Page 17 of Keeper of the Word

Even as she spoke to Gus, she kept glancing at Tolvar. He didn’t like it. She gazed at him in the same way Lady Tara had when she set him on this task to find Elanna. But her expression was of its own ideas, clearly.

Nay, he didn’t like it.

Joss called for the onions, and Gus blushed as he left Elanna. Elanna stood and walked toward Tolvar. She certainly was tall. Probably as tall as Lady Tara.

Think not of Sloane.She’d been so small.

“Sir Tolvar, I would speak with you,” Elanna said.

He nodded, and they strode out of earshot of the others.

“Are you a man of faith, Sir Tolvar?”

He stifled a laugh before sobering and shaking his head.

“But you have seen something of faith. I detect it within you. I do not know if you will e’er be a man of faith, m’lord, but I know that you and I have been coming to this crossroads of fortunes for a long time. I have searched the earth and skies to find you. You have been brought here for a purpose. I?—”

“Aye, and that purpose is to bring you back to Ashwin. Lady Tara, the head of your Order, sent me to deliver you home.” Stars.He could not hear more of this. He wanted no speeches of fortunes and faith.

“Aye, but if you will listen?—”

“Lady Elanna, I have come from an arduous journey, a quest that barely left me with my life. That stole—” He quieted his voice, which had risen with the word ‘stole.’ “That stole from me a person of purity and heroism. A person whom I…”

The vein pulsed in his neck. Since leaving Deogol, he’d not felt so near to being out of control. He needed to break something.

Tolvar pivoted and stomped away; everyone called after him. He held up an arm, instructing to be left alone.

Once away from the StarSeer, Tolvar breathed more easily. Hetook in the calming breeze rustling through the branches. He wouldnotlisten to whatever prattle Elanna was about to say. This was enough. If she needed a knight, she could damned well find another. He owed nothing to a soul. Helping Sloane defeat the Befallen was plenty of heroics for one knight’s lifetime.

And there was the matter of Crevan. His curiosity about what had become of his brother needled him more and more. Tolvar would never admit this to anyone, least of all his knights or Hux. His newfound forbearance was supposed to place him above that.

His tensed-up shoulders dropped.

Nay, the Wolf owed naught to a soul. He would return this woman to Ashwin, mount Valko, with as much haste as possible, and ride back to Thorin Court.

And do what?

Tolvar banished the question by grabbing the closest fallen branch from the ground and striking it against the nearest tree. It snapped in two as if a mere twig.

“Oh, do that again. That was impressive.”

Hux.

The thought did cross Tolvar’s mind, but Hux’s baiting made the act less desirable. He tossed the broken branch onto the ground.

Hux came to stand beside Tolvar. “What causes your anger now? Is not rescuing a beautiful woman the enjoyable part of being a knight?”

If Hux only knew how close Tolvar was to breaking a branch over his head. Mayhap he’d stop his incessant…most likely not.

“I assume we’re to return to that uninteresting excuse for a city now?”

“Aye.” Tolvar still did not make eye contact with him. “Though that uninteresting city is what safeguards this land. The Befallen could ne’er have endured here.”

“So I’ve heard,” Hux said, focused on some chirping birds above. “But circumstances can always change. When you find everything is right with the world, the unexpected can always happen.”

Hux was baiting him again. Wanted Tolvar to ask him what he meant. But he would sooner pet a field eel than grant Hux that pleasure. So Tolvar simply stated, “The StarSeers have graced the Capella Realm for a millennium.”

“So I’ve heard.”