at the stable, the ale that would do nothing to dull this agony or this need, but still she thirsted for it so mightily. Thirsted for anything that could ease this terrible pain.
Pain that overwhelmed her, so a sobbing little breath shuddered from her parted lips. Immediately she felt Aerax withdraw, though he did not move much. His mouth gently pressed to the side of her jaw. “You have nearly a full turn to think on it, Lizzan.”
She did not want to think at all. But she would probably think of nothing else.
Eyes closed, she nodded, and Aerax took all the warmth in the world when he left her. Some returned with the affectionate rub of Caeb’s face against her cheek.
A shaky laugh broke from her. “You are as bad as he.”
Purring again, he butted his head into her shoulder before padding back to his breakfast.
And never so badly had she wanted a drink. All would be easier. So much easier.
But the path was never easy.
Pulling out her knife, she went to help Caeb. His saber teeth were deadly at the kill and his incisors sharp, but he couldn’t easily tear away flesh from bone without turning his head and gnawing with his side teeth. A full meal he could eat that way, but it was faster to butcher the meat for him.
She was elbow-deep in search of the organs that Caeb liked best when his soft growl alerted her to someone’s approach.
Lizzan glanced back. It was the scarred Parsathean warrior, Kelir. Riasa had said that he’d admired Lizzan’s fierce concentration the previous eve, yet now the fierce intensity was his.
“What did the goddess say to you?” he demanded, crouching beside her, his gaze as heavy and sharp as the axe he carried at his belt. “Tell me exactly what was said.”
Taken aback, she stared at him. “Regarding what?”
“Regarding the one you protect.” Worry flared through the command in his voice. “Seri is my sister.”
“Oh.” Her stomach sank. “Aerax told you that she was the one I saw first?”
Aerax rarely spoke to anyone—and it had not been his quest to share. So she had never imagined he would.
Kelir shook his head. “Seri overheard.”
Because Lizzan had been a little drunk, and a little loud.
Curse it all. “I didn’t know she would hear. But she was not the first I saw.”
The warrior blinked before his brows pulled together in a dark frown. “You lied?”
“To Aerax,” she said. “For it was he who I saw first. But our past was . . . painful to me. So I was not prepared to tell him.”
“So you lied,” he said flatly.
“I did.”
A muscle in his jaw worked as he stared at her. “To save yourself pain?”
“And him.” Not only with a lie, but what she could not bear to tell him.
Abruptly he nodded. “I will not expose your lie, but I will also not assist it. If the truth is asked of me, I will speak it. And you must confess to my sister as soon as you are able.”
“I will. I thank you.” Lizzan sighed. So many apologies she’d had to offer this day. “And I am sorry. I did not intend for her to overhear or to bring you worry.”
“It is relieved now. To hear that Vela believed my sister needed protection . . . a horde of dangers I imagined coming for her.”
She gave him a wry look. “They come for Aerax, instead.” And when Caeb growled softly, she tossed him the sloth’s heart. “So you’ll also help me protect him, especially if he continues hunting.”
Caeb’s disdainful glare as he licked the heart said that she need not even tell him.
“As will we,” said Kelir. “What did Vela say?”
“That I must protect the first person I saw. She didn’t say what I protected him from—only that my quest will end on the day of the first snowfall, in a battle that will clear my name. So I protect him until then.”
Expression thoughtful, Kelir nodded. “Vela speaks no lies, but her meanings are not always clear. And sometimes they are exactly as she says.”
Lizzan could not imagine another meaning to an honorable and glorious death. But that she would not say in front of Caeb, so she only nodded.
Kelir’s gaze sharpened. “You have traveled this road before?”
“A few times I have been hired as escort between Krimathe and Radrana.”
“The warrior who was familiar with these northern realms is now guarding the caravan. Can we depend on you to guide us? We would hire