“Don't cover up for me!” Ramus was carrying a burning brand from the fire, and Nomi noticed the taint of scorched hair and skin on the air.

“Ramus, what have you done?” she said.

“What have I done? Me?” He took a step forward and Beko stood, tucking himself back into his trousers and moving between Ramus and Nomi.

Ramus laughed. Shook his head. And Nomi saw the tears on his face, though whether they were from the pain of the burn on his arm or something else, she did not want to know.

She was still swayed, but the shock had driven much of the effect away.

“This is nothing to do with you, Ramus,” she said, hating the appeal in her voice. Isn't it? she thought. She could not hide a flush of guilt, but at the same time she wished that he would piss off and let her and Beko finish what they had begun.

Ramus staggered slightly, and when Beko moved aside again, Nomi could just make out the ugly burn on his arm.

“Your arm!” she said, aghast.

“I woke myself up. They put us to sleep but I woke myself up, because the truth needed seeing.”

“The truth of what?”

“You,” Ramus said, but already the anger was leeching from his voice. “You two.”

“As Nomi said, it's nothing to do with you.”

“No?” Ramus said, and his voice sounded weaker than ever. “Really?”

Nomi stood. “Oh, Ramus, I didn't realize . . . I didn't know . . .”

Ramus fell and Beko caught him, knocking the still-smoldering brand from his hand and lowering him gently to the ground.

“Rhiana!” Beko called. He glanced across at Nomi. “You should dress,” he said quietly.

Nomi pulled on her trousers, the cool breeze no longer pleasant against her damp skin. She wanted to go to Ramus, hold him, but now there was a shadow between them deeper than simple night. It was shaped from his surprising anger, and her own resentment at what he had done.

“Is he all right?” she asked.

“He's fainted,” Beko said. He was still holding Ramus, one hand behind his head to keep him comfortable. The Serian could have let him fall to the ground. And though there was anger in his eyes when he glanced at Nomi, she saw compassion there as well.

“You're a good man,” she blurted, looking away in embarrassment. Brought down from their sway by the sudden events, the sex hung heavy between them, and now Nomi was complicating it even more.

“I feel like slitting his pissing throat,” Beko said, then chuckled. “Couldn't he have left it another few beats, eh?”

Nomi laughed gently.

Rhiana burst through the undergrowth. She carried an oil lantern in one hand, a short sword in the other. She glanced around the small clearing beneath the shrub's overhang and seemed to make sense of things in a heartbeat. She threw a brief smile at Nomi, sheathed her weapon and knelt beside Beko and Ramus.