Page 80 of Beyond the Shadowed Earth

Not half an hour later they stumbled into a cave on the side of the mountain. It was out of the wind, out of the snow: a miracle. And there was another miracle: a bundle of wood stacked neatly just inside the entrance.

“The gods are watching out for us,” breathed Morin.

Anger buzzed down Eda’s spine, but she didn’t say anything. Morin was right—there was no other explanation for the cave and wood to be there.

Tainir built a fire, and the three of them crouched together around it, their clothes steaming. They drank melted snow and tea. There was no more food in Morin’s pack, and neither he nor Eda would even hear of Tainir going hunting.

“I could go,” Morin offered.

“Snow leopards are built for the cold,” Tainir argued. “You’d just get lost and tumble off the mountain.”

“I’d rather go hungry than lose either one of you,” Eda interrupted.

Morin jerked his gaze to hers and she was startled to find how much she meant it.

“No hunting, then,” he said, and made more tea.

Tainir changed the bandage on Morin’s shoulder while Eda poked at the fire and told herself it made more sense for Tainir to tend him, that it shouldn’t upset her.

“Neat stitches,” said Tainir appreciatively.

Morin caught Eda watching and held her gaze. “Not many people can boast of being stitched up by the Empress of Enduena herself.”

“Former Empress,” Eda corrected.

“Still.” He smiled at her, and it warmed her from the inside.

Night fell somewhere beyond the snowstorm. Tainir sat in the cave’s entrance, her back to the fire. She whispered words out into the snow, the thread of her voice tangling with the wind. Gold sparks leapt from her fingers, and Eda thought the gods must be listening. The snow lessened. The wind grew less fierce.

“The spirits are still out there,” said Eda as Morin settled beside her. “Still watching us. They’ll attack again, when Rudion tells them to.”

“They won’t touch us. “Morin’s voice held an easy confidence. “At least, not until we reach the Mountain.”

“You really think we’ll find it?”

There was a sudden warmth on her knee, and Eda glanced down to find Morin’s hand there, his heat reaching even through the thick weave of her trousers.

“The gods are leading us there like a hound on a leash. They brought us to this cave, didn’t they? It’s not an accident.”

“I know.”

“Are you scared, Eda?”

At last she turned to face him. There were freckles around his eyes, and she wondered that she’d never noticed them before. “I’m terrified.”

“Of failing?”

“Of succeeding.”

“Why?”

She stared at his hand, lying so gently on her knee. “Because I don’t know if I have the strength for what comes after.”

“I’ll help you.”

She thought of Raiva, wandering in the dark. Of her Barons and Ileem and everything she would have to do to reclaim her throne. She thought of the solitude that would come with her return to power. The loneliness. “Oh Morin. You can’t help me.”

And she moved away from him, forcing him to drop his hand, putting measured distance between them.