Our conversation is forgotten as Gabriel takes Adelaide to see the animals. She pets goats, sheep, and calves before riding a pony.
With Adelaide around, I observe a gentleness in Gabriel that he doesn’t show with others. The way he takes her from animal to animal and talks with her. He kneels to her level and holds eye contact. In return, she clings to his hand and chatters endlessly.
As I wait for Gabriel and Adelaide near a large olive tree, I observe Praxis speaking to Alden. As the younger man speaks, he throws his hands wide and talks faster. I make out one word—oneverypointed word.Father.
My breath hitches as I jerk my gaze around. Nobody else seems to notice their conversation.
Alden is Praxis’ father? Why didn’t anyone say so before?
I try to remember what I know of the young warrior, but other than that one time, I haven’t been around him.
When the sun yields to the moon, Luc fetches his daughter. Happiness skips in Kassandra’s eyes as she keeps pace next to him. I try to read those cues as they walk away with Adelaide.
“Did Luc...” I swallow and start over. “Will they wed?”
Gabriel leads me to a wall away from the bustle of people and dancing couples. “Maybe.”
“Do you not know?”
He shrugs.
It takes everything in me to not stomp Gabriel’s foot. “Why are you being so vague?”
Emotions impossible to decipher cross Gabriel’s features. “Luc’s wife has only been dead a summer, and he adored her.”
That explains Luc’s haunted eyes. They haven’t changed even after speaking to Kassandra.
My mind whirls as I consider how much Kassandra cares for Luc. She shouldn’t be in a relationship with a man who adores another. “If Luc doesn’t care for Kassandra. Then why wed?”
“The same reason everyone weds,” Gabriel says in a flat voice. “To procreate.”
“That’s a lonely way to think of marriage.”
“Did you expect sonnets?”
I really am going to stomp his foot.
Instead of giving in to the urge, I pluck up a goblet of wine and take a long drink. Though, it doesn’t stop me from speaking freely. Probably too freely. “Procreation is obviouslynotthe reason you wed me.”
Torchlight frames him as he shifts enough to meet my gaze. I raise my goblet in a silent salute and take an even greedier drink.
When he continues to stare in sullen silence, I speak. “Is something amiss, Gabriel?”
“Your tongue is too free.”
A scoff escapes me. “Shall you bridle it, then? Olah knows you have no other use for my tongue.”
A passing couple gawks at my words as Gabriel’s brow rises nearly to his hairline. He deserved my curt response.
“Are you trying to vex me?”
Raising my goblet to my lips, I take another long draw and step closer to him. “I’m trying to make you feel something.”
It’s been too long since we really spoke, and even longer since I vowed to win his favor.
“Anger?” Those silver-blue eyes trace over me, and my skin warms as his attention shifts to the surcoat Kassandra made me.
It’s the first time he’sreallylooked at me since the day in the sweat lodge. It awakens the part of me stifled by his rejection and wounded by his lack of interest.
