her plate clean did Siobhan sit back and asked Wolf, “Is this cold typical of Wynngaard? The only time we’ve been through here is during high summer or late spring.”
“And we came this way during those times for good reason,” he informed her dryly. “It’s only going to get colder.”
She made a face. Not the answer she wanted.
“That said, this snowstorm is unusual for this time of the year. We should have another month or two before it gets this cold. I think it’s just an unseasonal storm that’s sweeping through.” This would have sounded vastly reassuring if he hadn’t added, “Or at least, I hope it is. Otherwise we’re in for a cold winter up here.”
“It didn’t seem as cold to me this morning,” Fei piped up, lingering at the table with a hot cup of tea warming his hands. “We are out of the wind here, though.”
“Let’s check with the tower guards, see if they noticed any other storms coming our direction,” Wolf suggested. “From their lookouts, they’ve got quite the view.”
Not a bad thought. Siobhan nodded in agreement. “We can’t travel a full eight hours again in a snowstorm. Not without risking fingers and toes. But if there’s another storm coming, I’d like to get ahead of it and be in Quigg when it hits. We’re going to need to spend a few days there, likely, to find if Lirah Darrens even made it over the bridges. I want that confirmed before we travel any further north.”
Wolf scooted back from the table in a rough scraping sound and stood. “I’ll go ask the guards, then.”
“Take hot tea or hot bread with you,” she suggested. “Your questions will go over better.”
He thought about that for a moment, shrugged agreement, and reversed directions to the kitchen instead.
“Do you always feed people?” Hammon asked from behind her.
Siobhan started in her chair, twisting about so she could see the scholar. He had moved so quietly that she hadn’t the faintest notion he’d joined them downstairs. He looked a little mussed around the edges, but he was fully dressed and obviously ready to start the day.
“I do,” she answered him after that startled heartbeat, waving him to join them at the table. “Well, among my people, we believe in feeding people for taking the time and trouble to help us, no matter how minor it might be. Offering food—especially to men and children—is an easy way to make friends, too.”
Hammon seemed to find this amusing somehow. “So that’s why you offered me strawberries and chocolate.”
“That’s why,” she agreed. “How did you sleep, Hammon?”
“Surprisingly well.”
Her brows quirked at this. “You must be a deep sleeper, then. Fei tells me that Tran snores.”
His smile broadened so that it became mischievous. “I put wax in my ears.”
Siobhan threw her head back and laughed aloud. “What, and you didn’t share?”
Fei gave the blond an unamused look. “Next time, you will.”
Hammon held up both hands in a gesture of surrender and placation. “Next time, I promise. I’m surprised to see we’re the only ones awake.”
“There are certain people that you do not wish to awaken if you can help it,” Siobhan informed him, not at all joking. “If we leave them to their own devices, they’ll come down eventually. If not, we sic the dogs on them.”
Fei pointed at the large clock sitting on the mantel. “Isn’t it about time for that?”
“If we’re stuck here for another day, no sense in upsetting people when I don’t need to.”
“Coward,” Fei teased.
“I prefer to call it survival instincts,” she corrected loftily.
“Ahhh…” Hammon glanced between the two of them, unsure if they were joking or not. “For my information and future safety, who isn’t safe to wake up?”
“Conli-ren, Sylvie-jae, and Tran-ren,” Fei said.
“But for entirely different reasons,” Siobhan couldn’t help but explain. “Tran’s first instinct on waking is to maim or kill anyone leaning over him. He apparently had an interesting childhood. Conli doesn’t wake up so much as leap into wakefulness. He comes awake as if there’s an emergency and he has to be in motion right that second. We’ve bumped heads quite a few times because of it. But Sylvie doesn’t want to wake up. She’s quite stubborn about it, actually. She doesn’t really do anything but kick at you and grumble. It’s what she does afterwards, to get revenge, they make men tremble.”
“As bad as a cat, that one,” Fei grumbled. “Her methods are devious and underhanded.”
Hammon caught the muttering and inclined his head toward the Saoleoran