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He felt a shift in the mood, and turned his head to look at her. Her expression was the most serious he had ever seen.

“Luc, I have to go with the scouts. I have tobea scout.”

Everything in him said no. He forced himself to swallow the word and listen. But he didn’t like it. At all.

“This is the most important thing we have to contend with before we get to Fernwell. We won’tgetto Fernwell if we don’t stop or anticipate an attack along the route.”

He gave a slow nod.

“And if I’m with the scouts, and we find a possible attack point, I can sneak unseen into the enemy camp and listen to their plans.”

That was true. But the dangers . . . “The scouts are breaking up into three groups. You only have a one in three chance of being in the right place.”

“My suggestion is I be allowed to move between the groups. In fact, I should go to all three places. I can set some . . . traps.”

“Traps?”

She lifted her eyes, and he saw her hesitation, as if she wasn’t sure how he would react.

“I could leave . . . things for people to pick up. Or for dogs to sniff out—”

“The dogs.” He felt as if someone had hit him in the head. “When we were running from the Kassian, you turned the dogs away from us. And got them to ignore us the second time they came after us.”

She nodded.

“What happened to them?” The memory suddenly came back to him, of him standing in the woods, back against a tree, hearing the pack of dogs coming after him and then they simply ran past, not even looking his way. They disappeared into the forest and he never saw them again.

“I had them meet me at the edge of the forest. I took them with me to Grimwalt. They’re safe and happy.”

“You had them meet you . . .” She didn’t seem to realize how powerful she was. But she was right that he needed to put aside his need to shield her from a fight she was only too happy to jump into and use her like any good leader would.

But as she so eloquently stated, this was the most important issue they had to contend with until they got to Fernwell. Important enough he should be part of it, too.

If they were taken by surprise before they could get to Fernwell, their chances of taking the city were almost nothing.

“We’ll need to get some sleep, then. We leave early tomorrow.”

She blinked at him in surprise, studying him calmly. “You are coming with.”

“I am coming with,” he agreed.

“Because?”

“Because as you say, this is important. Important enough that one of the two column leaders should go. Also, I don’t want you away from me. I think I’ve made that clear since you left me near the Grimwalt border two months ago.”

She sighed and sank back into the pillows. “I hope you never have cause to regret it.”

“And why would I do that?” He lowered himself down, a hand on either side of her head.

She was silent.

“Answer me this.” He balanced on his elbows and pushed the hair back from her forehead. “Is this secret you find so hard to tell me something you’ve done, some confession you have to make for your own actions, or is it something you have no control over?”

She went still. “It’s something I have no control over.”

“Then tell me when you are ready, lover. But never believe I’ll regret you being by my side.”

She lifted up and placed her lips against his, and he sank down into her embrace.