A dense fog obscured everything beneath.
"Are you alright?" Reese asked. "It sounded like you were being murdered in here."
"It felt like it," Liam panted. "I'd appreciate it if the audience filed out, though."
Screaming like that—I'd woken to it countless times as a child. Nearly every night, Liam had terrible nightmares. Nightmares that had him fleeing into my room and latching onto my arm.
In the pitch black, I'd seen the wrongness in his eyes.
Fog . . . it had appeared in Gwynford, too.
"Liam?" I asked quietly.
"I'm fine," he said harshly. "Or at least I will be, once I'm left in peace."
"Well.” Reese looked amused. "That's my cue to go kick Bláth. Solathair knows she never gets up on her own." He touched my shoulder. "You should be lying down, Sunshine."
Twisting knots of ivy wrapped around my heart as he left the tent. I wasn't willing to admit feeling jealous before, but now . . .
Not even I was clever enough to find an excuse for these feelings.
Fighting away the constricting envy, I focused on my brother. "You haven't had dreams like that in years."
"They've reared their ugly head recently," Liam muttered, smoothing out his raven hair. "Aren't you supposed to be lying down?"
"You never did say what happens in them."
Liam hesitated before answering. "A voice keeps telling me the 'debt must be repaid.' And . . . " He snapped his mouth shut. "And that's all."
"Did you borrow gold from someone?"
"You know I'd just steal coin if I needed it.” He shot to his feet and flipped open his bag. "Speaking of which."
Liam produced a bottle of wine and handed it to me. I ran a hand across the label; this was finely aged spiced wine.
"This is all you took?" I asked.
"Considering the general tried to kill you, I wish I'd stolen more." Liam shrugged. "We can celebrate . . . not being dead, I guess."
I managed a smile for him. "I'll be confiscating this.Thief."
Liam smiled, but he looked tired. As tired as I felt.
Limping outside, I sat on a rock and watched Reese tear down the tents and pack the horses.
I must have dozed off. An impression of the wine's cork dented my cheek when I started awake. Stars dotted the black sky—morning.
There wasn't an ounce of cheer to be had in the camp. Bláth wandered around, distracted. Reese hardly said a word to me as he helped me onto Lady's back and tied off the last of the saddlebags.
I watched the birch trees fly by as we rode east. Toward home.
My heart ached. I wanted this to be over. To be home. For the grief and pain to cease. To stop wondering if I'd done something wrong, or if Reese had realized the same thing I did.
That nothing could pass between us.
I tried to doze, but the saints hated me today. My mind bounced between everything I wanted to forget as we rode through the endless sea of trees.
After what felt like a lifetime, a clearing finally broke up the monotony. I raised my aching head and stared blankly at what awaited us.
