I tried not to think about what they might hear.
Eve crouched near the pot, sleeves rolled up, stirring with a stick that had clearly seen better days. “If this kills us,” she said, “I’d like it noted that I tried to feed us before we starved.”
Lionel knelt across from her, fixing a tear in his glove with the kind of focus only guilt could buy. “If it kills us, I’ll haunt you personally,” he said quietly.
“Please. You’d make a terrible ghost.” She smirked at him, tossing a small herb from her bag into the pot. “You’d spend eternity apologizing for bumping into people.”
“I’d try to make a good impression,” he said, lips twitching.
She looked at him for a moment too long, then quickly turned back to the stew. “Don’t.”
Across the fire, Ashley sprawled on her back, boots crossed at the ankles, humming a tune that didn’t match the rhythm of anything. Nate sat beside her, trying—and failing—to carve something out of wood.
“What is that supposed to be?” Ashley asked, peering over his shoulder.
“It’s a horse, maybe,” he said defensively.
“It’s a sad potato with legs.”
“Thank you, I was going forinterpretive art.”
She snorted and turned away, pretending to be unimpressed, but her smile lingered, just for a second. That was, until Jaden slid in beside her, too close, and plucked the wooden creature from Nate’s hands.
“Not bad,” Jaden said, spinning it between his fingers. “Maybe next time, you can make one that actually looks like something.”
Nate narrowed his eyes. “Maybe next time you can find your own log to sit on.”
“Oh, come on,” Jaden drawled, grinning. “Don’t be jealous, man, I’m just making conversation.”
“With your face two inches from hers?” Nate shot back.
Ashley rolled her eyes. “Both of you, please, the forest is already cursed. We don’t need testosterone poisoning, too.”
Jaden laughed, leaning back on his elbows. “You wound me, precious.”
Nate muttered something that sounded suspiciously like ‘I could help with that’, earning a sharp elbow from Ashley.
Eve glanced up from the pot, smirking. “You three need to either walk away or talk it out.”
“Both,” I murmured, earning a quiet snicker from Lionel.
He and I locked eyes briefly, and I could see how tired he was, not just in body, but in heart. The way his shoulders stiffened when Eve teased him. The way he looked away a beat too fast.
She noticed it, too, I think. Because a moment later, she pushed the bowl of stew towards him. “Here, taste it before it gets cold.”
He hesitated, then took it, avoiding any other fingers touching. Something flickered across his face; surprise, maybe. Or hope, the kind you’re afraid to name out loud.
“I didn’t poison it,” she added, lips curving faintly. “Yet.”
“Generous of you.”
“It will keep us all warm at least,” Faelin added, taking her own serving.
For a while, the only sound was the faint bubbling of the pot and Ashley humming again, softer this time. The mistrolled and swayed around us, the forest felt like it could swallow us whole.
“Hey, Ethalyn,” Ashley called, sitting up suddenly. “Truth or dare?”
“Oh, Gods, not this,” I groaned.
