Page 270 of Salt Between the Wolves

"No."

His second exhaled through his nose. "You have become very difficult to have conversations with."

"I was always difficult."

"Not like this."

Soren glanced at him then, and Kael did not look away.

There was no accusation in his expression, only concern hidden badly beneath irritation, and Soren almost preferred accusation.

A sudden ache pulled through his chest, slow and deep, as if something inside him had tightened around an empty space. He kept his face still, but Kael saw it anyway, of course he did.

"Soren."

"It's nothing."

"Don't."

The word came sharper than expected, and Soren looked back across the pass as Kael lowered his voice.

"If this turns tomorrow, you need to be able to stand."

"I will."

"That is not an answer."

"It is the only one I have."

Kael fell silent, but the anger did not leave him.

Below, Frostvein torches shifted as men moved between tents, and a line of riders crossed briefly through the light before disappearing again, orderly and controlled, waiting.

Soren understood the shape of it now.

Vargan had not marched only to take Eira back; he had marched because the world had disobeyed the pattern he trusted. A daughter given a choice should have returned with the correct answer, a political bond should have strengthened bloodline and law, and an Ironfang alpha should have guarded what was placed in his keeping.

Instead, Eira had left Frostvein, then left Ironfang, and now neither father nor husband could say where she was.

No wonder Vargan had brought an army, because it was the only language control had left when certainty failed.

Kael shifted beside him. "What happens if she doesn't come?"

Soren did not move, because the question had been waiting all evening, perhaps longer.

"If she doesn't come," he said, "then she doesn't come."

Kael stared at him. "And then?"

"Then we keep Frostvein from crossing."

"That's not what I meant."

"I know."

A bitter wind swept through the pass, pulling loose snow from the ridge and carrying it between the camps like smoke.

Soren felt the cold less than he should have, and that worried him more than the pain.