as though he were a youth caught romancing his sweetheart. Evylin’s temples went pink, suggesting she felt the same. She began to shift away, but he tightened his grip, keeping her close.
In the momentary lull, Jarrad turned to Isla. “I thought you said they were married,” he commented.
“They are,” Isla said defensively. Then her brow furrowed, and she turned to Ilain. “Aren’t they?”
“We are,” Deckard confirmed, temper rising.
“Right,” Auden said as though Deckard had just condemned himself. “Which is profoundly convenient when just weeks ago we split up because she didn’t want you anymore.”
“That’s not—”
He cut Evylin’s defense off. “We lost three Relics. We practically handed them over to Blount. All because you—” he pointed at Deckard, “were desperate to convince her—” he pointed at Evylin, “not to annul your marriage. So you summoned her uncle to keep her at your side, damning the consequences for the rest of us. Don’t you understand that your connection to Night is going to get us killed? ”
Deckard didn’t know whether to rise and punch the man or ignore him altogether.
However, a niggling doubt wormed its way through the ivy of hope around his heart.
Auden wasn’t wrong. Deckard had chosen to keep Hewitt around despite the threat to their safety, all to make Evylin happy.
And he’d had little doubt that it would convince Evylin to stay married to him.
“Hang on,” Jarrad piped up from the far side. “I’m confused: What’s happening?”
“I don’t think it’s our concern, Jarrad,” Isla said.
“I’ll explain it,” Evylin said, her voice as tight as her rigid back. “Auden is upset because Jonn is carrying the Night Relic, and he’s afraid of Jonn’s power.”
“There’s more to it than that,” Auden objected. “We lost the Relics because of you two. If you had listened to me and released that ghost, we would be back in Ephria with five Relics by now.”
“Oh, Auden,” Ilain chimed in, rolling her eyes. “That’s not true, and you know it. Caustin was smart; he would have captured us regardless of Jonn and Evylin’s situation.”
“Well . . .” Ethenn began, then stopped.
“What?” Evylin asked, gaping at him.
Ethenn shrugged, prodding the fire with a long stick. “I sort of saw the scout on our way back to the camp but was too, uh—distracted to process what he was doing there until it was too late.”
Rafferty sniggered. “That’s because your head was up your ass about . . .” He gestured between Thom and Ilain.
Ethenn shot him an annoyed look. “Anyway,” he grumbled, then looked to Deckard apologetically. “I saw him, but then everything happened with—with Thom and me and then with Hewitt too. I don’t know that it would have changed much, but I was getting ready to warn you when Thom egged me on.”
“I didn’t—” Thom cut himself off, holding up a hand. “Never mind. It doesn’t matter.”