I looked down at his hand on my arm. “Move it or lose it.” I looked up at him and met his dark stare. “And don’t call me bunny.”
He grinned. “Why? I bet you bounce nicely on a?—”
I punched him.
His head snapped to the side, clearly not expecting it. I mean… neither had I.
No one moved or said a word. I think a few of those nearby were scared to breathe.
I thinkIwas scared to breathe.
I held Nicco’s gaze and almost fainted when he smiled. It wasn’t anger, not even a warning. It was… enjoyment. And that might have been worse.
Nicco lifted a hand slowly, touching his jaw where I’d hit him. He rolled it once, testing it, then looked back at me. Still smiling.
“Good,” he said softly.
I frowned. “Good?”
“Means you’ve got some bite in you, bunny.” His gaze dragged over my face, assessing, not admiring. “I was starting to think you were all talk.”
“Well, that would’ve made you an idiot,” I snapped. “I get people where they need to go.”
“And if they don’t listen?” he asked.
I held his stare. “Then they don’t make it.”
Something flickered in his eyes then, interest, sharp and quick. Before he could say anything else, the captain stepped forward, clearly deciding he’d had enough.
“That’s enough, both of you,” the captain said, his voice tight. “We don’t need quarrels between ourselves.”
“No, we don’t.” Nicco didn’t look away from me. “From where I’m standing, we’re stuck outside a closed gate, in the middle of a land that’s doing its best to kill us, waiting to find out what’s happening inside that town.”
The silence shifted, no longer frozen, but uneasy.
Captain Marson’s jaw tightened. “That’s what your men are for.”
“Aye,” Nicco said simply.
Sergeant Gralen moved then, his hand resting lightly on the hilt of his blade as he scanned the stone walls of the town.
“Are they always closed, Trailfinder?” he asked me, though it sounded like he was trying to convince himself.
I turned slightly, my gaze dragging over the gates again. There were also no guards visible, no movement along the wall.
Skallfen should have been awake.
Even in this cold, even at this hour, there should have beensomething.
“There should be smoke,” I said quietly.
The captain looked at me. “What?”
“Fires,” I clarified, gesturing toward the walls. “You’d see it from the chimneys. There is always a fire burning in Crystallese. Warmth is always needed.”
We all looked toward the enclosed town. Nothing rose in the dull gray light. Not even a wisp of smoke. Just the pale gray of stone and the slow drift of snow against it.
Baxley and Larana were out of sight now. A prickle slid down my spine. Nicco stepped closer, not touching this time, but close enough that I could feel the heat of him through the cold.
