Nomi imitated his pose, trying to walk in his footsteps. She could not hear him—no breathing, no rustling clothes. She was certain that she would spoil this hunt. Her trousers whispered as she walked, and her open jacket caught on a sprig of bracken and whipped it back. She closed her eyes and breathed through her mouth, and when she looked again Beko was staring back at her.

He stared for a little too long.

“What?” she whispered, but she thought she knew. Her stomach was warm, her legs shaking under the stress of her pose and the influence of his stare.

Beko pointed up and to his left. Nomi looked and saw several green tree lizards roosting on a tree trunk, the largest of them easily the length and thickness of her arm. She gasped. She had never seen one so huge.

Beko was still looking at her, and he blinked slowly as he began to turn away.

She thought he would move slowly, getting into position, plucking the arrow from the quiver across his back, stringing it, turning, aiming and firing only when he knew the moment was right. But as she looked back up at the lizard, she saw a flutter of movement from the corner of her eye, and then an arrow struck home. The lizard hissed for a heartbeat and then hung still, impaled against the trunk. Its companions disappeared around the tree, and a heartbeat later Nomi heard them dropping to the forest floor and away.

“That was so fast,” she said. “I didn't even see you move.”

“I'm hungry,” Beko said, grinning. He had already shouldered the bow and was heading for the tree.

“But they are poisonous,” Nomi said. “I know for sure.”

“Only if you don't know how to cook them properly.” He reached the tree, drew his sword and stretched to hack through the arrow. The lizard fell and Beko caught it neatly in one hand. “Waste of an arrow, but it'll be worth it.”

“We should go deeper,” Nomi said. Her heart suddenly beat faster, and her face flushed as she looked away from the captain and through the trees into the forest's deepening darkness. “Might find some peace truffles. Good for relaxing.” I'm not looking for truffles, she thought, all too aware of Beko's gaze once again. She could almost feel where he was looking: her hair, her neck, her breasts. Or perhaps that was her own wishful thinking.

“No need for peace truffles,” he said. He was standing right beside her, though she had not heard him move. The dead lizard nudged against her leg. “And no need to go deeper.”

Nomi closed her eyes. The coolness of the forest air soothed her hot skin as a breeze ventured between the trees. What am I doing? she thought. She knew well enough that a long voyage could be made awkward by an involvement such as this, but—