The High Druid of Shannara Trilogy

Her fingers brushed his wrist, a soft swirl that made him itch all the way down to his toes. “I won’t lie to you,” he said finally. “There’s more to this. I’m sworn to secrecy.”


“Better that you tell me so than deceive me. I have traveled with enough passengers to know when they keep secrets. My father is paid to keep it so. But I want to know that you will be safe when you leave me. I want to know that I might see you again someday.”

His hand closed on hers, and he stared into her milky, empty eyes. She did not see him, but he could feel her watching in other ways. He studied her face, the lines and curves and softness, the way the light fell against her skin. He loved to look at her. He could not have told anyone why, just that he did. “You will see me again,” he said quietly.

“Will you come find me?” she asked him.

“I will.”

“Even if I am flying somewhere on the Skatelow, you will look for me?”

He felt his throat tighten. “I don’t think I could do otherwise,” he said. “I think I have to.”

Then, without thinking about who might be watching, he leaned forward and kissed her on the mouth. She kissed him back without hesitation. It was a thrilling, tantalizing kiss, and he immediately wanted more. But he was playing a dangerous game, and contemplating the way it might end tempered his enthusiasm sufficiently that he kept himself in check.

He broke away, not daring to look back at the pilot box. “Sorry,” he said.

“Don’t be sorry,” she answered at once, leaning into his shoulder, head lowered so that her hair brushed his bare arm. “I wanted you to do that.”

“Your father won’t like it.”

“My father wasn’t looking.”

Unable to help himself, he glanced over his shoulder. Gar Hatch was turned away, working on placing lines at the rear of the box. She was right; he hadn’t seen anything.

Pen looked back at her. “How did you know that?”

She gave him a smile that reached all the way into his heart. “I just did,” she said, and kissed him again.


“I wish you’d stop following Cinnaminson around like an eager puppy,” Khyber told him late that same day while they were sitting together at the bow of the Skatelow. She brushed back her thick dark hair and stared out at a sky lit purple and rose, her brow furrowed by deep lines of condemnation. “I like her,” he said.

“As anyone can plainly see, including her father. Even Uncle Ahren has noticed, and he usually doesn’t bother with such nonsense.” He frowned. “Nonsense?”

“Well, it is. Do you have any idea what you’re doing? You’re going to get us in a lot of trouble if you aren’t careful.”

“You don’t know everything.”

“I know what I see. What everyone sees. I don’t think you’ve thought this through. Or if you have, you’ve managed to leave out the important parts. You know how her father feels about outsiders. He doesn’t want anything to do with us beyond taking our money. Rovers live by a different code of behavior than the rest of us. Everyone knows that. So why do you persist in nosing around after Cinnaminson?”

He looked sharply at her. “Stop it, Khyber.”

“Stop what? Stop telling you the truth?”

“You don’t have to be so mean about it! Have you forgotten that my mother is a Rover?”

They glared at each other, each silently daring the other to say something more, each refusing to give ground. Pen knew Khyber was right about Cinnaminson, even if he wouldn’t admit it. He knew he shouldn’t be interested in her, even in a casual way and certainly not in the way he was. But he didn’t know what he could do about it. It wasn’t as if he had chosen for it to happen. It just had. Now he was stuck with his feelings, and he couldn’t cast them aside or bundle them up and stick them in a locker. He was way beyond that, and besides, he wasn’t at all sure he wanted to change things anyway.

“We’re being careful,” he said finally.

She snorted. “How, exactly? Are there things happening between the two of you that I’m not seeing? I certainly hope not, because what I am seeing is already way too much.”

He wheeled on her. “Just because your brother wants to marry you off and you don’t like the idea doesn’t mean the rest of us have to feel the same way about things!”

“Oh, are you thinking of marrying her?”

“That’s not what I mean!” He was furious now. “I mean I don’t have to be as close-minded as you obviously are! I don’t have to be like you!”

“Keep your voice down!” she hissed.

Behind them, Gar Hatch stood in the pilot box. Pen shot him a quick look, but he didn’t seem to notice the boy. His eyes were directed forward, toward the horizon.

“You’re being unreasonable!” Pen hissed back at her. “We’re just friends!”