"You look terrible," his uncle said finally.
"I fought for almost two weeks," Jolthar replied by way of explanation.
Caelum's eyes widened fractionally — the first genuinely uncontrolled reaction Jolthar had seen from him.
"Then you need rest," Caelum said, and the statement contained a command beneath its surface.
He looked at Haryntha briefly, assessing, clearly noting her divine-touched nature without commenting on it.
"Come. We have a camp with proper defenses and supplies."
He turned and walked back toward the Kaezhlar position, not waiting to see if Jolthar would follow because apparently it didn't occur to him that Jolthar wouldn't.
Jolthar watched his uncle's retreating back for a moment.
Then he followed, with Haryntha beside him, into the complicated territory of a family encountered in the last place either of them had expected to find it.
*
