Moria went with Tyrus, leaving Ronan and Ashyn alone.
"I suppose you'll be scuttling off into the shadows again," she said.
He tensed as if he didn't like her choice of words. Then he motioned for her and Tova to follow him farther away so they could speak.
"What are you doing here?" she asked when they neared the ridge base.
"Tyrus hired me to accompany you."
"Oh." That was, of course, not what she'd hoped to hear.
"You ought to have told me you were leaving the city," he said.
"Then you ought to have accepted my request for an audience, so I could have explained the situation."
He paused. "Was that what you wished to see me about? I thought . . ." He inhaled. "When I left. That kiss. I . . . I feared how you might have interpreted it."
She said nothing. She couldn't. It was hard enough to stand there, listening to her fears made real.
"We had been together for days," he continued. "I came to care for you, but . . . it was n
ot the sort of caring that my kiss implied. I apologize for that."
Ashyn clenched her hands at her sides. Stop talking. Please stop talking.
"You're a wonderful girl, Ashyn. You're brilliant and you're beautiful and you're . . ." He trailed off, as if he could find no more adjectives to flatter her with.
Stop talking now. Please.
He continued. "I do care for you. But I feared that after my kiss, you may have expected more."
She gathered all her strength and lifted her gaze to his. "Truly? Do you think I've never been kissed before? I'm past my sixteenth summer. I took it as nothing more than a farewell. Perhaps foolishly over-affectionate, which did make me fear you might have meant more, but I'm glad to hear you did not. I am the Seeker of Edgewood. You are . . ."
As hurt as she was, she couldn't bring herself to say the rest. You're a thief. A criminal. Ronan still recoiled, his gaze lowering, but not before she caught a glimpse of pain.
I may have no experience with kisses, but he lies if he says that was a simple farewell. He changed his mind, and he does not have the integrity to be honest with me. He makes me feel the fool. So I'll not retract my words.
He didn't look at her as he said, "Whatever you were about to say, I am that. And more. Or, perhaps, less. I . . ." He closed his mouth, paused, and then said, "Do you wish me to return to the city? Or continue along to Fairview?"
"Why do you ask me?" she snapped. "You came for money not--" She bit off the words, but it was too late. His gaze swung to her eyes and she knew he'd caught the anger in them, the hurt.
"Ashyn . . ." he said.
"Do as you will," she said and walked away with Tova.
TWELVE
They'd stopped for their midday meal. While Moria hated the pause, the horses needed the break, and she would never argue to overwork the horses.
Tyrus and Moria sat away from the others, ostensibly giving Daigo a chance to prowl the nearby woods, though in truth Moria had suggested it because she suspected Tyrus needed a break from playing the amicable prince. He always took time to ride with the others, out of both imperial responsibility and natural camaraderie, but that morning, it had seemed more of the first. Now, as they ate, he lapsed into silence, idly fingering the dangling ends of his amulet band.
"Thinking of your mother?" Moria asked between mouthfuls of cold rice.
He glanced up, as if startled.
She nodded at the band, then said, "You've been quiet since the monks, and I noticed you watching when we passed the road to Seven Oaks. That's where she's gone on her pilgrimage, isn't it?"
A faint smile. "Excellent deduction. Yes, I was thinking she'll be home soon, and she will not be pleased with my father. He's been talking about sending me on a mission since the winter. She asked him to wait until I passed my next summer."