Page 86 of Swords of Soul and Shadow (Gate Chronicles #3)

Hallie kept her gaze pointedly away from Kase, though his eyes burned into the side of her face. A different rift snaked between them, its edges craggy and sharp. She did not know how to find her way across.

Kase spoke first. “Hey.”

Hallie didn’t look away from the fire. “Good to see you.”

A very warm, friendly, and appropriate greeting for the man she loved, obviously. She could act when she tried hard enough.

Or maybe not, judging by Kase’s grimace. She could only see it out of the corner of her eye, but guilt still needled at her.

The next song sounded familiar, a Jaydian melody rather than a Yalven one, perhaps to make their visitors feel more at home.

The fiddler lit up, setting his bow to his instrument with a new stroke of boldness, adding his own flair to the music.

A few of the Yalvs clapped along, the others a new dance, and smiles doubled in size around the fire.

Laughter filtered through the magical meadow.

Some of the Jaydians—and even a couple Yalvs—sang the words.

It was beautiful, but Hallie couldn’t concentrate on them enough to take notes—not when Kase took a seat beside her.

She cursed herself for taking a seat further from the others.

He sat on the grass itself instead of the nearby moss stone.

Saldr would appreciate the solidarity, she was sure, intentional or not.

Kase wobbled as he sat, more focused on balancing the rations in his hands than himself. He held out a bowl for Hallie. “Didn’t know if you’d eaten yet.”

Several Jaydians joined in the dancing at the behest of a few of the Yalvs. Saldr bowed to Fely, who blushed but nodded.

Yes, there was definitely something there, but it made Hallie question the woman’s devotion to Filip. She’d given up her banked Soul just to heal him. Had that been merely an act? Or terror that without his Essence power, the world truly would end?

Regardless, the Rubikan woman was quite a graceful dancer; she knew the steps even better than Saldr. The latter wore a real, if reserved, smile on his face; it might’ve been one of the only times she’d ever seen him do that.

Maybe his walk earlier that day had been the key…

or perhaps it was the beautiful woman in his arms. They had matching Relics. That had to mean something.

But alas, she shouldn’t pry. She didn’t want anyone asking about her own love life.

Another of the Yalvs—the one that had been trapped with Jove—taught a few of the Jaydian children the dance steps a short distance away. Kainadr, she remembered—named after the warrior and sword of legend.

After a moment of hesitation, her father held out a hand to her mother. “Zelda?”

Her mother stiffened and looked at her daughter. “I don’t know.”

“Zelda.”

Hallie still hadn’t taken the rations: a mix of jerky, hard cheese, a variety of berries, an apple, and a thick slice of bread.

Kase set the military-grade bowl on the ground.

It was quite outclassed with its cheap metal next to the sparkling grasses of the meadow. At least the food wasn’t hard tack.

Her mother sighed and stood, but not before throwing a waspish look Kase’s way.

While Hallie had been on the receiving end of it more times than she could count—and had been again, moments earlier—she’d never appreciated her mother more than in that moment. It was nice to have someone take her side without question.

Hallie and Kase sat in silence, the only sound between them an occasional crunch as she finally gave in and took the apple out of her ration bowl. It was juicy, if a little soft. Probably something imported from the coast.

“Had to grease a few palms to get ahold of the fruit,” Kase said, popping a dark pink mazelberry in his mouth. “Definitely worth it, though.”

“Oh, thanks.”

Part of her felt grateful. The food was nice.

But then again, who would go without because she’d enjoyed a little more that night?

She shouldn’t let it bother her. The news had gone out a few hours before that those in certain sectors would start moving back into the city for cleanup the next day.

The resources in the Catacombs wouldn’t be so stretched after that.

Hopefully enough resources had survived the Cerl attack to keep those forced back to the surface fed, too.

She bit into the apple with another crunch, the juices skittering across her tongue.

If she pretended the last day had never happened, she could almost believe things would be okay again.

