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“No. It was deemed unnecessary as they had other things to learn, and they were already behind.”

“Why does Bitty come along if it worries you so much?”

“If they’re with me then I can look after them. But they need to be able to defend themselves because it’s the ‘if not’ that keeps me up. And they’ve followed me one too many times to bother leaving them behind. I know it makes about as much sense as waiting for Bitty to go on watch to talk about them when I know they’re listening to every word. In any case, thank you again.”

“They’re quick. And fearless. They’ll be kicking my butt in no time, Daddy Beans.”

“Mika,” Beans growls, so deep that it sounds like thunder.

He tries to keep a stern look on his face, but I erupt in laughter which causes him to crack.

Knocking me over with his outstretched foot, I lie there laughing as he sighs dramatically. “Forever surrounded by children. I thought you were different Mika. A kindred spirit. You’ve dashed my hopes and dreams.”

“Whose dreams are dashed?” Tovi queries, as Riley crawls into his bedroll without a word.

Beans laughs and gestures at me lying on my back where he’d pushed me over. “Mine! You two are already a bad influence on Mika.”

“I’m sure she’s plenty bad all on her own,” Tovi says sweetly, sucking on a finger as she gives me a conspiratorial smile with mischief sparkling in her violet eyes. And then promptly shoves her wet finger in Beans’ ear. He howls and tackles her. Tovi’s laughter is like a beautiful song echoing through the forest.

CHAPTER TEN

Iwake up slightly disorientated. The moon is further along in the sky than it should be for my watch. My rage squeezes around my heart as I sit up and count the sleeping forms around the dead fire.Riley is missing. I get up and tie my boots on before searching for him with my knife in hand.

I find himasleep.The fucker stinks like alcohol, and a slight snore escapes his nose as he’s slumped against a tree with arms folded.I move my knife to my other hand, and I punch him. In the face.Hard.

He at least reacts immediately, though sluggishly, as he falls to the side and tries to kick my feet out from under me in some feeble attempt to fight back. I’m too quick for him, and I pin my knife to his throat.

“And you’re dead. So is every single other fucking person in this camp. Because I’m a mercenary or an assassin or skin trader who found an unsuspecting group of people asleep and no one on watch,” I angrily whisper at him. I was too angry to be amused by the fact that technically, I was an assassin.

I snort at him in disgust as I stand and sheathe my knife. He lies there leaning on his arm and watches where I put my knife with detached interest.

“Nothing to say?”

Apparently not, because he stands up, dusts off his pants, and leans down to grab a bottle of alcohol that I hadn’t noticed was resting against the tree.I kick it from his hand, and it goes flying off into the forest.

“What the fuck is your problem, Mika?”

“Oh, I don’t know. Maybe it’s the drunk who was supposed to be on watch, who decided to put us all in danger instead?”

“We’re still in Nemoris, and it’s safe—it doesn’t even matter!”

“If it didn’t matter Riley, then why do it at all?” I hiss back, trying not to wake the others who are hopefully still sleeping. “Your selfishness is astounding.”

Riley grumbles something unintelligible and stomps after his bottle before returning to the camp and slumping onto his bedroll.The asshole is snoring within moments. I hate him. My rage is a roaring beast that slams inside my ribcage, unwavering and unwilling to calm.

I start my perimeter checks, looping wider and wider before turning around, crossing right through camp and out the other side, and then looping in the opposite direction back toward camp. I do this a few times, stopping and crossing back through the camp at different intervals.

I don’t bother to wake Tovi for the next watch because the sun is already starting to peek over the horizon. I do one final sweep of the area, tiptoeing through the dense Nemoris forest. Satisfied all is well, I go in search of some of the fresh herbs I’d seen while checking the snares we set last night.

I find an enormous bush of honeysuckle simply because I can smell it. I pull a good handful of the flowers off, using my untucked shirt as a makeshift bucket. When I find a cluster of milkear mushrooms hiding between two fallen trees, I emit a little squeal. I had always instructed the children I looked after in the compound never to eat anything you don’t recognize when foraging, especially mushrooms. But I could spot milkear from a mile away and I hope I continue to find more.

Swordmint is growing wild everywhere, so I grab a few bunches to replenish my pouch. Excited, I see a rosemary plant and break a few stalks off to tie together to dry.

Pleased with my little haul, I return to camp to relight the fire Riley had let go out. Luckily, there were still a couple of embers I could use to get it going. I fill up our pot from the stream nearby and put it on to boil, throwing some of the honeysuckle in to brew.

Tovi is the next to wake up and looks bewildered. “Why didn’t you wake me for watch?”

“It was a short night, so I let you sleep,” I reply, not wanting to tell her what Riley did.