Rayne began in what he was sure was the west, only to have Eno lightly grab his shoulder and turn him toward his left. Yes, his sense of direction was abysmal. Luckily it was not why Caelan kept him around.
They walked along for close to a quarter of a mile not saying a word. Eno was simply a looming black shadow just over his shoulder, but Rayne could feel him stewing. With every step, the man’s dark mood or maybe simply his fears were growing until Rayne’s skin crawled.
And he got it. Eno had been away from camp when they were attacked. He was supposed to be the one who was keeping the king of Erya safe and he’d been away. It made sense for him to be beating himself up over the matter, but it was time to let it go.
The trees had fallen away a while ago, leaving them exposed to the whipping wind and the last threads of daylight in the pale-blue sky. Rayne stopped and looked back. The new trees combined with the slope of the ground hid them from view of the camp. Not that it really mattered now.
He stopped and turned to face Eno to find the man’s expression sullen and grim. “Let it out. Say it. Or shout. Something. Don’t just keep stewing over everything.”
Eno grabbed him and pulled him off-balance so that Rayne’s chest slammed into Eno, nearly knocking the breath from his lungs. The arms that locked around him finished the job, squeezing a grunt from his throat. For a second, Rayne could only stand there. This was not what he’d been expecting.
“Do you swear you’re okay?” Eno demanded in a rough voice. A large hand gently cupped his head, smoothing down rough, tangled hair while trying not to cause him any pain.
With his face pressed into Eno’s neck, Rayne allowed himself a smile as he sank into the man’s amazing warmth. He should be snapping and pushing free, reminding Eno that his main concern was supposed to be Caelan. Except he couldn’t get the words out. Caelan was well, if still a little emotionally unsteady. Maybe he could just soak in Eno’s tender worry for a couple of seconds.
“I’m fine. I promise,” Rayne replied, his voice muffled against Eno’s shirt. “Caelan healed me with no problems.”
“I’m going to kill her. I’ll choke the life out of her with my bare hands—” Eno snarled, which had Rayne tensing enough to push out of his arms.
“No, you can’t. Caelan has forgiven her for her actions, and we must do the same.”
A cold mutinous look met his gaze, and maybe the small, jealous, petty side of Rayne was a bit too happy that Vale had lost her luster in Eno’s eyes. Over the past several days, the woman had gotten too close to what Rayne considered his. It was nice to think that she’d lost her chance to win Eno away from him.
But as much as he didn’t care for the woman, Rayne could understand her reasons. If he’d been given the perfect bait to lure out his quarry after five long years, Rayne wasn’t entirely sure he wouldn’t take a similar chance, though he liked to think he’d take more precautions than she had.
“She made a mistake, Eno. Let it go. I’m fine. Caelan’s fine. Drayce is fine. And she got the information she needed. If anything, Caelan’s assistance in this matter could be used in the future when it comes to negotiations with Caspagir.”
Eno’s eyes widened in shock a second. “We are not using your life as a bargaining chip at the negotiating tables.”
Rayne wisely kept his mouth shut. Eno didn’t need to hear the various dark ways leverage was gained over other countries. Rayne’s life was the least of them.
“Did you have any problems with Vale while you were hunting? Did you suspect…” Rayne let the question trail off as Eno was already shaking his head.
“No. It was a good day. A quiet ride. Nice scenery. Good conversation.”
Rayne stopped walking when Eno went silent. He looked over his shoulder to see his expression had darkened with some thought. “What happened?” he prodded.
“After we made our first kill of the day, we were attacked by a pack of snow leopards.”
That couldn’t be right. “Snow leopards don’t hunt in packs. They’re solitary animals.”
“Except we were attacked by six of them.”
“But…” Rayne needed to argue with him, because if Eno wasn’t wrong, this entire attack was far too similar to what had happened to them in the Ordas. And if the animals in Zastrad were behaving like those in the Ordas, they had much bigger problems than just dealing with the Dead God and the threat of betrayal. “We need to tell Caelan,” Rayne finally managed to bite out.
“It makes me wonder…that woman who is tied to the Goddess of the Hunt, do you think she might be in Zastrad too since the animals are acting strangely here?” Eno thought aloud.