Tristam looked down at her hand. When he finally spoke, his voice was heavy. “I don’t envy you, Kyra. I might have done the same or worse had I been in your shoes.”
He was offering her empathy, understanding, friendship. And though a selfish part of her wished for more, Kyra supposed that they didn’t have that luxury. Tristam brushed her hair away from her face with the back of his fingers. The feather-light touch left a pleasant tingling on her scalp, and she let her eyes close. “Should you be getting back to the city?” she asked him.
“They won’t notice my absence for a few more hours. Sleep for now. I’ll be here.”
T W E N T Y - F I V E
Flick was getting better at spotting Demon Riders in the trees. Or at least he thought he was. He caught hints of movement in the corners of his eyes when he walked near the forest, though when he turned and looked, he never saw anything for certain.
He was out behind Mercie’s house this afternoon. There had been a lot of activity on the roads earlier, and Flick suspected something had happened in the city. Mercie had gone in to hear the news, and Flick watched the road, eager to know what had occurred.
But there was that thing that kept moving in his periphery. He supposed he should have been more nervous, but he suspected he knew what it was. Or rather, who it was. Finally, his curiosity got the better of him. “Is anyone there?” he called.
Adele stepped out. Flick grinned. “I’m glad to see you.”
She smiled serenely in return, her amber eyes sparkling against her pale skin. That was a first. He couldn’t remember her giving him a full smile before.
“Are you well?” she asked.
“I am. Thank you.”
They stood looking at each other for a few moments. Finally, Flick gestured to the forest. “I was just taking a walk. Would you like to join me?”
“To see Kyra?”
“No, just watching the road. But there’s no reason I must do it alone.”
Her eyes brightened at this, and she fell in step beside him. They strolled just inside the line of the forest so Flick could catch glimpses of the road. It was his fourth time meeting Adele now, yet he still felt off balance around her. He’d had his share of sweethearts in the past. Flick never had trouble talking to girls or making them laugh. But then, none of girls he flirted with back in the city had been capable of turning into giant beasts. Not that he thought he was flirting with Adele. Who knew what these people’s customs were? It was enough of a triumph that he hadn’t yet been mauled to death. But something about this lass fascinated him. Her quick eye and curiosity, her uninhibited openness in expressing her opinion, her never-ending stream of questions for him.
Speaking of which, she was about to ask him another one. He could tell. Flick interrupted her. “You’re always asking me about me and my people,” he said. “I think it’s my turn, don’t you?”
A few meetings ago, this sort of question might have made her jump back in alarm. But this time, she simply tilted her head, then nodded. “What would you like to know?”
“Well…” Flick paused. He hardly knew where to start. “What do you do most days?”
“Nights,” she corrected. “I hunt at night, and I wander the forest. Sometimes I gather with the others.”
“What do you do with them?”
“Talk, tell stories, sing.” She reached out and touched a tree branch with her finger as they walked past.
Sing? The idea of Adele as a songbird piqued his interest. “Will you sing something for me?”
He thought he’d have to coax her further, but she launched right into a quick song. Her voice was high and steady. The melody itself was unusual. It went up and down in finer increments than the songs he was used to hearing. It almost reminded Flick of Minadan pipe tunes, the ones said to lull a sleeper into strange and curious dreams, but Adele’s tune was livelier and happier.
“You sing beautifully,” he said when she finished. “Can you teach me this song?”
She sang a phrase for him to repeat, then covered a smile at his attempt.
“No good?”