The evening passed quickly, full of calm conversation and warm laughs. My stomach was pleasantly full.
Little Ash squealed, and then giggled with glee. I glanced in his direction.
My stomach bottomed out.Shit!
Hex escaped from their jar, again, and was creeping over the edge of the tiny boy’s plate, absorbing a few grains of leftover rice. The little one was absolutely thrilled, for some reason, clapping his hands and squealing again.
I stood up from as fast as possible, nearly knocking my chair over. I leaned over and tried to scoop Hex up, but they turned to liquid in my grasp, simply dripping back down onto the table. I tried to scoop again but had no luck.
Stubborn familiar.
I gave up and plopped down onto my seat while Hex solidified and continued their rice feast.
Tandor cleared his throat. “Um, that’s Hex,” he said by way of explanation.
“Oh, right,” I said. “That’s my familiar. I’m sorry, they’re very stubborn. And hungry, apparently.”
The parents stared at Hex with expressions somewhere between shock and awe. “Your familiar?” Rune choked out.
I sighed heavily. “Yep. I haven’t really learned how to control them yet. They just sort of… do whatever they want. Just ignore them, that’s what I usually do.” And try to forget they exist, most of the time.
Hex gurgled.
“Huh... Okay then,” Garren said. He clapped his hands together. They shook slightly. “Who’s ready for dessert?”
For such a warm, sunny town, Tidegrove was frigid at night. I flexed my fingers and toes to ensure they hadn’t turned into icicles. Wind howled with a vengeance outside the small cottage-like inn room, looking for a way inside. It pushed against the windows, rattled the walls, sought cracks and weaknesses.
The temperature fell rapidly as the suns slipped past the horizon and the moons took their place, and I was forced to throw my cloak on top of my nightgown as I huddled in the bed for warmth.
There was a tiny hearth in the corner of the room, but it was broken, collapsed from the previous guests. If there was another room to occupy, I would’ve jumped at the chance of a room with a hearth, but the fates were against me.
I shivered so violently my muscles ached—my teeth nearly snapped from their chattering.
Tandor laid on the floor beside the bed with just a pillow, looking annoyingly calm. He had tugged his cloak on as well, but he looked perfectly normal. Not a shiver to be seen.
I remembered how deliciouslywarmhe had been when I’d woken up snuggled next to him in Sunhaven. How his skin radiated heat.Lucky bastard.
My chattering teeth clacked loudly in the relative quiet, echoed only by the whirling wind outside.
I had forgotten how horrendously cold the nights on the coast could be.
I shuddered to think of how cold it would be in the mountains—where snow was constantly on the brink of falling and ice crystals lingered in the air. I would need to purchasesomething warmer to sleep in or find us somewhere with a roaring fire in the hearth.
Clack clack clack.
Even Hex was curled up tightly in the bottom of their jar, cradled in the center of my bag. I had checked on them before crawling into bed to make sure they weren’t frozen solid.
“You sound like a woodpecker.” Tandor’s rich voice drifted up from the floor.
“Sh-shut up,” I stuttered. I clamped my jaw shut to fight the chattering. “I forgot how freezing the coast gets.”
“It’s not so bad.” I heard rustling, like he had turned on his side.
“Th-that’s easy for you to say. You radiate more heat than a fire.”
He chuckled quietly. “It’s an orc thing.”
I pulled the lightweight blanket over my head to try to find more warmth. It didn’t help.
