Well then. "That sounds pretty final. Do I even have a say in this?"
"Of course you do," he said softly. "If you say no, I'll have to accept it."
Sure, he said that now. But the oath he swore was very clear. If he won the challenges, Declan gained the right to her. She would be his possession. Not a wife, not a friend, a lover, or an equal. A possession.
Declan always planned things out. He didn't know her at the time he swore the oath and probably thought she was unhinged. He had phrased his oath to gain as much as he could with minimal risk, relying on his presence and her fear to carry it through. If only she had called his bluff. He wouldn't have hurt the boys, not in a million years. He would've walked away. But then she wouldn't have gotten to know him. Rose tried to imagine him leaving on that day without another word. Her throat constricted. Her heart beat faster. She leaned a little closer to him, seeking reassurance that he was still here in spite of herself and realized a simple fact.
She was in love with Declan Camarine.
But loving him and being with him weren't the same thing. He was still a blueblood, and she . . . She had no dowry and no pedigree. She didn't fit into his world any more than he fit into hers. He wanted her. She was a challenge, and just like Grandma said, Declan couldn't resist. And once he got her, what then? One day they would wake up next to each other, and he would be Earl Camarine, lord of a dozen places with names she couldn't remember, and she would still be only Rose.
She swallowed. In her head she pictured him walking out the door, never to come back. The anxiety squeezed her heart in a lead fist.
"There is no hope for us," she said softly.
"There is always hope," Declan said. "As dangerous as Casshorn is, he's also irrational, and that weakens him."
She shook her head and forced herself to pull free of him. He didn't understand. He concentrated on the biggest threat, and it would do her good to do the same. For now, she had to keep her worries to herself. Casshorn had to come first.
"As far as William goes, I don't know what the devil he's doing, but I doubt he's helping Casshorn," Declan said.
"What makes you think that?"
"William is a decorated veteran with over a decade in the Legion. Casshorn couldn't hack it in the Legion longer than six months. Hell, he couldn't hack it in the research branch of the Airforce." Declan shook his head. "All he had to do was study wyverns, and he failed at that. I have no respect for him, and I wouldn't suffer his orders. I don't see why Will would."
"So why is he here, then?" She frowned.
"I don't know." Declan grimaced. "I know what I'm going to do once I find him."
"And that would be?"
"I'll beat him bloody."
She blinked.
"I walked away from eleven years in the Legion to pull his ar - him out of the fire. One would expect a thank-you or at least a cordial demeanor. Failing that, one would expect some small courtesy for old times' sake, such as a note perhaps, something along the lines of 'My adoptive father is about to make off with a world-destroying device, so he can kill us all. Just thought you'd like to know.' "
"Maybe he didn't know."
Declan gave her a hard look. "He knew."
"A little of you is pissed off because he didn't go all to pieces thanking you for saving him," she said.
Declan swore. "I couldn't care less."
"It bothers you. It would bother me, too."
A man appeared at the end of the road. Slight, a bit di sheveled, he wore black pants, a red polo shirt, and a dark leather vest over it. The shirt and pants sagged on his thin frame. He was balding, and the remains of his short hair and a neatly trimmed, short beard were liberally salted with gray. His face radiated calm kindness, and he smiled at them as he came down the road, leading a horse to the house, but his hooded eyes were solid black.
Declan focused on the man with predatory alertness. "Who is that?"
Rose sighed. There went her chance to talk. "That's Jeremiah Lovedahl."
"Why is he coming here?"
"Supposedly he's coming to take Grandmother and the boys to Wood House. It's a heavily warded shelter deep inside the Wood."
"You seem skeptical," he said.
"He has an agenda," Rose said. "The Edge is very much an 'every man for himself' kind of place. But once in a while we run across a threat that's too much for any one family to handle on its own. At times like this, people like my grandma and Jeremiah step forward. They're our elders. There are six of them, and when they agree on something, East Laporte usually pays attention."
"They won't compel you to obey, but they issue advisory opinions?" Declan asked.
She nodded. "Something like that. After we had that fight, I called them for Grandma and they had themselves a huddle. They've realized that we're too weak to fight Casshorn directly, so they're trying to outsmart him. First step is to deprive him of food, so to starve him and the hounds, they 'advised' getting the hell out of town. Last night everyone with a drop of sense packed up, and this morning, they all drove out as if to work in the Broken, but none of them are coming back. Some holdouts remain, as usual, but what are you going to do?" She shrugged. "The Edgers are outcasts. For some of us, our house and land are all we have. I swear, you could have a wall of fire sweeping through East Laporte, and some of the harder heads would hole up on their property. They'd rather die than leave."
Jeremiah tied his horse to a tree.
"So what does he really want here?" Declan asked.
"Jeremiah hopes to convince you and me to come with him to Wood House, where the rest of the elders are. They want to know more about Casshorn, so they want you to help them with that. I'm to come as their protection against you and Casshorn both. You make them nervous."
His green eyes studied her. "Do you want me to come?"
Rose pursed her mouth. "It's up to you. I don't want to ask you to do something you don't want to do, but yes, I would like you to visit Wood House. The elders are old and full of magic. They can't attack Casshorn or the hounds directly, because the hounds absorb any magic less intense than a flash, but I wouldn't discount them. And we don't have a lot of allies."
"We? Do you include yourself in my fight?"
"He's destroying my home, eating my neighbors, and wants to kill my family. I told you before; I don't intend to sit on my hands. And you need me, Declan. You need my flash."
He gave her a pointed stare.