sheets of ice. With luck, morning would bring thawing temperatures. She just had to survive the night.

“ Now there’s a unique fashion style.” Maldynado jogged out of the forest and waved toward her boots, or perhaps he was noting the lack of anything except boots.

“ Fashion,” Evrial said, irritated by her chattering teeth, “has never been a pri-priority for me.” She tried a haughty sniff, but her nose was running, and it sounded more like she was trying to tame wild phlegm. “If you don’t like my outfit-”

“ Oh, no. I approve.” Though the darkness hid his face, he winked. She was sure of it. “Come, my lady.” Maldynado extended an arm. “Time to get cozy for a spell.”

“ I suppose there’ll b-be touching.” Evrial couldn’t manage her usual grumble for that word, not with frostbite threatening. She stumbled into Maldynado’s proffered arm and was fortunate that he caught her. She wanted to protest when he swept her off her feet and against his chest again, but it seemed like too much work. Besides, her trembling body betrayed her by snuggling closer.

“ Only in a medically approved manner,” Maldynado said solemnly. “Unless you decide you require vigorous exercise to warm your blood.”

“ What I require is a big furry blanket.”

“ If you wanted furry, you should have been stranded with Books.”

“ What’s that supposed to mean?”

“ Just that I’m perplexed as to why he’s always accusing me of being the one with simian ancestry.” Maldynado stopped before a sheltered nook between two huge gnarled roots protruding from the base of an ancient cedar. He set her down and waved to a pile of boughs stacked in the hollow. “These will be almost as nice as blankets. Cozy branches with the snow shaken free.”

“ Cozy, huh?” Evrial wrapped her arms around her torso and squatted, gingerly resting her rump on the pile. Meanwhile Maldynado shucked his wet clothing. There wasn’t much to see in the dark, and she found herself regretting that, though she made a show of settling herself in on the branches. She certainly didn’t want him to think she was watching.

“ Comfortable?” Maldynado tugged his boots off.

“ The water dripping from my hair down my back is like icicles licking my skin, my shoulder feels like feral cats are biting their way out from the inside, and there are frozen pine needles stabbing my nether regions.” And she wished he’d hurry up and join her. If she got any colder, she’d turn into an icicle herself.

“ So, that’s a no?”

Evrial snorted.

“ Just checking. You’re tough; you might appreciate those sorts of hardships.”

Maldynado slid into the nook, distracting Evrial from whatever retort she might have come up with. He lifted an arm, hesitated, started to put it around her, then ended up propping his hand on the ground behind her. His arm barely touched her back.

“ What’s that supposed to do to keep us warm?” Evrial asked.

Too cold to worry about modesty, she flung her legs over his, crawled into his lap, wrapped her arms around his torso, and buried her face in his shoulder. She hoped he’d get the idea and return the embrace, because the shivers coursing through her were threatening to shake her teeth out of her jaw.

Maldynado hesitated again, but finally encircled her with his arms. “Sorry, I’m damp.”

“ Isn’t the woman supposed to say that?” Evrial asked before she could think better of uttering the silly line.

Several heartbeats thumped past-she and Maldynado were pressed close enough that she could feel them- before he said, “Uhhh. Normally I’d say yes, and that there shouldn’t be an apology with the statement, but… was that a joke?”

“ Maybe.”

“ I haven’t heard you make one before. You’re almost as humorle-, er, taciturn as Sicarius.”

Evrial didn’t have a response for that. Being compared to a cold-hearted assassin stung, but could she blame him? She knew it was partially true, that she was on the blunt side, but…

Evrial thought of Amaranthe’s suggestion that she lower her defenses, and that maybe Maldynado would lower his in turn. “Sorry,” she said. “I’m not always so… grouchy. It’s just that when I first met you people, you were clearly The Enemy.”

“ Me?” Maldynado sounded so innocent she almost laughed.

