"I have you, too. I know." But it wasn't the same, because he was almost an extension of herself.
As she turned toward the barracks, she caught a flash of red-gold hair, streaming behind a figure darting between buildings.
"Ashyn?"
Of course it was. They were the only fair-haired Northerners in Edgewood now that their father . . .
Moria stifled the thought and raced after her sister. When she reached the end of the road, she caught sight of yellowish fur running around the next corner.
She whistled, but Tova didn't come back. She ran after them and again she got to the road's end just in time to see a flash--of both figures this time, her sister and her hound, running like the spirits of the damned were chasing them. Running toward the forest.
"Ashyn! Tova!"
They didn't stop. Behind her, she heard that now-familiar snarling, moaning shriek, and she turned to see a twisted figure in an open doorway. A shadow stalker in human form. It lunged at her. She wheeled and tore off after Ashyn.
Ashyn
Fourteen
"She's not coming back, is she?" Ronan said as he moved his playing piece. "She doesn't want anything to do with me."
Because you used her blade to kidnap me, Ashyn wanted to say. She'd forgiven him. Moria would not until he proved himself worthy.
"Is she worried about the Kitsune boy?" he continued. "I mean, yes, of course she is. But that's what she's thinking about. Him."
Ashyn stifled a sigh and pretended to miss the question.
After a moment, he said, "They're courting, aren't they?"
Ashyn choked on a laugh. "No, definitely not."
"But there is someone, isn't there? A girl like that . . ."
A girl like that.
Ashyn loved her sister. And yet . . . It was not that Ashyn particularly wanted any of the young men who trailed after her sister. It was simply . . . well, simply that she wouldn't mind a boy's attention, if only to prove that she wasn't completely invisible next to Moria.
It had started two springs ago, when a young bard came with the supply wagons. Ashyn still remembered him, with his dark eyes and long braids and quick smile, his pretty words and lilting voice. He'd seen Ashyn first and stopped midsong to stare. Then he'd begun to sing about her. He'd followed her from the village square, still singing as she blushed. That had felt . . . new. Wonderful and warm.
She'd walked all the way home with the bard singing her praises. Then Moria came swinging out, blade in hand, and told him to quit his caterwauling or she'd use him for target practice. He'd stopped singing about Ashyn then. And started singing about Moria.
Her sister had made good on her promise, whipping her dagger and pinning his cloak to the wall. And that was it. One throw of that blade, and he'd completely forgotten Ashyn. He'd followed Moria for the rest of his visit, composing ballads about the flaxen-haired warrior girl of Edgewood. By the time he left, his cape was so full of holes it looked like a fishing net. Yet he wore it as proudly as if Moria had covered it in kisses instead.
Then there was Levi. Again, Ashyn hadn't been truly interested; he was a braggart and a bit of a fool. After he kissed her behind the village hall, she'd hurried home to tell Moria. She'd expected they'd laugh over it. Moria had indeed laughed . . . because he'd done the same to her. The next day he'd awkwardly apologized to Ashyn, and she realized he had drunkenly mistaken her for her sister.
Now Moria had caught Ronan's attention.
"It's getting late," Ashyn said as she stood. "We'll pick up the game tomorrow."
"No, stay. My apologies. I was just . . ." He leaned to peer through the window and down the hall.
I know, she thought. And I don't blame you.
"You can't go anyway," he said. "Moria said to wait until she gets back."
"Yes, she does that. But I'll be fine. I have Tova."
The hound rose at his name. Ignoring Ronan's protests, Ashyn put the game aside and said her farewells. Before she could take a step down the hall, though, the guard appeared in the flickering lantern light.