Page 67 of A Sea of Fate and Starfire

I glanced at the sun, currently losing in a contest of strength against the clouds. It cut through the sky in thin streaks, one of which Kye had planted me directly in the center. I should have felt it, that comforting hum of warmth where it touched. The top of my forehead, my arms, my collarbones. Even in direct sun, I felt as though I stood in a shadow.

“No,” I answered, determined not to shiver.

Pheolix lifted his nose to the air. “Might rain soon.”

Selena nodded. “If it does, it does. I’ll take care of this,” she said, taking the flint and knife from Kye. “Go warm her up.”

He left the flint with her, stripping his shirt off with a lazy hand and crawling under the fur behind me. I shuddered when my skin touched him, his chest still cold from the water, but he drew me in, hiking my dress up my back so that his body heat would become mine.

“Hollow fucking sun,” he swore softly, glancing across the fire. “Is there another pelt under Kolibri’s saddle?”

Hadrian turned to go look.

“Careful to not look it in the eyes,” Kye warned him.

“Hush,” I warned, my mouth threatening to curve. He sat his chin over the top of my head.

“How long will we stay?” Diara asked, hiking the strap of her bow over her shoulder.

I squinted at the sun’s dull shape behind the clouds. “Not long. I just need to warm up. I don’t want to lose daylight.”

But even as I said it, I felt foolish. The sun straddled the clouds like a low-hanging hammock over the horizon, and it didn’t take a Leihaniian, who read the sun and stars like a bedtime story, to understand eventide was quickly approaching. Worry inched from the backwaters of my mind like a quiet whirlpool.

Would I have to halt our progress back to Calder every day?

Hadrian reached across me, Kolibri’s thick fur pad hanging from his hand, already dried from Cebrinne’s call. Kye took it from him, pulling me into his lap to lay it flat on the grass. I flinched as my entire side connected to his stomach, every bit as cold as I felt, and nurtured a pang of guilt that I’d brought him along just to freeze underwater as we traveled.

“Long enough that I might catch something?” Diara asked.

Nose rosy from the bite of wind, Aren rubbed his hands together over the crackling fire. “Tired of dried meat, Verrata?” Diara’s narrowed eyes slithered over our shrinking satchel of supplies, her rosebud mouth pursed at Aren’s use of her family name.

“Yes,” Diara said, twisting her long braid behind her. “Are you coming?”

Aren straightened in surprise, along with the rest of us. But she wasn’t looking at him. Hands on her hips, she waited for an answer from Hadrian. He’d found our community cooking pot and, filling it with river water, had just set it into the fire.

“Y—yes,” the crown prince said. Holding a pouch of dried tea leaves, he shot Kye a rigid glance, like he’d suddenly forgotten why his hands were attached to his body.

Kye waved him on, holding out his hand for the leaves. “Hot tea?” he offered me, though he’d already begun wriggling out from behind me to finish what Hadrian had started.

Pheolix sat close to me, Selena’s porcelain cup in his hands. I’d caught myself staring at his eyes, often flinging my gaze elsewhere before remembering he couldn’t possibly catch me watching him. Even so, he seemed to know. Some intuitive notion within me nudged that he was more aware of his surroundings than the rest of us.

He leaned toward me, dropping his voice conspiratorially. “He might be prettier than the horse. But I’ll bet the horse is warmer.”

I didn’t attempt to hide my smile with him. “Probably true.”

“My Queen,” Aitne said, squatting low beside me. “I’d like to try warming your blood.”

I blinked, curious that I hadn’t considered doing so myself. “All right.”

Cebrinne and Selena glanced over their shoulders at the young Naiad. “Go slowly,” Selena warned. “Blood warming can force cold blood back to her heart and cool her more.”

“Aitne knows circulation,” Olinne said smoothly. She brushed her pale curls out of her face, twisting her hair behind her, and crawled under my furs, taking Kye’s place. I almost melted into her when she pulled me in close, her heat as luxurious as the waters of Leihani, and my eyes closed in sudden exhaustion.

Aitne pressed her palm above my chest, and on my next inhale, warmth bloomed out from under her hand. It spread like a calm, soothing fire through my veins. I flexed my hands and feet against the small needling sting as heat returned to my fingers and toes.

Steam percolated near my nose, a warm cup held out. I took it from Kye, breathing in the earthy notes of Hadrian’s tea leaves, tilting the rim into my mouth. Kye poured bubbling water into a second cup. Aren had pulled a whetstone from his pocket to sharpen a boot knife. Nori withdrew our map from a beeswax cloth, laying it dry at her feet. Aegir fed Kolibri a bundle of the dry grass, to which she nibbled half-heartedly, the frost having stolen most of its flavor. But she enjoyed the sound of his voice, her tail swaying softly as she listened to him.

Cebrinne sat at his feet, coasting her fingers through the fluffy spikes of inflorescence, plucking the soft grass heads from their stalks. Every few minutes, our eyes crossed, both of us glancing away. I couldn’t help but hear the echo of her words in the house of night. I know you think you were a consolation to a bid for freedom.