“I shouldn’t have left her behind. I was closest.” Vhalla remained focused on the gate, not allowing Aldrik to interrupt her. “She was my friend, she was to be my kin, and I just left her! Why did I let her do it?”
“Because you knew I could.” A female voice stopped her. Vhalla slowly drew her gaze to Jax’s horse. Wrapped tight and pressed to the back of the Western man was a set of emerald eyes Vhalla knew well. She’d been hidden by Jax’s cloak, but now she grinned in all her triumphant glory. “I didn’t know you cared so much. I want to make sure you’re at my real Rite of Sunset when the time comes. I think you’ll bring a tear to every—”
Elecia’s word was reduced to a grunt as Vhalla threw her arms around the other woman. It was awkward from their saddles and Jax seated next to her, but Vhalla didn’t care. She squeezed Elecia tightly, reassuring herself that the woman was alive and well.
“I thought you were dead.”
“Is this whole embracing nonsense going to be common when you become my cousin?” Elecia drawled. “Because it’s really not a thing here in the West.”
“I thought I killed you.” Vhalla smiled at Elecia’s abrasiveness and pulled away some.
“If I got killed, it would’ve been my fault because I wasn’t where I was supposed to be—not because you had given the order for us to move as we did.” The woman’s voice had softened significantly. “It may be hard for you to believe, Vhalla Yarl, but the world isn’t always about you.”
Vhalla laughed in relief. Elecia freed herself from the Easterner’s clutches and dismounted to return to her own mount. The woman gave Vhalla one more small smile, and a nod to Aldrik.
“Let’s keep moving while the beasts are distracted.” Aldrik appraised the gate once more. “We’ll rest at the first noble estate we come to.”
They rode into the dawn. Vhalla watched the sun rise over the dunes, and relief swept through her. They’d made it from the East. There were a million things that remained for her to worry over: her father, Hastan, Victor’s advances, and the creation of abominations. But, for a brief moment, she let herself appreciate the wind in her hair. She relished her friends surrounding her. And she believed that something great awaited them.
CHAPTER 13
When they finally rode up to a manor, the lord was all too honored to put up the Emperor, future Empress, and their company. He welcomed them with open arms the moment they made their identities known. Over breakfast, he prattled off a long-winded explanation of how he was some distant relative of Aldrik’s. Thankfully, he finished just in time for them to be shown their rooms. Aldrik had his own, Elecia paired with Vhalla, and Fritz with Jax.
It was the first time Vhalla had really found herself alone with Elecia, Vhalla realized as she dabbed her face dry with a washcloth. She’d known the woman for over a year, and she had never spent much time one on one with her.
“So, is he really related to your family?” Vhalla struck up conversation, using the lord’s story as an easy starting point.
“Who knows?” Elecia yawned, collapsing into the bed. “The West is old, and the branches of the family trees are wide-reaching.”
Vhalla thought about this for a long moment. She vividly recalled her prior experiences with Western nobility. Vhalla sat heavily on her edge of the low bed.
“What is it?” the curly haired woman asked tentatively, clearly unsure of offering her ear.
“I won’t trouble you with it.”
Elecia rolled her eyes dramatically. “Poor Vhalla, shouldering her burdens all alone when she has so many people wanting to help.”
“You can be rather sharp, you know that?” Vhalla grinned faintly.
Elecia shrugged. “I’m honest. I can’t help it if you take that harshly.”
“I like it about you.”
“You like something about me?” Elecia gasped dramatically. “And here I had been thinking we were enemies.”
“I didn’t know what to think of you for a while.” Vhalla reclined, settling the covers over herself.
“Well that much was mutual. I had no idea what Aldrik saw in you.”
“Had, past tense,” Vhalla pointed out.
“Past tense.” Elecia didn’t try to scramble away from her word choice. “I still think you’ve a long way to go, but you’re making strides.”
“Thank you, truly.” It meant a lot coming from the Western woman.
“Yes, well . . .” Elecia was clearly uncomfortable. “That wasn’t what had you sighing earlier.”
“Are you sure we can trust this lord?”
“Has he given you indication otherwise?” The question was serious when it could’ve been skeptical.
“He hasn’t, but . . . how do we know he’s not a Knight of Jadar?” Vhalla knew better than to think the Knights of Jadar were gone just because she’d thwarted Major Schnurr. He had certainly been one of their leaders, but the organization had survived over a hundred years, and she suspected it would survive a lot longer.
Elecia considered this for a long moment. “Even if he was, the Knights would be unlikely to make a move right now.”