"I imagine they will try to kill me."
"Yes." I twist to glance up at him. "That doesn't bother you?"
"I said try." He meets my gaze, the flecks of color barely visible in the moonlight. His strong features are like stone, unreadable and shadowed. He cups my cheek in one hand briefly in a sign of reassurance before his attention shifts to the head of the column. "I can fight forty men without a sword."
"I know you like fighting." I face forward. My cheek tingles where his fingers grazed it and I resist the urge to touch the sensitive spot. LF wants me to go with the bad guys. There must be something I need to know or learn. "But did you ever stop to think there are other ways to get what you want aside from brute force?"
"Nay."
At least he's honest. "You could turn me over to them, escape, and bring back the army."
"Nay." This time, it's a growl.
"They want my magic, right? I can use it against them, or if it won't work again, I can string them along."
"If you failed to do as the Desert Knight bid you, he will torture and murder you."
"There's that. But . . ." I seek some rationale that might make him understand.
"But . . ." he prods.
"But . . . I'm not pure," I whisper. "And the warrior queen Naia had her magic after she . . . you know. Bonded with her Shadow Knight. They can't risk hurting me, if they want me to use my magic, and if they do, they're in for a nasty surprise."
"I wish 'twas so. The warrior queen held many secrets known only to my bloodline," he says in the same hushed tone. "No one knew she retained her magic but the Desert Knight and the Shadow Knight. They were brothers who inherited parts of their father's kingdom. Both had a claim to the battle-witch, but she loved Black Moon Draw over Brown Sun Lake. The Desert Knight of long ago slaughtered his brother and the warrior queen then placed one of his two sons as the Knight of Black Moon Draw. Thus the first Shadow Knight of this era became my ancestor."
"Brothers," I repeat. "Both in love with the battle-witch."
"Aye. 'Tis why the original blood feud ran so deep. I do not know how much the current Desert Knight of Brown Sun Lake knows of the warrior queen and her secrets, but I must assume the knowledge was passed to him as it was me."
"Which makes him a lot more dangerous to me than any other Knight."
"Aye. You will not face him alone."