stalled long enough. Time to face the minder.
CHAPTER FIVE
(Dev)
C ara lit into me before I’d even gotten both feet on the ground.
“What the hell was that?” She stalked past Kiran, who flinched back like a man faced with a scorpion. I didn’t blame him. The scowl on Cara’s face could have melted lead.
“A climbing lesson?” I said. No good starting with an apology right off; that’d only rouse Cara’s suspicions. If she realized I’d made a deliberate plan to climb Kinslayer for my own profit, she’d fire me on the spot.
Her fists clenched, and I hurriedly dropped my pack. I had to play it brash, but not so cocky that she fired me out of sheer annoyance.
“I know, I shouldn’t have made the climb. But I was training Kellan, and I happened to spy a route, and I couldn’t resist...” I tried to look contrite, but a grin pulled at the corners of my mouth. I threw my arms wide. “A first ascent of Kinslayer, Cara! Come on, you know you would have climbed it in my place.”
Cara’s gimlet-eyed glare only intensified. “Shaikar take you, Dev! If I’d realized you hadn’t outgrown this kind of shit, I’d never have signed off on hiring you. You’re not on some solo jaunt—you’ve got a responsibility to this convoy! You think because we’re friends, I’ll overlook whatever brainless stunts you pull? You can gods-damned well think again!”
“I got stupid, okay? I admit it. But, Cara...” She was a climber, same as me. Surely underneath her anger, a hint of sympathy lurked. I let the memory of the climb swallow me. Mind and body and stone, locked in perfect unity... “It was glorious. ”
I had one instant to realize it was Kiran who showed a glimmer of wistful recognition, not Cara. Then Cara’s fist slammed into my jaw.
I staggered sideways into the cliff. One hand darted to the boneshatter charm hidden in my belt, before I caught myself. “What the fuck?”
She advanced on me with a murderous look in her eye. “Glorious? I saw that slip of yours. It’s only by Khalmet’s choice you’re standing here at all! You think I want to scrape your bloodsoaked carcass off the rocks, the way you did with Sethan? Did you forget how glorious that was?”
Blood pouring black from Sethan’s mouth, gleam of bones poking through his side, and I didn’t want to look lower, oh mother of maidens, how could he still be alive? I clenched my jaw, and welcomed the white-hot stab of pain where Cara’s fist had landed.
“Leave it, Cara.” She hadn’t watched Sethan die. What the fuck would she know about it?
Cara jabbed a finger at my chest. “The hell I will. Accidents are one thing; we all feel Khalmet’s touch in the end. But this! You’d be dead through your own gods-damned stupidity. At least Sethan’s death wasn’t his fault!”
“No, it was your father’s,” I snarled.
Cara’s head rocked back. Hurt flared in her eyes, before they went hard as granite.
My anger died to ashes. Shit. Clearly I hadn’t learned a thing from my fight with Jylla. I scrubbed a hand over my face, praying I hadn’t just destroyed a years-long friendship.
“Cara...I didn’t mean that. Truly. Denion made the best call he could. Nobody could’ve predicted a rockfall that big, after such a brief storm.” My buoyant energy from Kinslayer leaked away, leaving me weary and a little sick. I knew how bad it had burned Cara when no convoy would hire her father again, despite his forty years of experience. How she’d flinched when tavern gossips proclaimed Denion’s incompetence had killed all those men, as if they knew anything about weighing risks in the mountains. Gods damn me, why couldn’t I rule my tongue? Jylla had deserved every harsh word, but Cara was only doing her job.
My apology made all the impact of a pebble thrown at a glacier. Cara eyed me with a frozen disdain that was worse than any of her anger. “Maybe money’s the only language you’ll understand, Dev. I’m docking half your pay
CHAPTER FIVE
(Dev)
C ara lit into me before I’d even gotten both feet on the ground.
“What the hell was that?” She stalked past Kiran, who flinched back like a man faced with a scorpion. I didn’t blame him. The scowl on Cara’s face could have melted lead.
“A climbing lesson?” I said. No good starting with an apology right off; that’d only rouse Cara’s suspicions. If she realized I’d made a deliberate plan to climb Kinslayer for my own profit, she’d fire me on the spot.
Her fists clenched, and I hurriedly dropped my pack. I had to play it brash, but not so cocky that she fired me out of sheer annoyance.
“I know, I shouldn’t have made the climb. But I was training Kellan, and I happened to spy a route, and I couldn’t resist...” I tried to look contrite, but a grin pulled at the corners of my mouth. I threw my arms wide. “A first ascent of Kinslayer, Cara! Come on, you know you would have climbed it in my place.”
Cara’s gimlet-eyed glare only intensified. “Shaikar take you, Dev! If I’d realized you hadn’t outgrown this kind of shit, I’d never have signed off on hiring you. You’re not on some solo jaunt—you’ve got a responsibility to this convoy! You think because we’re friends, I’ll overlook whatever brainless stunts you pull? You can gods-damned well think again!”
“I got stupid, okay? I admit it. But, Cara...” She was a climber, same as me. Surely underneath her anger, a hint of sympathy lurked. I let the memory of the climb swallow me. Mind and body and stone, locked in perfect unity... “It was glorious. ”
I had one instant to realize it was Kiran who showed a glimmer of wistful recognition, not Cara. Then Cara’s fist slammed into my jaw.
I staggered sideways into the cliff. One hand darted to the boneshatter charm hidden in my belt, before I caught myself. “What the fuck?”
She advanced on me with a murderous look in her eye. “Glorious? I saw that slip of yours. It’s only by Khalmet’s choice you’re standing here at all! You think I want to scrape your bloodsoaked carcass off the rocks, the way you did with Sethan? Did you forget how glorious that was?”
Blood pouring black from Sethan’s mouth, gleam of bones poking through his side, and I didn’t want to look lower, oh mother of maidens, how could he still be alive? I clenched my jaw, and welcomed the white-hot stab of pain where Cara’s fist had landed.
“Leave it, Cara.” She hadn’t watched Sethan die. What the fuck would she know about it?
Cara jabbed a finger at my chest. “The hell I will. Accidents are one thing; we all feel Khalmet’s touch in the end. But this! You’d be dead through your own gods-damned stupidity. At least Sethan’s death wasn’t his fault!”
“No, it was your father’s,” I snarled.
Cara’s head rocked back. Hurt flared in her eyes, before they went hard as granite.
My anger died to ashes. Shit. Clearly I hadn’t learned a thing from my fight with Jylla. I scrubbed a hand over my face, praying I hadn’t just destroyed a years-long friendship.
“Cara...I didn’t mean that. Truly. Denion made the best call he could. Nobody could’ve predicted a rockfall that big, after such a brief storm.” My buoyant energy from Kinslayer leaked away, leaving me weary and a little sick. I knew how bad it had burned Cara when no convoy would hire her father again, despite his forty years of experience. How she’d flinched when tavern gossips proclaimed Denion’s incompetence had killed all those men, as if they knew anything about weighing risks in the mountains. Gods damn me, why couldn’t I rule my tongue? Jylla had deserved every harsh word, but Cara was only doing her job.
My apology made all the impact of a pebble thrown at a glacier. Cara eyed me with a frozen disdain that was worse than any of her anger. “Maybe money’s the only language you’ll understand, Dev. I’m docking half your pay
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