it out?" someone called from above.
Jarrett laughed. "That's just Avital. Ignore him. He's jealous."
"Sick is more like it. You act like two love-struck children." A fake vomiting noise followed.
Tressa buried her face in Jarrett's shoulder. She swayed, her stomach lurching. Jarrett grabbed her arm. "Don't forget we're in a tree."
"Yeah," she said, taking a few quick breaths. She'd been so relieved she had forgotten to brace herself. "I won't forget again. So, tell me, what are you doing in this tree, and how many men do you have with you?"
"We're hiding up here. Presumably for the same reason as you. I have only a handful of men. We are scattered in trees across the outer edge of the forest, trying to keep our crew a secret from those who dwell in the Hills of Flame. I saw you sneaking around on the ground and followed you to this tree."
Tressa gazed out between the leaves. An uncountable number of trees dotted the landscape. "Have you any word of the people from Hutton's Bridge?"
Jarrett shook his head. "I wish. We've questioned many on the way here, but no one has seem them. Or they've been threatened with their lives to keep the secret. Someone has to have seen something. Those people couldn't have simply disappeared."
"I agree," Tressa said. "We'll find them. We have to. I can't rest until we do."
They sat in silence for a few moments. No more comments were made from above. Instead, the quiet night was punctuated by the occasional snore.
"I think we're alone now," Jarrett said.
Tressa's eyelids felt heavy. The last few days had taken a toll on her. Now that she was back in Jarrett's arms, she might be able to relax.
"I'm so, so sorry for the way Jacinda treated you. I never should have brought you home with me." Remorse tinged his words.
"Yet here we are with a small group of men willing to fight for my people."
"The cost was too great." Jarrett's eyes softened. He tightened his arm around Tressa's waist. "Your baby is gone."
"I had no time to fall in love with the baby," Tressa said. "I only experienced it as a loss, just like I did all the other times I attempted to get pregnant. It is a blessing I didn't know until I lost it." She laid her hands on his cheeks. "It gives me hope for the future that I might conceive again."
His quiet response was a simple kiss. A promise.
Tressa wanted to tell him they'd be together. That her next baby would be his. But it was a fool's dream. They'd have to survive. Then they'd have to see if they even liked each other when they weren't surrounded by danger. She still loved Bastian...but too much had changed. She had changed.
She settled back into Jarrett's arms and closed her eyes. "Tomorrow?"
"We find them tomorrow. I swear it to you."
"Don't make promises you can't keep," she said through a yawn.
"Sleep, now. Trust me."
She fell asleep without another word.
***
The sun woke them up, a tangle of arms and legs resting on a thick bough.
"I'm coming down. Better have your clothes back on!" A rustle above them preceded a man dropping to their bough. It bounced, threatening to toss Tressa and Jarrett to the ground. Tressa's arms flailed as she attempted to wrap her arms around the trunk.
"If I didn't need you so much, I'd consider pushing you to the ground," Jarrett said with a friendly snarl. "This," he said, turning to Tressa, "is Avital. He not only excels in fake puking, but he also happens to be one of the best swordsmen in the Dragonlands."
Avital bowed with a flourish, one arm behind his back, the other stretching in front of him. He bobbled to the side, waving his hands in the air.
Tressa gasped. "He reminds me of you."
"Yes," Jarrett said, a smile on his face. "We are brothers, sharing the same mother."
"You haven't seen my nards yet. Let me show you. I'm just as big as Jarrett." Avital fiddled with the strings on his pants.
Jarrett slapped his brother's hands. "Stop!"
"Hey, those are delicate parts you're slapping. Show a little respect."
Tressa chuckled, watching the two brothers interact. She'd rarely seen Jarrett as anything other than serious. It was nice to see this side of him.
"Let's take this to the ground where I can fight you for my honor." Avital grabbed onto the branch, swinging down the tree like a monkey in one of the books Granna had read Tressa when she was