I sat in front of the fire, the heat of it on my face, and thought of all the things that stoked the flames inside me. My list of grievances was long, and it had only grown over the years. This was how my life was going to be, I realized. My clan making all of my choices for me while I smoldered hotly before a fire—silent. My hair short in defiance. But never defiant enough.

I couldn’t stand it. I’d ignored the truth while Roan was away, but now it was glaring. Was this to be my future?

Never. I’d leave before I submitted to this.

A tear slid down my cheek at the thought as I recognized it for what it was.

It was my only option.

I woke to the sound of him. He was up and stalking across the floor, Goose growling softly at my back.

“Relax, fleabag,” I heard Roan murmur, “or I’ll kill you while she sleeps.”

I bristled, the haze in my mind lifting. Goose took no heed of the warning, growling still, but the tension simmered there, not yetescalating. Roan went to the window. He threw open the shutters with surprising force and sucked in the fresh night air.

He seemed… in a panic.

It was a time before his breathing evened out and he calmed. Goose had gone back to sleep, no longer interested in the hunter in our home, but I was wide awake, all my senses piqued and attune to the man-boy invading every facet of my life.

I wondered, if he’d lived in tents and under the stars for the past ten years, what must it be like for him now, forced into a too-small hut with a wife, of all the ridiculous things. He was confined in a way he hadn’t been in the past decade, thick wood and earth on all sides, my too-hot fire too close, the air too tame.

He was used to wild spaces, the kinds I craved but wasn’t allowed.

I almost felt bad for him. Mostly, though—I just felt jealous.

I’d get those wild spaces for myself. And I’d get them soon.

Chapter Six

Roan

Iwoke early the next morning. Hauling up to sitting, my eyes flicked to her bed, I couldn’t help myself. And there she was. The night before, she’d been sure to put her back to me, burrowing under her blankets like a fox in its den despite the warmth in the room. I’d almost laughed. Sometime in the night, she’d turned. Now her limbs fanned out around her, her blanket askew, and I could see her face.

After days of fleeting glances, I admit, I took the opportunity to look at her openly. And damn it all if her unguarded face didn’t set me back. Her cheeks were pink with warmth, her brows relaxed and unbothered in a way I hadn’t seen before. My eyes followed the line of her nose and skimmed over her dark lips. I hadn’t even known lips could be that color.

Stop looking.

But I was a moth to her flame. Gods, she looked peaceful. I wished like hell she could feel like that when she was awake as well as asleep, but I wasn’t as stupid as I looked.

I screwed my eyes shut, scolded some sense back into myself, and rose from my bedroll, forcing my body to be about the day’s work even if my mind wasn’t. I set into my morning routine as quietly as I could—the dog watching me with shifting eyes from her bed—and when I’d finished, I left.

But standing in the doorway, before I’d closed it behind me, I was foolish enough to turn back and steal one more glance.

After that, it was to the kitchens for my morning meal only to get pulled away halfway through a plate of eggs and hot roots by Baer. He set me to work in the cellar, moving barrels of honey and mead straight through the midday meal and until I couldn’t feel my arms any longer. The work was shite, but it was my father who made it nearly unbearable. He meant to break me, I had half a mind to think. With all his nagging, snapping, bellowing, and goading, he drove into my skull the one message he wanted to be certain I heard.

He was the one in authority, and I’d do well to remember it.

Damn the day they’d made him an elder. They’d ruined him with responsibility, and now he had it in mind to ruin me, all for the sake of appearance.

He’d not have me slip up and risk making himself look bad.

When Baer could hold me back from the late meal no longer, I went to the kitchens with the others. Famished, I had more than my share of stew and mead and listened half-heartedly as they carried on about everything and nothing. My eyes kept sweeping the hall for Fenli, but I saw her nowhere. Not in the kitchens or out on the hill where I’d glanced other girls our age eating. It was stupid to look, but I couldn’t seem to help myself. Since getting off the ship, my senses had been on alert, looking for her before I’d even known what I was looking for. I knew now. I knew and I couldn’t forget. Wild hair, dark brows, sly eyes, and a berry-red mouth I’d yet to see smile.

Someone dropped a tray on the table, and I startled. I looked up to find Esska staring down at me.

“Tried to bring this to Fenni,” she said, “but Baer caught me. He says you have to bring it. I can’t come over tonight.” She sighed. “Tell her I’m sorry.”

I growled, thudding my elbows down on the wood and putting my face in my hands.