In a voice so low that no member of the spying Followers could hear, Corday pressed his lips to her ear and whispered, “Claire, it’s going to be over soon, we have access to their communications now. So hold on. Hold on until I can kill him. I swear to you I will.”

Doing her best to pretend she wasn’t ill, Claire nodded and kissed his cheek. “I have a great deal of faith in you, Corday. You are a wonder.”

“And you will be free.”

“I will,” she acknowledged, eyes soft.

Slender fingers carefully pulled off her mother’s wedding band. Under their makeshift blanket, she took Corday’s hand and slipped the band on his pinky.

“What are you doing?”

“I want you to keep this for me.” Claire smiled as she gave her token. “A reminder, so that you don’t forget I’m rooting for you.”

She was making him uneasy. “I can’t keep this.”

“I am only lending it,” she corrected, squeezing his hand. “You are to give it back to me when Thólos is free.”

He hugged her, felt his heart soar. “Claire. I have faith in you, too.”

“You are my hero, you know.”

Corday wanted to kiss her, was so very tempted to thread his fingers in her hair and pull her lips to his. But that was not what they were; that was not what she could be…

At least not yet.

“Now,” Claire broke the moment, shy. “You need to get out of here before the sun comes up. If I don’t feel you’re safe, I’ll worry.”

Already untangling herself, she eased out of his embrace. Corday was not allowed to linger, Claire urging him to leave before light might make his journey dangerous. It was obvious he did not want to go, but she seemed so much better, her eyes more alive and a smile on her lips when she spoke.

The Beta retreated. The second he was gone far enough down the causeway not to hear her, Claire doubled over, and quietly lost her stomach all over the frost by the chute.

Corday did not hear her vomiting, nor did he see even a hint of the Followers that had surrounded him so flawlessly when he stepped out of her sight. He popped his collar to warm his neck, and shuffled off with his hands buried deep in his pockets—smiling.

Shepherd left Corday in the hands of Jules’ team, his attention on his ill Omega and the change that came over Claire the instant the boy was gone. The false smile fell, and she moved far from the group and their fires to sit in solitude, as if invisibly drawn nearer to the place where Shepherd hid in the dark.

He could almost reach out and touch her.