“So how did you come to be a blacksmith? It would seem someone who has leadership qualities would have been sent to Merisgale to train as a guard,” Keegan wondered aloud.

“Training takes money that my family did not have. My father died when I was young. Smithing came very natural to me. I’ve always enjoyed working with metals, crafting fine weaponry for those more fortunate than my family. And it put food in mine and my mother’s stomach.” Ronan glanced down at the hard leather boots that Keegan wore. “Those boots alone are worth more than we had to live on in a year.”

Keegan’s eyes widened slightly. “I cannot be blamed for doing well for myself.”

Ronan winced guiltily and shook his head. “No, you cannot,” he agreed. “And you? You have always been a horseman?” Ronan watched as Ula offered the boy some of the dried meat she’d brought along. Her fingers combed at his unruly hair but he did not seem bothered by her fuss.

“Not always. For only the last ten years,” Keegan told him.

“And before that?”

“Those horses saved me from the man I was before that.” The horseman turned, offering no more explanation than that, and headed back toward his own mount. Ronan studied the man as he walked away. It had been easy to hate Keegan Yore when he thought of the wealthy rancher with a suspicious, greedy nature. Seeing him now as more man than ogre, Ronan felt some of the hard edge he’d built up start to chip away.

“Hungry?” Ula was suddenly at his side, offering a couple of strips of dried meat. Ronan took the food and bit into it, eyes dropping to Ula when the flavor of the seasoned meat hit his taste buds. She was waiting for his approval he realized.

“It’s good. How did you cook this?” Ronan asked. “It’s not another piece of that unfortunate rat is it?”

Ula’s mouth curled, creating new wrinkles around her lips. “You wouldn’t know the difference if it was. It’s cow. The secret is to season it with herbs before its dried. I used lavender, salt, and Tesser root.” He raised a brow with surprise and took another bite. He wouldn’t have even have thought of seasoning anything with Tesser root. The smell alone when digging the root was enough to make a man gag.