Again, Runa scowls. “I don’t share tents with wolves I like anymore.” Her eyes narrow. “I thought you of all people would understand that.”
I nod tightly. Right, of course. She’s doing exactly what I tried to do—choosing a partner she was attracted to, but didn’t think she could ever have feelings for.
I glance sideways at Aurelia. Clearly, that plan hasn’t worked out for me as it did for Runa, and I’m honestly not sure which of us is worse off.
Iwalk at the front of our group for several hours, my shoulders hunched against the biting wind. The cold grows sharper the farther north we travel, until each breath feels like swallowing glass.
I catch myself glancing back at Aurelia every few minutes, watching how she tucks her chin against the wind. Somewhere in the back of my mind, I recognize this obsessive checking is less about her safety and more about my own unraveling.
The cold claws at my skin, dragging me back to Dyaspora with each gust of wind. I remember lying awake on those stone floors, wondering if this would be the night the cold finally took me, even though logically I knew that Fae can’t freeze to death.
Now I keep reminding myself that Aurelia can’t freeze either, but my eyes still track her hunched shoulders, her reddening cheeks. Logic doesn’t stop the visions that flash behind my eyes: her lips turning blue, her body growing still. I can’t stop seeing it.
“Fuck,” Jett swears loudly, over the sound of the wind.
I glance back and my eyes widen. Fuck, is right.
The Fae might not be able to freeze to death, but humans can, and Connell is in serious danger of doing so. He seems on the verge of passing out, his skin red in some places, and so pale it’s almost translucent in others. Jett is gripping both the pirates arms, as if to keep him from slumping over in the snow.
“Why didn’t you say anything?” I demand, striding back to stand beside Jett.
“Hedidn’t say anything,” Jett growls back, almost defensively. “I didn’t realize humans were so fragile.”
I give him an incredulous look. How could he not realize that?
Then again, maybe Jett doesn’t know many humans. He’s younger than me by several decades, and spent most of his life in Dyaspora. It’s possible the only humans he’s ever met are Alix and Connell, who until recently literally could not die.
“It’s too cold for him. He’ll die,” I say flatly.
Jett looks more alarmed than I would have expected. I thought he didn’t like the pirate.
Aurelia's eyes dart nervously between Kai and the other wolves before she rushes to Connell's side. "I can keep him warm.”
Kai's face tightens, and I can see him wrestling with his instinctive aversion to magic. "Go ahead," he finally tells Aurelia.
“I was going to anyway,” she says, already waving her arms in the air as if weaving some kind of invisible web.
He turns to me, voice dropping. "She'll have to stop when we reach the capital. It's outlawed, remember? We're not the only enforcers of that law."
I shift my weight, anxiety riding me as I watch Aurelia work. My gut twists with a strange mix of emotions—I don't particularly care if the human lives or dies, but Jett's face is tight with concern. His fingers keep twitching toward Connell's arm. I wonder if there’s more to it. Maybe Daemon ordered him to keep the human alive at all costs, and he’s afraid of failing because he forgot humans can’t survive in temperatures this far below freezing.
“Alpha!”Kai’s voice calls inside my head.
I turn away from Jett, Connell and Aurelia to glare at Kai.“Don’t fucking call me that.”
He cocks his head.“Is that an order?”
“Fuck off. You’re enjoying this, aren’t you?”
He tries to look serious, but he’s clearly hiding a smile. He shrugs.“Yeah, a bit. That’s not what I needed to tell you, though. We're moving too slowly. We should be there by now.”
“What do you want me to do? They can’t shift and run.”
“I know, but we’re still moving slower than I thought we would. We’ve never been late to report to the queen before, I don’t know what will happen if we miss it.”
“When are you supposed to get there?”
“Dawn.”He glances nervously at the horizon. The sky is still dark and dancing with color, but it does look a tiny bit lighter near the tops of the mountains in the distance.
