down. “At least, I’d like them to be. I wouldn’t have stopped,” she whispered.
Gavin remembered the feel of her breath on his skin, the ghost sensation of her lips so close to his own.
“But it is different,” he said, voice strained. “That’s not how it happened.”
“So, this has to be different,7+ too,” she answered. “At least for now.”
He nodded slowly. That was reasonable.
Even if he hated it.
“Enough about that,” she said. Then he saw her swallow hard, the delicate line of her throat as she turned her head. “You said all they gave you was the fire. But I saw what Jormoi did, what he became. Surely you have that gift as well?”
“All right,” he admitted. “That part of the deal isn’t bad.”
“Not bad?” Esme said. “It would be amazing!” She tilted her head. “Does the fire find you there as well?”
Gavin paused, thinking. “It’s not the same,” he said slowly. “It’s not as easy to get swept away in it, to lose track of everything else.”
“I wonder why?”
“Maybe it’s because there’s too many other things to keep track of, to pay attention to. Everything is so much sharper, smells, sounds.” He waved at the trees around them, helpless to put into words something that had no language. “Everything.”
“Then it’s like the breathing exercise,” Esme said, rolling to sit fully upright. “I knew it would work, if we didn’t get distracted.”
“It’s not at all like breathing,” he argued.
Esme crossed her arms, set her chin. “It reminds you of here and now,” she insisted. “We just have to figure out how you can do that without changing shapes.”
“Or kissing you,” he muttered.
And this time, she didn’t argue.
“Come on,” he hauled himself to his feet, and held a hand out to help her up.
Then he froze.
Maybe she didn’t want him to touch her at all, maybe that’s what she was saying before, about pretending, about if things had been different.
“Right here, right now,” she whispered, as she put her hand into his. “Let’s get back before your brother thinks I’ve kidnapped you.”
He laughed, the tightness in his chest that he hadn’t even been aware of loosening with her easy presence at his side as they moved through the trees back towards the clearing.
“It’s more likely they’ll think I’ve gone into the fire for good, started roaming the forest looking for enemies.”
His hand tightened on hers as a flash of unfamiliar fear struck him. “You took a risk, you know? I’m dangerous to you like that.”
Esme looked at him in surprise. “I don’t think so. Still don’t.” She stopped, hands on hips. “Would you really have hurt me? Don’t think about it, just answer.”
No need to think.
The answer was absolute.
A law like gravity.
“No.”
She nodded, started walking back to the edge of the forest. “If you know that, and I know that, who cares what anyone else thinks?”
Emerging from the tree line he stopped, stared at the wall surrounding the city before them.
“Want to go around to the gate?” He asked her.
Chances were good the guards would let a single woman in, despite the lateness of the hour.
He could stay in the woods overnight.
It’d probably be safer for her.
He shook himself, appalled that he’d climbed the wall while carrying her, still lost in a post-battle haze.
“Not particularly,” Esme said. “Why, don’t you think you can get me over the wall again?”
“Sure,” he said, tongue suddenly feeling thick and awkward. “I just thought you might be more comfortable sticking to the ground.”
She laced her fingers with his. “I’m learning to enjoy different modes of travel.” Wrinkling her nose, Esme frowned slightly. “Even if it means going back inside the city.”
“You don’t like it there?”
She shook her head. “No.”
She idly rubbed a spot behind her left temple. He’d notice she seemed to worry at the place, even more since they’d arrived in the town.
“I don’t know what it is,” she mused. “It can’t be the city itself, honestly Malterresy isn’t much smaller than Kinallen. Maybe it’s the wall that makes me feel trapped.”
“Well then,” he said, “I’d say we should stay out here and wait for Declan to come out at first light, but for all we know he’s still out reconnecting with old friends, and thinks we’re doing the same. Wouldn’t it be a surprise when he couldn’t find us in the morning.”
But they were the one surprised when they found Jormoi at the base of the wall.
“Keeping an eye on me? Gavin asked gruffly.
“Would you rather that I didn’t?” Jormoi tilted his head slightly