Kade hesitated before nodding and relinquishing the linen. Sev pulled the rest of it off, giving an extra tug as the fabric stuck to his damp skin and the dark smear of the poultice residue. Sev bunched the bandages up in his hands, thinking about using them to wipe his skin, when Kade stepped back into his field of vision. Before Sev realized what was happening, Kade put a damp cloth against his bare shoulder and wiped the skin clean.
He was surprisingly tender, and Sev could do nothing but stare at him until the task was done.
“Thank you,” he whispered. They looked at each other… and then Sev remembered he was shirtless and hastened to shrug back into his tunic. The poultice had already eased some of the ache in his joint, but he’d be putting it through the ringer before this night was through.
The climb was more challenging than Sev had anticipated. In order to get onto the roof, they had to actually stand on Sev’s extremely narrow window ledge, then reach across the open air to the drainpipe that ran from the gutters above to the ground below. It was a good arm span away. Sev had new appreciation for the young Commander Cassian, whose youth—and delirious fever—must have made him fearless.
Kade went first, balancing effortlessly on the small ledge, his long arm easily reaching the pipe. He swung himself across, then shimmied up to the roof in under a minute. Sev was on the second floor, and luckily there wasn’t a third in this wing of the estate. Kade hoisted himself silently over the edge and called for Sev to follow.
He had to reach with his bad arm for the pipe, which meant it was more of a controlled fall than an elegant jump. Pain lanced through him at the jarring movement, and the pipe rattled underneath his grip. When he had both hands and feet wrapped around the metal, he looked up to see Kade watching him anxiously.
Sev knew he didn’t have time to waste and started moving as quickly and quietly as he could. Despite the fact that only his shoulder was wounded, Sev’s entire arm felt weak, and his palm slipped as he tried to gain purchase. He was barely halfway up when he felt Kade’s hand over his own.
“I have you,” Kade said, tugging until Sev loosened his hold on the pipe and gripped Kade’s hand instead.
With a shocking surge of strength, Kade lifted him bodily, and Sev almost cried out in surprise. He had a terrifying moment of dangling, his feet and hands connected to nothing, before Kade heaved him the rest of the way and Sev could take hold of the edge of the roof.
His bad arm trembled as he hoisted himself up, but Kade never released his grip—reaching for hand, arm, and tunic—until Sev was sprawled on the tiles next to him.
“You were right,” Sev said, panting. He turned his head to the side to see Kade sitting next to him, his own chest rising and falling rapidly, arms resting on knees. Kade shot him a quizzical look. “You were better than me,” Sev added, and a slow smile spread across Kade’s face.
“Let’s go,” Sev said once he’d caught his breath, sitting up and looking behind him to get his bearings.
“What is it you’re expecting to overhear?” Kade whispered, as they crouched low and cut across the sloping tiles. It was full dark, and most of the light from the compound glowed beneath them, not above. All that lit their path was moonlight. “You think Rolan shouts his war plans to the rooftops?”
“No,” Sev said, casting a somewhat exasperated look over his shoulder. “But he does hold private meetings on his terrace, and apparently he’s entertaining tonight. It’s my best chance to hear something important.”
Lord Rolan’s rooms were a good distance from Sev’s—no wealthy lord wants to sleep next to the medical wing—and they had to climb up to the third floor, then back down again to make it to the right part of the building.
At last they spotted the correct courtyard and climbed their way toward it. The space below was filled with greenery sliced through with stonework paths and metal benches, all connecting to a terrace that led directly into Rolan’s rooms. The scent of lemon trees was heavy on the air, tainted with the tang of a charcoal brazier. Rolan often had at least one brazier lit, even in high