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It wasn’t until he had heard someone say them that Graeson realized how much he needed to hear those three words. Everyone had doubted him and questioned his sanity. But Ellie? A friend whom he hadn’t seen in years? She still had faith in him.

Leaves crinkled somewhere behind them in the woods.

Ellie smirked, her black eyes widening with sinful delight. “Plus, I never liked Domitius, anyway. It’ll be fun to kill him if given the chance.”

“Domitius is mine,” Dani shouted from the west as she weaved through the cypress trees.

“You already claimed his death?” Ellie asked, looking over her shoulder.

Graeson didn’t hear Dani’s response, though, for he was too distracted by her disheveled appearance. Her clothes were soaked, duckweed peaked out of her light armor, and mud was smeared across her face and clothes. There was a leaf buried in her hair. In blatant terms, she was as much of a mess on the outside as she was on the inside now.

Yet her horse was fine, the saddle merely damp from where Dani sat.

Dani pointed a stern finger at him. “Don’t. Say. A. Word.”

Graeson snapped his mouth shut, stifling a laugh as he turned around.

Beside him, Ellie wore a similar closed-lip smirk on her face. She raised a finger to her lips. “You might want to get the snake out of your hair, at least.”

“What!” Dani shouted.

A loudthudfollowed.

When Graeson peered over his shoulder, Dani hung off the side of her horse, one hand wrapped firmly around the pommel.

“Oh, sorry. I think that was just a leaf,” Ellie said with a shrug.

Dani narrowed her eyes at the Tetrian warrior, her lip curling into a snarl. She heaved herself back up and onto her horse with a grunt. “Have I mentioned how much I hate you, Ellie?”

“Missed you too, Danisinia,” Ellie blew Dani a kiss, then faced forward again, the smile wide on her face.

“One laugh from you, Graeson,” Dani spat behind them, “And I will throw this knife into your back.”

“You wouldn’t be the first to do so,” Graeson said.

Ellie snorted, and then silence once again cocooned them.

* * *

A breeze swept by,and the smell of moss and rotten eggs covered Graeson’s clothes, dripping from his sweat. He wrinkled his nose.

In the distance, a silhouette appeared through the trees and was walking beside what looked to be a horse.

Graeson’s hand fell to the dagger in the leather strap wrapped around his torso. Friendly territory or not, he would not be caught off guard.

Ellie leaned forward, squinting. Then, within seconds, she took off in a flurry, her horse galloping at her command. Dirt sprayed across the ground in her wake.

Dagger in hand, Graeson clicked his heels against Darling’s sides, spurring his horse to follow. He leaned forward as the horse picked up speed.

His brows furrowed. His ears must have been playing a trick on him. Was Ellielaughing?

Graeson tugged Darling to a skittering stop as Ellie jumped off her horse and crashed into the stranger. Her arms folded around the cloaked woman’s body.

Following him, Dani sent a wary glance in Graeson’s direction.

The woman was an inch or so taller than Ellie. When the two women pulled apart, the stranger pushed her hood back, revealing cherry red hair and freckled pale skin. She wore a lightweight gray cloak over leather trousers and a vest. Various crystals were pinned across the top pockets of her vest, including amethyst, jadeite, and moonstone. Most of the Tetrians had crystals on their person, whether adorning their clothes or hidden within their pockets. They believed each one had their purpose. Graeson wasn’t sure how much a rock could impact one’s day, but he tried to refrain from judging their practice. After all, he, too, believed in the magic of the world, the fates and powers the world had to offer.

“Graeson and Dani, this is my friend, Tyla,” Ellie said. “She has graciously opened her home up to us tonight.”