The rest of the team followed in Sicarius’s wake with Amaranthe and Sespian bringing up the rear. She glanced at him a few times, but he didn’t say anything as they traipsed after the others, not for the first ten minutes anyway.
“ I didn’t expect that of him,” Sespian finally said.
Thinking of Sicarius’s swat, Amaranthe blurted a mortified, “Huh?”
“ I didn’t think he’d risk himself like that,” Sespian said. “Did he know he could win, do you think? Or was he ready to sacrifice himself for us?”
Amaranthe exhaled in relief. If nothing else good came out of this diversion, at least it might have altered Sespian’s image of his father, something that all the talking in the world wouldn’t have done. As she’d seen for herself. “I don’t know what his estimate of the odds was, but I do believe he’d sacrifice himself for you.”
“ That’s… strange.”
“ Dealings with him often are,” Amaranthe said, “but it’s worth cultivating a relationship with him.”
“ In case you ever need an angry band of warriors distracted so you can escape?”
“ Yes, or a pastry shoved up your nose,” Amaranthe murmured to herself with another smile.