“ I thought I was done with you all until, months later, Lokdon showed up on my family’s doorstep with her assassin. That got me in trouble with my family, and my brother reported the visit to my commander, so I’m not sure if I’ll have a job when I get back. For all I know, there’ll be a wanted poster hanging in headquarters, right alongside of Sicarius’s. I went down to Forkingrust against my better judgment, largely because I felt compelled to help the emperor, though I clearly saw Lokdon manipulating me into that situation. Part of it, too, was that I guess I hoped that by helping him, I’d end up with another recommendation or commendation that would erase suspicion back home. But as it turns out, he’s not the emperor, and now I’m running around with outlaws with no hope of having those suspicions cleared, and I fear I’ll dig myself into deeper trouble by being with you. I don’t particularly want to see this Ravido of yours on the throne, but I’m not convinced we have any right to pick who does take the throne.” Evrial sank deeper against Maldynado’s chest, worn down by the long ramble. She hadn’t meant to say-to reveal — so much. Especially not to someone who was as likely to make a joke out of it all as anything.

“ All right,” Maldynado said, “I can see some reasons for grumpiness in there, but… are you not having any fun at all? That train fight was exhilarating. Especially the part where we survived it.”

Evrial may have cringed at the idea of a joke, but somehow his actual words lightened her heart, and, her face once again buried in his shoulder, she laughed. Curse Amaranthe, maybe she’d been right about that as well. Maybe she did need more humor in her life.

“ I won’t try to tell you what to do,” Maldynado said, “but I’d be terribly put out if you wandered off and left us, leaving me with only Books to trade barbs with. He’s been too busy for it of late anyway, what with his political scheming. Oh, you should ask him about it, if you can stand a lecture. That might help you make up your mind about whether you want to back our efforts or not. Knowing Books, he wants to do something noble, democratic, and tormented-dead-ancestors boring.”

Evrial lifted her face from Maldynado’s shoulder. That actually… wasn’t a bad idea. If she knew what Amaranthe and the others wanted to replace Ravido with, she might know if this should be her fight or not.

Though night hadn’t relinquished its grasp, her eyes had long since adjusted to the dim lighting, and she could tell Maldynado was watching her. However offhandedly he’d said it, that he didn’t want her to leave… it meant something. She didn’t know exactly what yet, nor did she want to examine the feeling too closely, but she lifted her hand to his hair, letting her fingers trace the contours of his muscular back on the way. She probably should have chosen a moment when his wavy brown locks weren’t crunchy with ice to touch them, but one had to act when inspired. And, though she’d never admit it to him, sitting on the lap of someone who, despite his comrades’ teasing to the contrary, did have a physique that would be very flattering if immortalized in statue forum, was quite… inspiring.

“ You’re wiser than you let on, Maldynado,” Evrial said.

“ Mmhmm, remember those kind thoughts when you’re sitting through hour three of Books’s explanation.” Though he said the words casually, his body had grown very still; he scarcely seemed to be breathing. Surely Lord Cocky and Confident wasn’t having doubts about what to do next? “How’s your shoulder?” he asked.

“ It wasn’t that big of a quarrel, and I pulled it out right away.”

“ Does that mean the feral cats have quieted down, or you’re just too tough to be bothered by them?”

It meant she wanted him to stop talking and kiss her. She couldn’t quite bring herself to blurt that out though. Even though she was ninety-nine percent certain he wouldn’t reject her, she still feared he’d lose interest after he achieved that goal he’d been pursuing. That would hurt. A lot. But he’d saved her life tonight. She owed him something for that.

Oh, please, Evi, she thought. He was gorgeous, adorable, and who wouldn’t be curious to know if all that supposed experience of his equated to masterful bed play? Besides, those frozen pine needles had been the most interesting things to poke her nether regions in she didn’t know how long.

“ My shoulder is better,” Evrial said. “How are… your love apples?”

The strangled noise that came from Maldynado’s throat might have been a laugh or an exclamation of

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