That wasn’t what I’d been thinking at all, but now it seemed like a good idea. I turned and stalked away before I could act on it. It seemed like the better thing to do.
“HOW DID you all find each other?” Ruv asked us later that night. We sat around a fire, the sparks shooting up toward the night sky filled with what seemed like a million stars. I was actively avoiding looking up at them, though, sure I’d be cursing David’s Dragon until it fell from the heavens and I had yet another mess to deal with. I didn’t think I’d be wishing on the stars for a very long time to come.
“Sam stole me away from my keep,” Kevin said.
“Sam stole Tiggy and me from the Dark Woods,” Gary said.
“Sam stole my heart,” Ryan said.
“I did not steal you from your keep. And Tiggy and Gary all but followed me home. And Ryan, I am going to fuck you until you’re cross-eyed later. You don’t even know.”
“Ew,” Gary said, nose wrinkling. “You kiss me with that mouth.”
I snorted as I stoked the fire. “Like you have any room to talk.”
“You talk about sex a lot,” Ruv said, cocking his head. “I’ve noticed that.”
“You get used to it,” Ryan said.
“Why shouldn’t we?” I said. “Everyone does it. Why does it need to be something no one talks about?”
“Merely an observation,” Ruv said. “We are not so… free in Mashallaha. It was rather shocking to come to the City of Lockes. It was loud. Very different.”
“Had you left the desert before that?” I asked, curious.
He shook his head. “No. That was the first time.”
“I can’t imagine having to stay in one place all the time,” I said. “I would get too restless.”
“But you’re the King’s Wizard,” Ruv said with a frown.
“Apprentice,” Gary coughed.
“I am. What about it?”
“Shouldn’t you be staying in the castle at all times? As the Wolf of Bari Lavuta, my job is to be by the phuro’s side.”
“You’re not right now,” Gary pointed out.
“Well… yes. But it is because I was ordered here. I do what the phuro commands. Is it not the same for you and your King? Or Morgan of Shadows?”
I laughed. “I guess. If they ask me to do something, I will usually do it. But they give me the freedom to do what I want. To make my own mistakes.”
“There is no room for mistakes,” Ruv said seriously. “Mistakes only lead to weakness.”
“But if you don’t make mistakes, how can you possibly learn anything?”
“By listening to your elders. They impart their knowledge and wisdom and you learn from them.”
“How would this have worked?” I asked.
“What?”
“You and me. Vadoma must have been telling you for years about me. What she thought you were to me. What she thought we could be. What she wanted for you. For me. Without even taking what I would have wanted into consideration. How would it have worked had I agreed to it? To have you be my cornerstone?”
I knew everyone else was listening as intently as I was for the answer. This, out of everything, was probably something that I needed to be focusing on the least, but I was interested in knowing Vadoma’s angle on all this. What her endgame was.
For a moment, I thought Ruv wasn’t going to answer. Then, “You would have come to Mashallaha. Lived amongst your people. Learned your heritage. The ways of the gypsy. Vadoma would have been your teacher. She would have shown you the path home.”