Why Are We Mates?

*Ryatt*

It doesn’t take long for word to spread about what happened at the auction. Especially since I burned it to the ground once all of my men and women were safely out of the building and scattering toward the outskirts of Twin Rivers.

I sent Amanda and Ella with Granger. He’d take them back to the camp we established in the forest, a place tucked several miles from the winding, derelict road leading toward my father’s territory.

Quinn, however, stands beside me at a market stall, her hood shielding half of her face in shadow.

“I take it you’re staying,” I say to her under my breath as I pick through a variety of produce laid out in woven baskets.

“Someone needs to stay behind and watch the Silver Bridge,” she says in a low rasping whisper. Quinn picks up an apple and bites into it, much to the annoyance of the man selling the produce. She flips a small coin in his direction and turns to me. “You’re sure about this? Keeping her?”

“You act like she’s some wild animal I mean to