That she and Kase weren’t fighting. That she could lean in and put her head on his shoulder, and maybe he would ask her to dance…

But she couldn’t forget what she’d learned.

She swallowed and took another bite, still trying not to look too closely at the man sitting next to her like a silent mountain.

Wasn’t it better that she knew more about his past? That she could understand more of who Kase was at his core? That she had the opportunity to accept him for who he was, to believe him when he said this was different?

But then there was the fight. He hadn’t picked it for nothing.

He’d been defending her honor. That was what all the damsels in fairytales dreamed of—men willing to go to war for their women.

But did Hallie want that? The fairytales always ended just before the real story began.

How did they fare afterward? Did they truly live happily ever after?

Did it even matter, when there might be no ever after for her and Kase at all?

They were in the middle of an actual war. If she couldn’t master her power, the world would end. Even if she did, who knew what resetting the Gates might change about the reality they knew now?

All she needed to do was open her mouth and say something. That she forgave him. That they could forget it had ever happened.

Instead, she finished off the apple and started on the jerky.

Her thoughts were a muddled mess—because of the awkward tension between them, and because he wasn’t wearing his pilot’s jacket.

Even in her current mood, she couldn’t help it.

In her periphery, she was highly aware of the muscles under his shirt, the sleeves clinging tightly to his biceps.

Half of her wanted to run her fingers over the ridges.

The other half wanted to throw the apple core at his stupid face.

“Where did your parents learn to dance so well?” Kase asked, unscrewing the cap on the canteen and taking a swig. He leaned back on one arm.

His triceps contracted with the action and made it nearly impossible for Hallie to concentrate on her food. He might not have been nearly as built as the miners she’d grown up around, but with his broad shoulders and—

She forced the bite of jerky down her throat, turning back to the fire with a hard swallow. Every glimpse of him took a chisel to the wall she’d built around herself. If she didn’t look at him, she’d be fine. “It’s how they met.”

“They didn’t both grow up in Stoneset?”

Hallie shook her head, focusing on the distraction her parents provided.

“Mama came from a family of tinkers. She was born in Jayde, but she spent a lot of time in Tev Rubika. Her family would stop in at Stoneset on their way to Kyvena for the summer markets. Papa says that Mama was the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen, and the first time he saw her, he simply had to ask her to dance.

” Hallie set aside her half-eaten food and pulled her knees to her chest. “Mama says she only said yes because Papa promised to buy one of her pastries, but it worked out for him in the end.”

Hallie felt Kase’s eyes on the side of her face again. “I like that story.”

“Me too.” It had made her believe, if only for a short while, that fairytale romance could exist in real life, too.

It was a relief when he finally looked back at the dancers.

He tore off a chunk of bread and ate it.

He leaned forward, forearms resting atop his knees.

“Not many people know my parents were a love match, which is rare in our circles. Most are married for political or financial gains. Marriage is a contract.”

Hallie’s brows shot up. The second part didn’t surprise her—Petra had been the intended victim of an arranged marriage—but how had someone as kind as Lady Les ended up with Harlan Shackley? Chosen him, even? “So what happened to make the Stradat Lord Kapitan…”

She waved her hand in the air instead of finishing the sentence. It didn’t feel right for her to speak openly about the abuse, not without his permission or knowing who might be listening.

Kase shrugged, the fairy lights twinkling like stars in his pupils.

“Not sure how he ended up being such a blasted helviter , but they met through my uncle. Mother told the story all the time when we were little because Ana would beg her. Time’s blurred the details, and my sister stopped asking when she found out she’d be marrying for the good of the country. ”

The food weighed heavily in Hallie’s stomach. Here she was wallowing in her own self-pity when Kase had lived a life of so little choice. Who was Hallie to judge him when she’d had the world at her feet without even realizing it?

Someone else had written Kase’s future while she’d been able to choose her own—at least for a little while. No wonder he had a temper. She’d only recently had choice robbed from her, and look how angry she’d already become.

She shifted a little, the rocky ground uncomfortable. “So, Jove and Clara?”