Free Hunted: The Warrior Chronicles #2 by K.F. Breene Page B

need you gone within two days.” Cayan shrugged into his jacket. “I have men waiting for you, and a wagon of goods to take to the Duke. Once you have his support, you’ll come back, get a day or two rest, and then we leave again.”
    “Junice won’t be pleased,” Sanders mumbled.
    “She knows what she married. She’ll probably be happy to see the back of you by now.”
    Sanders snorted. “Got that right. She’s stopped asking what I want for dinner. She just makes what she wants and allows me to eat it.”
    “Honeymoon is over.”
    “Long over.” Sanders followed Cayan toward the door. “One thing—who’s going to guard the city when half the army is gone?”
    Cayan raised his eyebrows a fraction.
    Sanders nodded and rocked back on his heels. “The Duke’s men, right. The only leader with men to spare. He doesn’t think he needs them—and he might not for a while. He’s too far south at the moment, with no foreign woman to call attention to him. So you’re going to pay him for some manpower, then?”
    “You’re not as dumb as the men say you are.” Cayan laughed as he swung open the door and waited for Sanders to stalk through. The man looked like he was in a hurry even when he had nowhere to be. “I’ve organized for the most disciplined of men to go with you—this journey is about speed. When you get back, we’ll get the Duke’s men in place, and then we leave. If we’re not in this battle, then we’ll be ground under by it. I will not let that happen to my people.”
    They walked through the town without speaking. Townspeople smiled at Cayan as he passed. Many greeted them and more than a few young and available women batted their eyelashes and stuck out their chests. He let himself look, but that’s as far as the desire went. He could have them for a night, or maybe a few, but his attention would inevitably wander, as it always did.
    “How do you plan to make her join our cause?” Sanders said, breaking the silence as they neared the practice yard. If he wondered why Cayan was escorting him there, he didn’t ask.
    “Dangle her Honor Guard in front of her. Her interest in them was genuine. Through them, she had a way of fitting in to this city. She has pride in them. I plan to leverage that.”
    Sanders looked at him sideways. His lips tweaked upwards at the corner. “I wondered why you left them with the cadets, especially Xavier. They’re bored, they’re flagging, but you’re two steps ahead. How long have you been planning this?”
    “Her leaving was never an option. I’d hoped she’d return on her own. She hasn’t. I don’t like not getting my way.”
    Sanders barked out a laugh. A group of scarred warriors on the edge of the yard turned to look. When they saw Cayan and Sanders, the humor from their expression drained away. Their group broke up almost immediately. Some walked toward the sword fighting area, while others headed towards the town.
    “You’re a buzz kill,” Sanders said as they stopped within the practice yard.
    “You’re the one they’re terrified of.” Cayan didn’t let the smile touch his lips. “There’s a rumor you bit someone’s nose off.”
    “I’m not the only one they’re terrified of. You blast the whole city with that curse of yours. They don’t know what it is, but it hurts, and they know it comes from you.”
    “I’m going to be the first one carted away if the Graygual come calling.”
    “No. You’ll be the reason they come in the first place.”
    Cayan felt all elation drip away at the gravity of that statement. He was the best hope his people had of staying in one piece, but he was also their biggest danger.
    His mind invariably went to Shanti as he nodded at Sanders and made his way to the large park within the city limits. She’d always been balancing on that sword’s blade—her people’s best hope, but their inevitable downfall. She’d carried that unimaginable burden since she was five years old. Shouldered it like a