By the time I’d finished my meager bread and huma, I was nodding off and the sun hadn’t even set.Nize and Kintle were already moving about the perimeter and the rest of the team looked as sleepy as I.I settled down on my bedroll and looked up at the sky.Soon the stars would be out.Would I be able to see them tomorrow night under the canopy of the trees?Would I be alive tomorrow night?We’d seen no signs of Hollows today, but I couldn’t forget that the cadet at the last outpost said they’d taken one down only a few days before.
We were not safe here.
I must have closed my eyes and fallen asleep because the next thing I knew someone was speaking low in my ear.“Lift your legs,” he said.
My eyes fluttered open, and Taio was there.“Lift your legs,” he said again, pulling my bedroll out from under them and over me.I was cold, and the bedroll was warm from the heat of my body.“Yes?”he asked.
“Thank you,” I murmured.
He moved away, and I heard him rustling something beside me.Then his heavy coat settled over me, and I sighed at the warmth and the scent of it.I felt safe and cozy.Taio lay down beside me, tugging some of the coat over himself.I was more awake now, wondering what he would do next.We were covered by the coat.Would he try and touch me?Kiss me?
But he didn’t reach for me, even though I almost wished he would.I wondered what his hand would feel like against mine.What would it be like to kiss him?Did Zulenii kiss the same way we did?
“Go to sleep, Mara,” he murmured.“Omira will wake you soon enough.”
I closed my eyes, then opened them again and turned my head toward the center of the group.Directly across from me was Gaz.His eyes were open and fastened on me.It was too dark now to read his expression, but I didn’t need to see him to know he was angry.
***
WHEN OMIRA SAID MYname, I came awake slowly.My eyes fluttered open as she moved away, and I became aware that Nize and Kintle were both settling under their bedrolls.No one else moved or stirred.
I tried to rise but something was holding me in place.For a moment, I felt confused.Then I realized Taio had his arm slung over my waist.Somehow during the night, I’d turned on my side and he’d pulled me against his chest.I was now pleasantly warm and comfortable against his sleeping body.
My face flushed hotly, even though no one could see how close we were under the cover of his coat.My gaze went to Gaz, but he lay on his back, one arm flung up over his head, obviously deeply asleep.
Omira snapped and hissed my name, and I reluctantly pushed Taio’s arm off me and clambered out from under my warm nest.I stumbled to the edge of the clearing and took the flask Omira held out for me.I drank and pushed my hair out of my face.I started and touched my hair, searching for my hair binding.
“What is it?”Omira murmured.
“Nothing,” I said.“I thought I’d left my hair plaited when I went to sleep.”
She made a sound that indicated she’d heard me, then walked to the edge of the clearing and faced the forest.I plaited my hair again, found a binding tied about my wrist, then made a circuit of the clearing, keeping far enough from the sleeping members of the team so as not to wake them.
Insects chirped, and at one point, I thought I might have heard an owl hoot.Nothing else stirred.The breeze wafted over me, cold enough to make me shiver.I refused to look longingly at the warm bed where Taio slept.Instead, I sniffed the breeze and smelled nothing but pine needles and underneath that a heavy dampness...water?Was a storm coming?Or perhaps a stream was nearby.
“Clear?”Omira asked when I passed her.
“Yes.You?”
“Clear,” she whispered.
We did our circuit again.The walking kept me awake and alert as well as warm enough that I wasn’t shivering.A couple more hours, though, and my fingers would be like icicles.I couldn’t decide if I would rather make this trek during the warm wet season, where we’d probably be caught in downpours daily and sweating in the steamy humidity, or cold but dry as we were now.I flexed my fingers to warm them and glanced at Taio and my warm bedroll.
“You will be back beside him soon enough,” Omira said.I hadn’t heard her come up behind me.
“That wasn’t what I was thinking.”
She shrugged and looked at the forest, her gaze intent and searching.“At least you weren’t staring at your lover.”
“Gaz is not—”
“He watches you all the time.Taio would rip his eyes out if he could.I would be amused if I didn’t think one of us needed to be looking out for danger.”
I stared at her.“First of all,” I hissed.“I am always on guard for danger.”
She snorted.
“I am.Secondly, Gaz is not my lover and never has been.”Taio’s arrival made certain of that.
