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The Venyatu would reach the column by tonight, and she would finally be among his people.

Carrying her secrets and her lies.

As she called goodbye to her friends and mounted up for the second half of her shift, she wrestled with the right thing to do.

And came no closer to an answer.

Chapter 8

“Here they come.” Revek shielded his eyes against the setting sun as he looked at the dust cloud headed toward them.

They would be here within the hour, Luc thought with satisfaction.

Ava would be here within the hour.

He had arranged his tent so that they would have privacy, rather than the open plan space he’d had before, where he’d meet with his lieutenants to plot and plan, with no screen separating his bed from the strategy table.

Two Venyatux scouts appeared out of the murky brown of the dust, riding without too much urgency.

“Welcome to the Rising Wave,” Massi called to them, and they pulled up with a smile, their gaze going to Luc.

“Commander.” They both thumped their chest and bowed their head in a formal greeting.

“Welcome.” Luc inclined his head in response. “I didn’t lose you any money last night, did I?”

One of them laughed. “It’s been declared a draw. Everyone walked away none the worse for it, and we got the entertainment of your arrival, so we are all considering it a win.”

“What’s he talking about?” Massi asked, and Dak barked out a laugh.

“Luc made an entrance last night. He carried his girl off while she was in the middle of a sparring match.”

“We were wondering who had stolen Avasu’s heart,” the other scout said. “We couldn’t think who could have won someone so fierce, but the Commander of the Rising Wave certainly was not on our list.”

“You have word from the general?” Luc asked, because he could see Massi was about to ask more questions about Ava, and he had not seen his lieutenant all day, and hadn’t had a chance to update her on anything, other than to let her know Ava was in the Venyatux column.

“We’ll draw up parallel to you, and set up for the night, if that suits you?”

Luc agreed it did, and Dak rode back with them to show them the best place to settle in.

“Well?” Massi asked when they were gone. “You made an entrance?”

“I’m most interested to hear this as well.” Revek turned on his saddle, his face alight with mischief.

“Dak and I were going to meet with a Skäddar warrior who’d come to talk terms about spying on the Jatan for General Ru, and it happened he was sparring with Ava.”

“Avasu, you mean,” Massi said.

“The Venyatux call her Avasu.” Luc shrugged.

“So she was sparring with the Skäddar, and you came upon her, and . . . ?”

“And she saw me, and abandoned the fight, and I took her off to be somewhere private.” He smiled at the memory.

“You grabbed their girl, and carried her off into the night?” Massi asked.

“I grabbedmygirl,” Luc corrected. “And carried her off into the night.”

“And there was money on this fight, for some reason?” Revek asked.