I grinned at him. “And you think I do?” I shook my head and grew sober. “I don’t know. Some women don’t ride at all when they are carrying. Some do. I think Kettricken would not put Verity’s child at risk. Besides. She is safer with us here than left behind with Regal.”
Burrich said nothing, but I sensed his assent. It was not all I sensed.
We hunt together again at last!
Quietly! I warned him with a sideways glance at Burrich. I kept my thoughts tiny and private. We go far. Will you be able to keep pace with the horses?
Over a short distance they can outspeed me. But nothing outdistances the trotting wolf.
Burrich stiffened slightly in his saddle. I knew Nighteyes was off to the side of the road, trotting through the shadows. It did feel good to be out and alongside him again. It felt good to be out and doing things. It was not that I rejoiced at Neatbay being attacked; it was that at last I would have a chance to do something about it, even if it was only to clean up whatever was left standing. I glanced over at Burrich. Anger radiated from him.
“Burrich?” I ventured.
“It’s a wolf, isn’t it?” Burrich spoke grudgingly into the darkness. He looked straight ahead as we rode. I knew the set of his mouth.
You know I am. A grinning, tongue-lolling reply.
Burrich flinched as if poked.
“Nighteyes,” I admitted quietly, rendering the image of his name into human words. Dread sat me. Burrich had sensed him. He knew. No point in denying anything anymore. But there was a tiny edge of relief in it as well. I was deathly tired of all the lies I lived. Burrich rode on silently, not looking at me. “I did not intend for it to happen. It just did.” An explanation. Not an apology.