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He paused and everyone applauded, shouting well-wishes to a beaming Evert. His mates nudged him from all sides. “And Pernilla... our sweet Pern. Our eldest. The light of our days and the joy of our nights. When she met Drago, we thought...” He laughed ahead of his joke. “Poor, poor man.”
Tyr laughed along with everyone else. Nessa joined in, clapping.
Drago winked at Pernilla, who scrunched her nose, trying not to laugh.
“But at last our Pern had found a man who could hold his own with her. They’ve built a family, expanding both of ours. And now that love of family takes them on a pilgrimage to the once-homeland of the Vjestik, and Drago’s people. They join several dozen other Vjestik in their quest to rebuild their old community and create another haven for their descendants. We wish them nothing but success, love, and joy in their endeavors.”
The trouble began as a discordant flutter in Tyr’s chest but then spread into his shoulders and down his arms. He stretched and twisted, but it didn’t go away.
When the applause and shouting died down, Pernilla quipped, “Not going to askusto remember you ‘wee folk,’ Father?”
Tyr’s neck was on fire. He adjusted his collar and shifted, abruptly uncomfortable in his clothing.
“Oops. Caught me.” Olov shrugged to more laughter.
Tyr rushed to the bar and poured an ale, then downed it in one sip. He tried to catch his breath.
Nessa was at his side seconds later. “What’s wrong?”
The fire had spread down into his torso, and his breaths came shorter now. He was ravenous for air. He clawed at his neck, praying no one else had seen the panic stealing over him.
Nessa straightened. She looked around and looped an arm around his shoulder. “Come on.”
Tyr tried to askwhereorwhat, but she was already ushering him through the back. She didn’t stop until they stumbled out into the cool evening.
He fell to his knees, gasping in a hungry lungful of air. His raspy, strained breathing didn’t slow to an even pace until Nessa dropped down behind him and encircled him from behind, whispering, in a painfully familiar, soft voice, “I have you, Tyreste. Just breathe.”
Ana ushered Tyreste up the small hill behind the tavern, to the edge of the forest line. She remembered the Penhallows had built a table underneath some massive firs sheltering a small open area that had been cleared. They hosted public events in the tavern, but private family time was held in the forest, when the weather allowed.
She ushered him up onto the table and then wandered the area, searching for kindling and logs that weren’t too wet. She found neither, and the fire pit was a mess of blackened logs and ash, but beside it was an old stack of twigs. It might burn, but not for long.
I can’t stay anyway, or Magda will get suspicious.
She’d already eased his suffering with her hands in the tavern, then some more on the short walk, but he didn’t need to know that. As far as Tyreste was concerned, Nessa was the opposite of Ana. No magic. No fire. No troubles.
Tyreste shivered, hunched over his knees with a gentle rocking motion. She hadn’t thought to grab his cloak on the way out, but she was still wearing hers—having planned a swift and uneventful exit from the party—and she draped it over the back of him, ignoring his mumbled objections about her freezing to death.
“I’m not that delicate. Vjestik carry the blood of the wulf,” she said and hoisted herself beside him. She drew her knees up.
“How did you know about this place?” His teeth clacked between words.
Shit.“I didn’t... I just started walking and it was here.”
Tyreste’s eyes narrowed in soft confusion.
“What happened back there?” she asked, diverting him.
Tyreste shook his head over the tops of his knees without looking up.
“We don’t have to speak,” Ana said and turned her face upward. Boughs of fir bent over the top of them, revealing flashes of the night sky. She’d been to the spot with Tyreste before, but only on walks. She’d never been invited to any of his family affairs.
Anahadn’t been invited. It brought her no joy to discover he’d been perfectly happy for “Nessa” to bond with his family.
Tyreste sniffed and pitched backward. He breathed out slowly, then in for a long inhale, and repeated this several times before turning his head to the side to smile weakly at her. “You really helped me. Thank you.”
“I didn’t do anything,” Ana said with a demure smile.
“Can I ask you, Nessa... Why are you here?”
