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She gave him a sweet, sympathetic look of pity, but he still didn’t get the joke.

With a sigh, she pushed Calcifer’s limp bulk out of the way. Then, sliding off the bed, socked feet and bare legs emerged from underneath her. She’d changed into an oversized, cream-coloredsweater that drooped off one shoulder and swallowed the rest of her body.

It was his, obviously. And try as he might, he couldn’t quite muster the same irritation he used to feel when she pillaged his closet. She’d rearranged everything, most likely, and he would spend the next few days hunting for his shirts. But still—something in him liked it. Her, wrapped up like she belonged to him.

Her arms slipped around his neck when she was close enough. His hands found her waist immediately, tracing the curves he’d memorized in dreams. The thin, worn fabric of his sweater let him feel so much more than the heavy winter layers that had kept them apart until now.

“Em.” She said his name in a tone that meant he was very stupid. “We just came from a mystical palace filled with infinite resources to an island with no supply chains, no army, and no communication with the outside world. And you really thought I only packedonebag?”

He didn’t have a response to that, so he pinched her, low on her hip, just to hear her squeak. She flinched into him, pushing their bodies together in ways he didn’t mind one bit.

“I’m going to need you to explain this one to me,” he said. “How exactly did you become the world’s best smuggler?”

Taly bit her lip, thinking. “Have I explained pocket universes to you yet?” He shook his head. “Okay, time is like a tapestry, yada yada, where every moment is a combination of threads carefully woven together. When I create a pocket universe, I’m essentially pulling out a single loop of one of those threads to create a gap in the Weave. Like a pocket. Inside, I can store items.”

She removed an arm from around his neck to hold out a hand. As if from thin air, a strudel dusted with chunks of rocksugar fell into it. She took a bite, then held it up for him to do the same.

“It’s still hot,” he said, puffing around the molten sugarberry filling.

“I stored them right after they came out of the oven.” She took one last bite before giving him the rest to finish, which he did happily. Sugar was already becoming hard to find.

“How much can you carry?”

“I don’t know,” she said. “I haven’t hit any item limits yet. If one pocket fills up, I just open another one. The bigger issue is remembering what I’ve stored and where. I’m still working on building an indexing system.”

A hint of glee shimmered in her eyes. Leave it to Taly to get excited about organizing things.

“So, you can just pull stuff out of thin air?” His grin sharpened. “That’s… awesome. You’re like an interdimensional pack mule.”

“Kind of?” Her nose wrinkled. “Though I’m not sure I appreciate being called amule.”

He opened his mouth—

“Yeah, yeah, I know, I’m stubborn as one,” she muttered with a roll of her eyes. A knock sounded from the door to the attic suite. She moved to get it, saying over her shoulder, “I’m disappointed, Skye. You had a whole year, and you’re still using the same material.”

“That’s not what I was going to say,” he called after her.

“Yes, it was,” she called back.

She wasn’t wrong.

“And no, I didn’t look into the future. You’re that predictable.”

Skye fought back a smirk, knowing she’d probably meant it as an insult. But if showing up for her, time and again, made him predictable, then he’d take the hit.

Voices filtered from the other room. Taly came back a moment later, looking more tired than before.

“Sarina?” he asked. He’d heard them talking in the hall.

Taly nodded. “She was just checking to make sure I’m still here and not‘running away from all these big feelings she knows I must be having.’”

“Well, you don’t have the best track record.”

Taly huffed and rubbed at her eyes wearily.

“They told you, didn’t they,” he guessed. About her family, herfather…

When Ivain had told him… well, shocked would be an understatement. Skye vaguely remembered stammering something that equated to,I guess that explains her expensive taste in liquor.