I didn’t tell her I couldn’t sleep. That I planned to search for her if she didn’t come back soon.
Instead, I tugged her blanket until it overlapped mine.
She sank down with a sigh. Her cheek was painted with hornleaf paste, so Nikella must have found her. I hoped her wounds didn’t pain her as mine did. I still didn’t know how she’d gotten the one on her cheek, but I prayed to the Four that he was as dead as the Wolf I’d killed for cutting her back.
Kiera curled onto her side and tucked herself against me like she had on the road here.
My arm twitched as if to pull her closer, but I resisted. She hadn’t wanted my embrace earlier. She might not now.
But even just sharing her warmth and having her next to me, to know she was safe, eased my mind.
And hers as well, it seemed, because she drifted off before I did.
I dreamed of fire and arrows, then nothing.
When I woke, the first rays of dawn were piercing the valley.
Something tickled my chin. I glanced down—and smiled. Kiera had rolled over in her sleep and nestled her face into myneck. Her hair—tugged from its braid—caught on my unshaven jaw.
Her beautiful, scarred fingers curled into my shirt collar as if seeking more heat. One of her legs lay atop mine, just below my throbbing stab wound.
My traitorous arm had gotten what it wanted in my sleep by curving around her waist.
I wished we could stay like this for hours more. This was simple and easy. I could almost trick myself into believing she hadn’t spent the last few months lying to me. Our bodies sought the comfort they’d shared in Aquinon. But our hearts? Shielded as ever.
Around us, the camp was waking up. A few Dags stirred the bonfire coals and added fresh wood.
Maz, still covered in blood, stepped around the sleeping warriors and cooking fires. He spotted Kiera in my arms and gave me a tired grin, which didn’t quite reach his sad eyes.
“Figured that’d happen sooner rather than later,” he said. Thank the gods he spoke quietly enough not to rouse her.
“It’s not what you think,” I murmured, slowly rolling Kiera back onto her blanket.
“Sure it isn’t,” he muttered, combing his fingers through his dirty beard. “I need a fucking bath.”
“You and me both, brother.”
Bereft of Kiera’s sleepy limbs, I rose unsteadily from my bedroll. Blood rushed back into numb places. My wounds throbbed, but I ignored them.
“Is it time? I asked.
Maz swallowed hard and nodded. My gaze lingered on Kiera for another moment before I followed Maz.
A chilly mountain breeze that smelled of snow nipped at my cheeks and tried to burrow under my torn clothes. But I’d be covered in sweat soon enough.
We walked past the ashen village to the riverbank. Last night, we’d moved as many of the dead as we could to the shore and wrapped them in shrouds. The bodies laid on the pebbles like odd pieces of cargo, ready for loading.
Jek, along with other Dags, including Sigrid and Yarina, beached the longboats we’d salvaged.
Silently, we placed the bodies into the boats.
I tried to steel my heart against the sensation, but carrying bodies was something I would never grow used to. Despite the number of times I’d done it.
When I scooped up a young boy who couldn’t have been much older than Ruru, something cracked in my chest, filling it with pain.
Fucking Four, watch over Ruru, because I can’t.
My arms trembled as I nestled the boy in the boat with the other bodies. But I went back for another. And another. Until the boats were full.
