Chapter 19 · Frontier Lord - Chapter 19: No Coin for the Gate

Rain was already at the gate when Ava got there.

He wasn't pacing. He was standing perfectly still, one hand on the fence post, the other loose at his side. The kind of still that made her stomach drop. She'd seen it once before—the night a refugee tried to steal grain from the storehouse. Rain had gone quiet like this, and the man had confessed before anyone even asked.

She slowed her steps. "Rain."

He didn't look at her. His eyes were locked on the road beyond the gate, where a cluster of shapes moved in the dim pre-dawn light. Four people. Maybe five. Hard to tell with the mist rolling off the fields.

"They're early," Rain said. His voice was flat.

Ava stepped up beside him, close enough that her shoulder almost brushed his arm. The air between them felt tight, like something was about to snap. "Who?"

"Merchant scouts." He tilted his head, and she caught the muscle working in his jaw. "Northern route. I know the colors."

She squinted at the approaching group. One of them carried a pole with a pennant—