They rode with only short breaks, otherwise not stopping until they reached the Dubglass River, where they’d left a barge secured. Though Gabriel had hidden it with a spell of reflective moon magic, everyone was relieved to find it still there.

Unfortunately, Selly and Jadren had yet to catch up with them. Gabriel stared off the way they’d come, trying to conceal his worry, looking as if he were trying to sense where they might be. Alise had sent a spirit to look for them, but she was exhausted, and even with Han’s help, her range was too diminished for her to send it far enough. The fact that the pair were beyond her reach was a distressing sign in and of itself, though no one wanted to articulate that.

Nic slipped her hand into his. They’d loaded the horses onto the barge, Alise already lying down to rest, her head propped on Han’s knee, eyes closed. “They’re strong and smart,” she told Gabriel. “Selly knows how to survive, and Jadren is a powerful wizard, whatever his magic is.”

“He’s a shitty fighter, though, did I tell you?” Gabriel essayed a smile.

“Maybe you can tell me about it on the barge,” she suggested gently. “I don’t want to strand them either, but they have horses, supplies, and weapons. Selly knows the land and can find her way back. They wouldn’t thank us for rendering their sacrifice moot or jeopardizing the safety of everyone back at House Phel because we waited too long for them.”

Sighing, he nodded. “Ever my practical Nic.” He studied her face. “There’s something you’re not telling me.”

“There are a lot of things we haven’t had opportunity to tell each other,” she replied, her heart quaking. She dreaded confessing how she’d betrayed the secrets of the House Phel arcanium, but there was no way around it. Even now, her father might be there, greedily gorging on the stored magic, Maman an unwitting accomplice. The thought of him taking what she and Gabriel had spun out of their purest connection and taking it for his twisted ends made her feel ill at the violation.

Gabriel watched her, no doubt sensing her tumult of emotion. “Whatever it is, we’ll handle it together,” he told her, silvery cool magic soothing and caressing.

“And if we can’t?”

“Then we’re still together. That’s what matters most.”

She nodded, stepping with him onto the barge, their hands still joined, feeling the truth of it. “I can’t believe you’ve managed to get me to voluntarily step foot on another barge,” she said archly.

He grinned, real humor in it. “Romantic, yes?”

“No,” she answered firmly, but when he gathered her close for a long, lingering kiss, she melted into him. The barge moved under her feet, lurching a little as it caught the current, his water magic moving them upstream. It was difficult to remember the time when she was consumed with keeping her distance from him, especially now when not touching him affected her with a physical pain. Fortunately, he seemed to need it, too, both of them clinging to each other to keep from drowning. It would take time, she suspected, for them to recover enough to feel safe separating.