Irian moves to enter the room. I hold him back. We can’t see the spears from here.
“Stop being so trusting,” I hiss. “Things have obviously changed while you were excommunicated.”
“As you wish.” He steps back.
“Send someone out, unarmed, and we can talk,” I call back.
“Of course,” the voice from inside replies. There are footsteps and a man appears in the doorway, hands behind his head. It’s Bates. He stops carefully out of arm’s reach, before he could be considered a threat. “As you can see, I’m unarmed.”
“I thought you might have died on the plains,” I say.
Recognition registers on his face, but not surprise. “Ah, d**k. We almost did. I see you survived as well. Ristoph was furious.”
So he is still alive. Damn it. “I can’t say I blame him,” I reply. Beside us, Kerrin is looking fr
