Page 83 of The Winner's Kiss
“She’s my friend,” Arin answered. “Give her room.”
They did.
It was strange to look at Arin through her own eyes and also through theirs, to see the real and imagined person, and to know that what they imagined him to be was true, even if it wasn’t the whole truth. There was a solid command in his voice, his frame. There was the aura of Arin’s singularity, the way he seemed like no one else, like he was a little more than human. But there was also his anxiety, traveling through their interlaced fingers, and the hunted quality to his expression. His mouth wasn’t right. She didn’t think they saw that.
“Stay with me?” he murmured in her ear.
“Yes.”
With her beside him, he walked among the villagers. They kept touching him. Each time, she felt the slight tremor of his reaction, quickly stilled. He tried to be at ease, yet mostly failed. She wasn’t sure if the villagers noticed. They smiled, asked questions, voices riding high. Arin didn’t let go of her hand.
At least, he didn’t let go until a woman pressed her swaddled infant against his chest. Awkward, quick, Arin brought both arms up to hold the baby against his leather armor. He stared at the mother as if questioning her sanity.
“Bless him,” the woman said.
“What?”
“Bless him by your god.”
Arin looked down at the cradled boy, who slept, eyelids delicate, his cheeks round with health. A tiny flower of a hand peeked out of the swaddling. It flexed and curled against the cloth. Hoarsely, Arin said, “My god?”
“Please.”
“But you don’t know. Who, I mean. My god—”
“It doesn’t matter. If your god cares for my son the way he cares for you, that’s all I want.”
Arin’s eyes flew to Kestrel’s.
“Is there any harm?” Kestrel asked, but still he wouldn’t do it.
Sternly, the mother told him, “You’ll offend your god if you don’t share his blessing.”
Arin shifted the baby more securely against him. Fingers tentative, he touched the baby’s brow. The child sighed. Arin’s face changed. He softened, grew luminous, the way certain early hours of certain days are pearled, quiet, and rare. Kestrel seemed to feel with her own fingertips the baby’s fresh skin beneath Arin’s touch.
The baby opened his eyes. They were Herrani gray.
Arin murmured words too low for Kestrel to hear. Then he settled the baby into the waiting arms of the mother, who appeared satisfied. She made the Herrani gesture of thanks, which Arin returned. There was something about the way he did it that reminded Kestrel that the gesture could mean an apology as well.
Arin’s hand found hers again. He felt slightly unfamiliar. Something had changed between them.
She knew why it changed her to see Arin hold this child. She understood the question that had opened inside her, but she was unprepared. She hadn’t thought of this. Her heart raced with an emotion too complicated for either fear or happiness.
She released Arin’s hand. “Ready to go back?” Her voice didn’t match how she felt. It was cool, even careless. She realized that this particular voice was perhaps her most treasured armor.
Arin’s expression closed. “Yes.”
The crowd cleared a path for them. They returned to their horses and mounted.
“See?” Roshar said, “wasn’t that fun?”
Arin looked ready to shove the prince off his horse.
The army moved from the road into a meadow that swelled into hills. It was near misery for the horses that dragged the light cannon and supply wagons, but Roshar wanted the high ground. Kestrel wanted the cover of the forest edging the higher hills, as well as the proximity to Errilith’s manor with its fortified walls—visible, but a day’s ride away. Arin didn’t say what he wanted. He said little of anything.
A stream swiveled down through the meadow: a clear rill bordered by tufted grass. The air pulsed with the sound of cicadas. Roshar called a halt.
Kestrel let Javelin drink and dropped to her knees beside him, cupping water to her mouth, down her sweaty neck. Delicious, chill. “The water,” she said to no one in particular. Her father would want this estate for its abundant fresh water even more than for the stores behind the manor walls, or for the sheep ranging the hilltops. This much water this far south was a prize.
