“The Wild Hunt doesn’t know what your sister looks like,” Thordin rasped. “All I’m saying is that it could be a trap and you should be careful.”
Phelan gave his friend a long, hard look and shook his head slowly. “It’s still better I go out to the arboretum instead of them bringing whoever this is up to camp. It’s warded ground up there and it’s close enough that folks here can respond to a scream.”
“Did you really have to say that?” Jacqueline asked, looking up from Thordin’s bandages. “I was okay with this plan up until you said that, Phelan.”
“There’s nothing to worry about.” He touched Jacqueline’s shoulder and leaned in to steal a quick kiss. “Everything’s going to be fine.”
“You don’t know that for sure,” she whispered.
“Not even Thom and Marin would know it for sure,” he admitted. “But my gut—”
“We’re going on your gut, Phelan?” Thordin frowned darkly. “Sif, go with him.”
From her position next to the door, Sif arched a brow. “Are you giving me orders now?”
Thordin winced and glanced away. “I meant—”
Sif smirked. “Relax. I was already going to shadow his sorry arse. It’s the least I can do.”
“I feel so loved,” Phelan said dryly. “There’s nothing to worry about, I swear.”
“Let us worry anyway.” Jacqueline stood up and took his face in her hands. The kiss she gave him made his heart skip a beat and made him wonder—not for the first time—exactly what he’d done to deserve a woman like her. Phelan wrapped his arms around her waist and held her tight against him through the kiss. She rested her forehead against his when they both came up for air.
“Be careful,” she whispered. “Promise me.”
“Always,” he vowed, kissing her again, more lightly this time. “I swear.”
“Then go,” she said. “And quick, before I change my mind about coming with you.”
Phelan smiled wryly and squeezed her before he let go.
He snagged his staff on his way out the door, Sif trailing in his wake.
Hey, I guessed right. He gets the same kind of “love” my RPG characters tend to get.