"Both can be true." He stepped closer. "Can I see your hand?"
"You're asking this time?" I raised an eyebrow.
"What is that supposed to mean? You grabbed me, if you recall."
"You assaulted me."
"Assaulted?" Ferris spun to face me with indignation. "I misread the moment, that's all. Or, more likely, you were simply restraining yourself because you know our love would be forbidden."
"Why would it be forbidden?"
He stared at me in disbelief. "Because we're different races?"
Oh. I thought so little outside my home city, I'd forgotten the greater laws of the Empire.
"You think too highly of yourself," I said, folding my arms. "I have greater aspirations than roguish skirt-chasers."
"Heh.” Ferris looked away.
I thought I saw something in his expression—a smile, flickering and fading.
Maybe he didn't think highly of himself at all.
"Anyways.” Ferris extended his hand. "May I?"
Curiosity gnawed at my insides. Many people had touched me, skin to skin. My parents, my brother. Servants. A brush of the hands when passing someone a drink. Ishida and other lords who had visited our manor.
No one's touch had ever flung me into another world before. I wanted to see it again. To spend long enough wandering down the stretch of calm waters to see where it led.
And why.
A flash of white distracted me. Long wings soared over my head, and a heron landed on the road.
I knew this bird. Its wings had an odd blue patterning, like frost clinging to the silver grass outside the city.
It looked even more out of place here than it had in Kentoro.
Ferris' head snapped up, staring at the roof sill across the street. "Shit. He never heralds anything good."
"Who?" I asked. "The bird?"
Ferris' eyes widened. "You can see it?"
Before I could respond, a horn sounded somewhere to our south.
That was our horn.
I turned to sprint, but Ferris caught my arm and pulled me back. "Wait!" He glanced at the inn door. "Reese will be out here in a moment, and if I run off again, he'll skewer me."
I ceased struggling against his grip. Sprinting headlong toward a war horn with a Paragon in tow was a better idea than going alone.
The inn door flew open, and Reese dashed out, swinging a black cloak around his shoulders. "Ferris!" He called in surprise. "I can't believe you're still here."
"I live to surprise people," Ferris said, releasing me.
"I wish you didn't." Reese sighed, glancing back. Lady Rohan staggered through the door, trying to rake her hair into a braid. "You three, stay behind me."
The white-haired Paragon fell into step with me as we hurried down the street. She shivered violently. "Are the men from Minsawa here?"
