Ashyn followed his pale form through the rocks, stumbling as she went, her body aching from a third night sleeping on stone. She shivered as she walked. Even her fur-lined cloak did little against the bitter nights. If her bladder weren’t full to bursting, she’d have stayed in her blankets until the morning rays warmed the rocks. By midday, she’d be cursing that same sun. It was like living in an oven, nestled among stones that were bitingly cold until the flame made them unbearably hot.

Tova was anxious to return to bed, too, and they’d gone barely ten paces before he found a place to lift his leg. When Ashyn continued on, he grumbled.

“You can go back,” she whispered.

His grumble bordered on a growl, annoyed and offended that she would suggest such a thing. Normally, she’d have patted him in apology. But their even tempers were both fraying out here in the Wastes. It wasn’t simply the poor sleep or the inadequate food, or the heat or the cold or even the boredom. They were lonely. They had each other, but that was no different from having your arm or your leg. You couldn’t imagine life without it, but it was, after all, a part of you. They missed Father and, even more, they missed Moria and Daigo. In sixteen summers, they’d never spent more than a night apart.

When Ashyn insisted on finding more privacy, Tova laid down as if to say, I mean it.

“Wait there, then,” she said.

His grumble warned her to come back and argued she didn’t need to go so far. As the distance between them grew, Ashyn could feel it, like a rope going taut. She was being unreasonable.

Ashyn turned. “I’m just going there, behind those rocks.”

Tova chuffed and pushed to his feet. As he padded toward her, Ashyn jogged to the rocky outcropping, swung behind it, and—

She heard the sound of something scratching against rock. She wheeled, and it was right there, perched nearly at eye level. A scorpion. Or so her eyes told her, but it was unlike any scorpion she’d ever seen. In Edgewood, they were less than a hand long. This one was a leg’s length from clicking claws to raised tail.

As she stood there, paralyzed, Tova tore around the corner and the scorpion rose up, claws waving, tail poised. She could see the stinger now, as long as a finger, venom glistening on the tip.

She took a slow, careful step backward. Her gaze stayed fixed on the creature as she prayed to the goddess that it would let her leave, just let her—

It sprang. She tried to twist out of the way, knowing it would do no good, seeing Tova leaping forward, knowing that wouldn’t help either. The scorpion was coming right for her and—

My dagger.