They hadn’t had a choice but to enlist him to bring over the children from Vastala, as he didn’t mind carrying goods that couldn’t be declared.
Ardow had assured her his ships carried significantly more dangerous and illegal merchandise than a few orphan refugees and that Venko’s men were discreet.
But here he was, the insinuations in his voice as clear as the ice clinging to the trees around them.
Shifting her gaze back to him, she forced a smile. “What can I do for you, Venko?”
He offered her a slow wink. “No need for those fake smiles you offer everyone else, Lessia. Don’t worry.” He flicked his eyes forward before bringing them back to hers. “Your secrets are safe with me.”
Well, now they definitely weren’t.
When she glanced ahead, tension lined Merrick’s shoulders, and she swallowed hard against the knot of worry that tightened in her gut.
But the Fae didn’t turn around; he only nudged his horse, creating more distance between them, until he reached Loche and Zaddock riding before him.
Frowning, she flicked her eyes to Venko once more.
“What do you need to keep it quiet?” she hissed sharply, praying the gust of wind that whipped through the trees would be enough to muffle her words.
A smile played on Venko’s lips as he responded, “I believe I need what you need, dear Lessia. We’re on the same side. You’ll do well to remember that.”
With a final long look at her, he drove his horse forward, falling in between her and Merrick.
Lessia ground her teeth as she stared at his back, anger swirling in her gut when he approached Merrick and the Fae shifted his horse to allow space for his brown mare.
Venko was going to be a problem.
Nudging her horse, she followed them, but neither of the males spoke as they rode beside each other.
She was so focused on watching them that she hit a low-hanging branch.
A mass of snow fell over her, seeping inside her leathers and chilling her to the bone.
While she was brushing it off the cloak and trying to get out the snow that snaked its way into her leather tunic, a snort escaped someone ahead, and she snapped her head up.
The group had stopped, every single pair of eyes locked on her.
Except Merrick’s, of course.
His gaze remained on his knee, where his large hand rested, fingers drumming a slow rhythm. Brows pulling, fighting the blush that threatened to spread across her cheeks, she swept her gaze across the group.
She couldn’t figure out who had laughed, so Lessia made a smile slip across her lips, arching her brow. “Are we lost?”
Zaddock fought a grin as his eyes found hers. “No. The house you nominees are to stay in is right over there.”
He gestured toward a stone cottage ahead, and Lessia barely stopped a choked cry weaving its way up her throat at the boarded windows, the crumbling straw roof, and the worn stone.
She’d known their stay wouldn’t be comfortable, but that house would be freezing.
And dark.
“We will leave you now. We’ll stay in a house a short ride from here, together with a few guards. As Frayson already informed you, you need only to blow the horn if you wish to leave, and we’ll come to escort you back to the capital. Other than that, you’re to stay within walking distance of the house, and you may not have contact with your escort or anyone else until the two weeks are up. If we find you do, you’ll be eliminated immediately.” Zaddock shot a glance at Loche. “It happened in the last election, and it wasn’t pretty, so please spare us this year. You may say your goodbyes, then your escort is to take your horse.”
With that, Zaddock slipped off his horse, Loche and the rest dismounting a moment later.
A wave of murmurs rippled through the trees, joined by the crunching of boots and hooves on snow as horses tradedhands. Venko was the only one who hadn’t brought an escort with him, and he shifted the reins of his horse to a castle guard waiting by a tall tree.
Lessia jumped off her warm horse as well, eyeing Merrick as he approached her, his gaze on his black boots as he reached out a hand for her horse.
