Page 30 of The Freedom You Seek

The other man’s remaining eyebrow rose a fraction of an inch when Dion used his stupid mystery nickname for me, which made him even more likable in my book.

“Nice to meet you, Antas. Please don’t call me Jama. I don’t know why that one does so. He won’t tell me.”

One corner of the older man’s mouth twitched, and I chalked that almost-smile as a first win. “Good to find you well, Nayana. But I have to excuse myself. I am on scouting duty and will make sure the caves are clear and safe before you arrive.”

Antas didn’t wait for confirmation before he sped up his horse and left us alone again. Was he impolite or just very efficient?

“I guess the two of you are related?” I asked, and Dion frowned at me in surprise.

“How can you tell?”

“Your nose and lips have a very similar shape.”

“He’s my uncle.”

“So, does being an insufferable moron come from your mother’s or your father’s side? Antas must be from the other side of the family.”

“Very funny, Jama. Most of my family is dead. I became who I am completely on my own.”

Dion sounded neutral, but his response made me feel bad. If I’d known that most of his relatives weren’t alive anymore, I wouldn’t have joked about them. “I’m sorry about your family. If you want to talk about it—”

“It doesn’t matter, and it happened a long time ago. I was very young and barely remember most of them.”

“What happened?”

Dion didn’t answer. Instead, he pointed into the distance. “See, the caves are over there. We’ll reach them soon.”

I nodded. Message received: Dion didn’t want to talk about his late relatives. And although I was still mad at him, that was a wish I was able to understand and respect.

At last, we reached our destination and found the hidden caves where we’d previously camped. Surprisingly, Thain and Fig had already arrived, and I wondered how they’d beaten Antas, who only showed up shortly after me.

I managed to divert Nayana’s attention from the two males she hadn’t met yet and parked her together with my luggage in one of the caves to build up camp with Antas. She agreed without objection, which surprised me. But one glance at her and the lingering pity in her eyes told me she was still thinking about what I’d told her about my family. As if I needed any sympathy, especially hers. She didn’t take her gaze off my back during the whole time I helped set up our quarters for the night. My uncle and I worked in silence, just as I preferred it.

My eyes shortly connected with Jama’s before I turned away and exchanged a swift look with Antas before stalking into the adjacent cave, where Fig and Thain were deep in conversation. I ignored the redhead for the time being,even when he smirked at me. I simply chose not to react to his provocation.

“Fig. Antas mentioned that you’ve requested to talk to me?”

“I’ll leave you two to it. I want to meet the woman we picked up anyway. Maybe I can help her work through some of the trauma she’s surely having after the entire ordeal.”

“Behave, Thain.If you can’t keep it in your pants for one day, you and I will soon have serious problems.” So much for ignoring the redheaded idiot.

I prowled closer to him, no longer willing to tolerate his escapades for much longer. I had more or less overlooked his antics for the longest time, but I finally reached the breaking point.

“Dion,” Fig cut in sharply in warning, and I growled at both of them. But, of course, I was ignored. “Thain, I need you to gather wood and be on the lookout for Ireas. If he doesn’t arrive soon, you’ll have to ride out and see if you can find him. You know he has a tendency to get lost, and the last thing we need is another situation like that in Sobara.”

“I could take the girl with me.”

“Nonsense. She surely needs rest. You can talk to her later.”

“Have fun.” I grinned smugly at Thain, who narrowed his eyes at me.

Thain left with some colorful swear words I chose to ignore. Instead, I switched my attention back to Fig.

“You two should work out your issues soon. I don’t know what will happen in the near future, but no matterwhat, I won’t accept any infighting on my team. So keep it together, Dion.”

“I’ll keep it together when Thain stops bedding everything with a pulse.”

“Antas said that you didn’t talk much to the girl?”