The Daylight War (The Demon Cycle, #3)

by Peter V. Brett

Leesha moved over to Gared, dropping her voice. “Gared, if the count tries to give you a title and a uniform, don’t accept right away.” “Why not?” Gared said, not bothering to keep her hushed tones. “Because you’d be giving away our army, you idiot,” Rojer said, coming up on his other side. His voice, too, was too low for the others to hear. Gared turned an angry glare the Jongleur’s way. “Just a big joke to you, too, ent I? Warded Man told me to keep you safe while he was gone, Rojer. I swore by the sun and promised I would. Stood in the way of charging demons and Krasians and Creator knows what else to keep it.” He loomed forward suddenly, and the smaller man, his bearing so proud a moment before, shrank back from the sheer menace of his presence. “But he never told me I had to eat yur shit, and you been takin’ a lot of liberty. Way I see it, him back in town means my promise is kept and done. Watch yur own back from now on, you crippled little runt. And next time you call me idiot? Gonna put your teeth out.” He licked two fingers and held them up high enough to catch the sun topping the count’s walls. “Swear by the sun.” “Gared,” Leesha said carefully, as Rojer stood shocked. “You have every right to be angry about how we’ve taken you for granted, and for my part, I’m sorry. I blame you for everything wrong in my life sometimes, but truer is, you didn’t do anything a million other boys haven’t done. I forgive you. You’ve made up for it many times over.” Gared grunted. “...