Excerpt of Fate's Arrow by Michelle Diener

Excerpt from Fate’s Arrow by Michelle Diener  (Rising Wave #3)

“Travelers approaching.” The call went up from the watchers facing east, and Luc strode to the outrider who had returned with the news. Before he reached them, there was a cry of welcome from Pilar.

When Luc reached the two newcomers who had ridden into the camp, they were already out of the saddle, in Pilar’s embrace.

Luc didn’t speak Skäddar, but it was clearly a warm and happy reunion.

“Luc.” Pilar turned to him. “This is Britta and Dragir. They are friends from home.”

They had been riding hard, Luc could see it in the way their horses were breathing, and in the sweat in the riders’ hair.

Which meant bad news.

Luc had yet to find someone who rode through the night to bring good news.

“Trouble?” he asked.

“More strange than immediately dangerous,” Britta said.

“Then see to your horses, set up camp, and wash and eat. When you’re feeling rested, come and find me, and we can talk.”

Both riders gave a nod of thanks at that, and Pilar led them away to help settle them in.

Luc could hear Helmi and Britta laughing together in delight at seeing each other as they moved away.

“Trouble?” Ava asked, when he rejoined her.

She had finished putting the tent up, and he gave a chuckle at how exactly her thoughts followed his own.

He rubbed a hand through his hair. “Probably. Two Skäddar warriors have come with a message. I told them to rest and eat first.”

She nodded, pulling out clothes from the saddle bags she had carried over to their tent. “I’m going to wash off in the river, change, and then eat.”

She took out a needle and thread and a scarf, and bit her lip in concentration as she stitched the corner.

“What does that do?” he asked, always amazed at how effortlessly she seemed to create something beautiful.

The design she’d stitched into the scarf looked like a leaf.

“This should let me wash up in the river without anyone seeing me strip down.” She raised her head. “I won’t have to worry about prying eyes.”

“You could order everyone to look the other way,” he said, and as he knew she would, she scoffed at that.

“I should really just wash with everyone else, but . . .” She looked down at herself.

She was still self-conscious about how much muscle and weight she had lost since she’d been abducted. He knew it, but sometimes, he realized, he didn’t understand how deep it went.

Telling her she was beautiful as she was wasn’t going to help——he had tried that already.

Time would slowly bring her back to how she had been before, but until then, he was prepared to indulge her as much as she needed to be indulged.

“Have you got another scarf for me?” he asked.

She shoved her hand into her pack, rummaging around before she pulled out a second scarf. “You don’t really need it.”

“I quite like the idea of being invisible in the water with you.”

Her head jerked in surprise, as if she’d expected him to push back against her, say exactly what he’d just managed to stop himself from saying. Then she gave a slow smile. “Well, put like that . . .”

She bent her head to stitch a leaf into his scarf. When she lifted her gaze to hand it to him, her eyes were serious. “Thank you.”

“Why are you thanking me?” he asked, lunging forward to scoop her up, shocked as always by the strange lightness in her bones. He let the happy sound of her laughter against his chest lift his spirits as he strode to the river with her tucked close to his heart. “Naked swimming with my queen? It’s me who should be thanking you.”