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“That’s it.” I put a hand on either side of his face, twining my fingers in his fur, and shook his head from side to side. He wiggled loose and scampered back. “Is that all you got?”

Then we collided again, a quick tussle, and Goose broke off, turning and racing around the table with me in hot pursuit. When we were both on either side, staring and panting, the tides turned. He was suddenly desperate to catch me while I made a valiant effort to keep the distance in between us. He raced around the table to the left, and I didn’t let him gain on me. When he swung to the right, so did I. I couldn’t stop myself from laughing while he barked his frustrations from across the furniture.

“You’re about as smart as you lo—”

Goose leaped up onto the table’s unfinished top and jumped for me, landing in my arms and mock biting my cheeks, which deteriorated into fierce licks.

“What a beast,” I said, rocking him in my arms like a babe.

When I looked back at Fenli, I saw a different face meeting mine from across the room. She’d put aside her fear, her surprise, and her woe. Now she was just plain pissed.

I couldn’t help it. I smiled at her.

For the next few days, I couldn’t get Fenli from my mind. Maybe it had something to do with the fact that she was furious with me, and I didn’t like it when I wasn’t on good terms with people. Or maybe it was just that she’d been avoiding me and ignoring me with such fortitude that it was doing a number on my brain. Whatever it was, when the day’s work was done and the smells of the night meal were just starting to creep fromthe kitchens, I went looking for her, hoping to make amends, to try and convince her to let me start over.

Only I couldn’t find her anywhere. Not in the hut (where Goose had been tucked away) or by the cliffs. Not by the barns or at Indi’s or in the gathering house. When I’d run out of ideas, I headed to my family’s hut, hoping she was there with Esska. Instead, I found my sister alone.

She paled when I told her of my search.

“She’s still not back?”

I frowned. “Back from where?”

Esska’s eyes shifted around the room, not keen to meet mine.

“Ess. Where did she go?”

She gave me an untrusting sort of look, the kind that made me think she was judging me (and finding me lacking) before she rose to her feet and grabbed her cloak.

“She’s gonna kill me,” she said. “Come on. Back to your place.”

I followed her. Whatever was going on, it was obviously trouble. Guilt was etched all over my sister’s face, but there was a hefty portion of defiance there as well. They were up to no good, these two. And they didn’t give a damn either.

It made me nervous.

We wove between huts. The sun was dropping fast, the shadows stretching across the ground, and it wouldn’t be long before all color faded and a thick black descended. When we reached my hut, we slipped inside quickly. Goose greeted us, his tail thumping into the side of a chair, and the lack of fire in the fireplace made the space feel immediately void of Fenli.

She still wasn’t back.

“Shit,” I heard Esska mumble as my own heart picked up a faster rhythm. She stood in the middle of the space, her hands on her hips as she looked back towards the too-cold hearth.

“Tell me where she is.”

She swung back to face me, her arms crossing in front of her, and she leveled me with the same damn look Baer gave me when he was full of threats. Of all the things for her to have inherited from that man, really?

“You will not rat her out,” she said, telling me rather than asking. “Promise.”

I hesitated. What the hell could Fenli be doing that would—

And then it came to me. I had seen little of her the past few days. She was never around, and she hated me. She resented our marriage. Now Ess was covering for her like it was important she not be caught.

Fenli must have found someone. She had a secret lover, and they’d snuck away.

The blow felt physical, hitting me so hard in the chest I winced. I knew our marriage was shite, but… an affair? Gods above, that hurt.

“Is she—?” I started, but I found I couldn’t finish the sentence. Not yet. I took a breath and tried to train my face back to something indifferent.

I was humiliated. The only thing that could make it any worse would be toshowit, but how could I not?