Page 137 of Fall of Ruin and Wrath

“You mean you thought I would be waiting for your return?”

“Yes,” he answered without hesitation.

“You shouldn’t have.” I turned from him, heart pounding as I forced myself to move slowly. To not run. I didn’t look back, because I . . . I knew hefollowed.A warm shiver curled down my spine.

“I thought we had come to an agreement on this arrangement,” Thorne said, sounding as if he was only a foot, if that, behind me.

“Had we?”

“We have,” he said. “I recall telling you that I would return as soon as I could.”

“But I do not recall agreeing to sitting around and waiting on your return.”

“I didn’t expect you to sit and wait.”

I halted, and faced him. He was close, having approached me in that unnerving silent way of his. “What did you expect then?”

The blue of his eyes was luminous as he stared down at me. “For you not to hide from me.”

“I wasn’t hiding, Your Grace.” I lifted my chin. “I was simply enjoying an evening stroll.”

One side of his lips curled up. “Or were you simply seeing if I would find you?”

I clamped my mouth shut. Had that been why I’d come out here?

His smile deepened.

That he came for what is his.

Pivoting, I nibbled on my lower lip as I began to walk, the gown I’d changed into before supper whispering along the stone path. “You met with the people of Archwood today?”

“I did.” He fell in step beside me.

I kept my gaze trained ahead. “Did many show?”

“Many but not all that could,” he told me, his arm brushing mine as we walked. “Your baron did.”

“What?” Surprise flickered through me as I looked at him. “He did?”

Thorne chuckled. “I was as surprised as you.”

I blinked, focusing ahead. “Did he train?”

“No, but there wasn’t much in the way of training to be had today, as Rhaz needed to differentiate those who had skill with sword or arrow from those who had none,” he said, and I found it amusing, the shortening of their names. Rhaz. Bas.Thor.“You are likely not surprised to hear that most have no such skill.”

“I’m not. Beyond the guards, I doubt many have lifted a sword,” I said. “The only ones who likely have skill with a bow are the long hunters, and they are likely on a hunt. The rest work in the mines.”

“For the most part, it was only they who showed and were eager to learn,” he commented. “Yet they aren’t the only ones capable of defending the city.”

I knew he spoke of the aristo. “I imagine most of them had yet to awaken from their evening pursuits to join,” I said, still stuck on the fact that Claude had gone. “What did the Baron do?”

“He mostly listened and watched, which is more than I expected from him.”

I glanced at him, stomach dipping when our eyes locked. “He’s not completely irresponsible, you know?”

“We shall see,” he replied. “But I believe he is better suited for Court life than to govern a city.”

What Maven had shared with me flickered through my thoughts. I twisted my fingers, having the sense that whatever I asked, I had to do so carefully. “Is that what mostcaelestiasdo?”