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And thank the gods Creon had been quick enough with his hunch about water … but no one said it aloud in the silence that followed, and the weary lines on Tared’s face suggested this may not be the moment to make that point. Creon himself had barely looked up from his reading, the pile of parchment beside his chair growing more intimidating by the minute.

Lyn rushed around to hand us all a cup of tea, glowering at Naxi when she put her mug too close to the ancient manuscripts on the table. She brought Tared a bowl of nuts to snack on after his long-distance fading. Then she pulled a fuzzy blanket out of nowhere for Naxi, filled the kettle again, and hung it back over the fire. No one offered a hand as she fidgeted around, although Beyla looked like it took an effort – but I suspected being useful was simply how Lyn dealt with danger, and making her sit down and rest would do more harm than good.

When she finally finished her hurried rounds, however, she didn’t return to her own spot on the bench.

Instead, she climbed into Tared’s lap without a word of warning, folded her short legs against her chest, and nestled herself tightly against him.

The light around him blazed brighter than I’d ever seen it – just a flash, like an involuntary moment of lost control. Then he slouched against his backrest, finally loosened his shoulders, and wrapped one arm around her with a sigh that seemed to come from the marrow of his bones, resting his forehead against the crown of her head.

Next to me, Beyla mumbled an apology and faded out of the room.

Bonded mates. Was it too painful for her to see the two of them like this, even thirteen decades after she’d lost the alf male whose sword she still carried? Even knowing this small moment of tenderness between Lyn and Tared was nowhere near a solution totheirthirteen decades of indecisive tiptoeing around?

I decided not to ask that, either.

‘So,’ I said instead, talking mostly to Naxi because Creon wasn’t looking up from his scrolls and I wasn’t going to disturb Lyn and Tared, ‘do we have any idea how Edored ended up walking into plague land? Or didn’t he say anything about that?’

‘Not a sensible word.’ She cheerfully tugged her woollen blanket more tightly around her shoulders, her twinkling blue eyes evidence she knew all the questions I wasn’t asking, and likely a few more of them, too. ‘We asked him, but he kept shouting things about dragons. Ah, well.’ A chuckle. ‘We always knew he was a bit of a dum-dum.’

Not untrue, and yet … An idea sparked. ‘He’s never beenthisfoolish before, though.’

Creon slowly lowered his parchment.

Glancing around, I added, ‘Or was he so upset about our sword-stealing that he’d reasonably forget to mind his surroundings?’

Creon cocked his head, dark eyes piercing mine, thoughts visibly whirring to find out what I was playing at.I wouldn’t say he was.

Right answer. I barely held back a smile. ‘Shouldn’t we go take a look, then? Just to be sure he wasn’t spooked by anything dangerous and forgot about the plague as a result?’

The miniscule twitch of his lips was the only signal he’d figured out my game.Just to be sure– a sensible proposal, coming from the little unbound mage trying to keep everyone safe. The fact that Beyla was currently not around to join us, and that Tared would likely not be in the mood to run after me and protect my uncorrupted innocence, was obviously entirely secondary.

‘Oh,’ Naxi said, a chuckle lacing her words, ‘that’s clever, Emelin!’

‘Thanks,’ I said and got up with a pointed look at the world outside. Above the treetops, the sky was turning a soft, peachy pink. ‘We should probably go as soon as possible, then? I’d prefer not to walk around in the forest at night, and we’d overlook traces in the dark, anyway.’

Creon rose with the look of a spoiled fae prince forced to run after some wild toddler.I suppose you need company?

‘Well,’ I said, ‘unless you want me to follow Edored’s example …’

He shrugged, sticking his hands into his pockets with perfect disinterest. Excellent. At least he wasn’t provoking Tared, wasn’t giving the impression he was sneaking off with me only to seduce me in dastardly fashion as soon as we were out of sight. As long as we made sure not to stay away too long – and really, how long could this conversation take …

‘May I suggest you don’t venture into dangerous territory without any alves?’ Tared interrupted my thoughts, sounding exhausted rather than spiteful as he looked up from Lyn’s messy curls.

For fuck’s sake.

‘It’s hardly dangerous with a demon around.’ It took an effort to restrain my voice, to stick with calm, practical statements. ‘We won’t even be gone that long.’

‘We just concluded fading out in time was what saved Edored’s life,’ he retorted, lifting Lyn off his lap with obvious displeasure. ‘And if I have to fade another half-dead victim into Ylfreda’s hands, I’ll probably be cleaning out bed pans for the next five years. So unless you want to go looking for Beyla to take my place …’

I parted my lips to tell him that seemed a better idea. Even if a confidential conversation would be equally impossible with Beyla around, at least there was slightly less risk that she’d skewer Creon on one of her swords before we had the temple behind us. But Creon brushed past me before the first word left my mouth, his movements overly measured, his dark eyes brimming with an emotion that was no longer unhurried boredom or cruel confidence at all.

Imagine trusting her to take care of herself for five whole minutes.His signs were tight and tense.Would it kill you not to play the useless hero for once?

It took half a heartbeat for those words to hit home – the full, venomous weight of them. ‘Creon!’

He ignored me, and so did Tared, who strode towards the door with a sharp, ‘It’s called caring about people, Hytherion. Why don’t you stay out of matters you don’t understand?’

‘Could the two of you behave?’ Lyn snapped, a deadly shimmer of fire below her voice. ‘A bit of civilisation never killed anyone.’