Chapter Twenty-Three
Rynne wrinkled her nose and grunted in disgust as she missed the last note in what had been an otherwise memorable chorus. She grabbed the pencil lying at her side and quickly scribbled in the correction. The abrupt key change just wasn’t sitting well with her.
“I thought it was pretty good,” Van commented from the doorway.
She glanced up in surprise. He wasn’t exactly the sneaky type, and she couldn’t remember the last time he had managed to startle her like that. “I can do better. It still needs a lot of work.”
He peered in and glanced around the room. “You get bored of your own quarters already?”
“I promised Tiel a song back in Haven. I figured I might as well live up to it since we finally have some downtime.”
“I thought you left that thing at home.”
“I did,” she told him, shuffling the lute in her grip. She sat on Tiel’s bed with her knees pulled up, the instrument settled comfortably on her chest. “It’s his, actually. I guess he used to play.”
“Ah,” Van murmured, his face instantly souring.
“Something wrong?”
He grunted. “Funny question, given what’s going on.”
“I mean beyond the obvious.”
He paused, shuffling in place for a moment before finally stepping into the room. “You already know where I stand.”
“Almost a foot and a half above me.”
“Funny.”
Rynne sighed. “What do you want?”
“What I want is to be heading home,” he grumbled. “But since that’s not going to happen yet, I at least want to make sure we’re all safe.”
“I don’t think the monks will try anything else at this point.”
He moved to the edge of the bed and leaned on the footboard. “I’m not too worried about them—what I’m worried about is you.”
Rynne cocked a curious eyebrow. “What does that mean?”
“You won’t want to hear it,” he said softly, “but I guess I always get to be the downer.”
“You’re good at it.”
Van grimaced and visibly gathered himself. It was rare for him to mince words….and she was suddenly worried about what he might say.
“You’re getting too close,” he told her eventually. “I think it’s a mistake.”
She blinked. “Excuse me?”
“He’s a kid. He’s spent his entire life cloistered in a monastery, and now his world is getting tossed around. It’s not a good time for you to be…you know.”
Before today, she had no idea her mouth could open as far as it did. “Let me get this straight…you’re trying to give me relationship advice?”
“I’m telling you I think leading him on is a mistake,” he said, standing straight. “I know how you are. I’m just trying to nip this in the bud while I still can.”
“’How I am?’ And just what the void is that supposed to mean?”
“You like…challenges,” he explained gingerly. “You don’t do it intentionally, but it always seems to happen. And I think you’re just going to end up hurting him.”
“First off,” she said, setting the lute aside and folding her arms across her chest, “I still can’t believe you came in here for this. And second…I don’t even know what you’re talking about.”
Van snorted. “I realize you think I’m a big dumb oaf, but I know you better than anyone else here. And as for him…” He sighed and shook his head. “It was glowing all over his face the other night. He’s probably in the middle of the most difficult crisis of his life, and now he’s also busy thinking about you.”
Rynne just stared up at him, too shocked to even find words. She couldn’t decide if she should be angry or insulted—or maybe just amused.
“Anyway,” he went on, waving a hand, “whatever you have or haven’t done with him isn’t any of my business, but you know I’m not great at keeping things to myself. So I just wanted to speak my piece.”
“You’re right—it isn’t any of your business,” she told him flatly, glaring at him. She managed to hold the icy stare for about thirty seconds before sighing and reaching out to touch his hand. “But I don’t think you’re dumb. I never have. I make it a policy never to sleep with kreel.”
“So you just think I’m wrong.”
“I think…” she trailed off and shook her head. “I don’t know what I think. I guess that’s the problem, isn’t it?”
“We’ll be heading back to Haven in a day or two, and I doubt he’ll be going with us. So then what happens?”
Rynne ran both her hands through her hair and leaned back. “I don’t know. I don’t usually think that far ahead.”
“Well, it might be a good time to start.”
“No need to be snide,” she scolded. “Look, I like him a lot. He’s gone through so much recently. Imagine how different all of this could have ended up if he wasn’t willing to work with us?”
Van shrugged. “I don’t know. Maybe then we wouldn’t have come here at all. I can’t say I’d complain about that.”
She rolled her eyes. “Your problem is you need to relax. It’s the first time in a week we don’t have anyone breathing down our necks, and you’re getting paid to just sit around. Life should be good.”
“Yeah,” he said softly, then stood and turned back to the door. “Well, just think about what I said, and be honest with the kid. I actually kind of like him too, which is really annoying.”
Rynne chuckled. “You know, he’s not really a kid. I’m only a few years older than him.”
“You’re all babies as far as I’m concerned. Once you hit thirty you’ll understand.”
“Yeah, you are pretty old,” she teased. “You’re starting to get all flabby in the middle.”
He turned back and glared at her. “So what, you just move on to the younger men, then?”
“Why not, if I can?”
“You really are impossible.”
Rynne laughed impishly as she hopped off the bed and walked up to him. She grabbed his hands and squeezed. “I do appreciate the thought, by the way.”
“Yeah, well, just be careful.”
“I’m actually kind of honored,” she said. “All these big strong men fawning over who gets to protect me. It is a little patronizing, of course, but I assume you can’t help yourselves. I am actually able to take care of myself.”
A wry smile tugged at his lips, and without warning he grabbed her firmly by the arms and flipped her around. She squeaked in protest, but in a fraction of a second he had her flattened on the bed, arms pinned at her sides.
“I could zap you with a spell, you know,” she warned.
His eyes glittered at the challenge. “You can’t weave anything that powerful.”
“Then I could scream—”
He clamped his free hand over her mouth and cocked an eyebrow. “What was that?”
She wriggled her knee up right to his groin and raised an eyebrow right back at him.
“You wouldn’t.”
She pressed hard enough for him to wince.
“Fine,” he grunted, relaxing his grip. “Cheater.”
Rynne smiled up at him. It had been a long time since he’d been this close, and she had to admit it felt…good. He continued to press against her, and she didn’t really want him to let go. He wasn’t actually flabby around the middle at all, despite how much he ate. His arms were still thicker than her legs, and he could fling her about quite effortlessly if he wanted to. He used to do that often when they’d been together, and she had to admit a part of her really missed it…
“You need to leave,” she said hoarsely, gently pushing him away. A glimmer of disappointment flashed in his eyes, and she knew hers were doing the same.
Van cleared his throat and stood back up. “I think I’ll head over to their training room or whatever they call it,” he said. “I wouldn’t mind beating up on a training dummy right now.”
Van nodded without looking back as he turned into the hallway—and then nearly leapt backwards in surprise. “Tiel.”
“Something wrong?” the monk asked, stepping into sight.
“I’m redoing the chorus,” Rynne said much too quickly. “Van was giving me his opinion on it.”
“Ah,” Tiel said, his eyes lingering briefly on the larger man before flicking to her. “We might have a problem. Our scouts were supposed to check in half an hour ago.”
Van immediately straightened, the awkward moment instantly forgotten. “That isn’t normal, I take it?”
“We’re not as meticulous as a military garrison or anything, but Master Bale did make it clear to everyone that we needed to be on our guard.”
Van tossed Rynne a look. “I’ll find Nate and tell him.”
“I was going to take a few of the men out and have a look around,” Tiel said. “I wouldn’t mind having another pair of eyes.”
“I’ll come with, too,” Rynne grunted as she hopped off the bed and started to pull on her boots. “Let me stop by my quarters to get my crossbow.”
The young man nodded. “Some of them do have a tendency to get lost in their meditations, especially on quiet nights. It’s probably nothing.”
“Yeah,” Van said gravely. “Sure.”
The Last Goddess Page 56