Yu Zo nods with an arch look of agreement. “Third search in a month’s time. Papers?” She holds out her hand to me with only a cursory glance, her attention more fully set on Bleddyn.

Bleddyn gives me a tight, prodding look. Forcing calm, even breaths, I fish the papers Bleddyn gave me out of my pocket and hand them to the soldier. Yu Zo rifles through them, pausing when she gets to the third sheet, her lovely, sharp eyes seeming to snag on something.

Bleddyn leans toward her, hand propped rakishly on her hip. “Have you found the moon yet, Yulon?” she asks, her lips turning up in a dazzling smile.

Yu Zo’s eyes snap to Bleddyn’s, as if she’s startled, and I swear I can feel a sudden spark leap between these two. The soldier’s lip quirks, her brow smoothing as she moves on to the fourth sheet of my papers, her focus seeming less intent. “Have you?” she replies, some shy hesitation in her words.

“Of course I have,” comes Bleddyn’s saucy reply. She lowers her voice to a purr. “It’s in my pocket. I’m holding it there for you.”

Yu Zo’s mouth flickers into a broader smile as she continues to rifle through my documents, but I can tell she’s ceased seeing them. “You want to give me the moon?” she asks, dark eyes sparkling as she dares a look at Bleddyn, which Bleddyn meets with a wolflike grin.

“On a silver platter,” Bleddyn drawls. “With a bouquet of Xishlon roses to go with it.”

Yu Zo swallows, papers forgotten, her widened eyes fixed now on Bleddyn. “Where will you be Xishlon night?” she asks, low and covert, her gaze darting toward me with a trace of discomfort, as if I’ve become an unfortunate presence in their flirtatious interlude.

Bleddyn lowers her tone to a lulling whisper. “Posted at the southside dock. I’m off at twenty-first hour.”

“I hear your moon burns bright,” Yu Zo says a little breathlessly.

“The very brightest,” Bleddyn rejoins smoothly, a seductive gleam in her emerald eyes. “All through the night.”

A blush blooms on Yu Zo’s face. She clears her throat and expeditiously hands me back the papers. “I’ll find you,” she says to Bleddyn, all business now as she waves us through. Bleddyn blows her a kiss, and Yu Zo cracks a smile and shakes her head, as if shaking off Bleddyn’s Xishlon thrall.

Bleddyn’s flirtatious smile evaporates as soon as we soar out of earshot, rapidly gaining speed. “Keep quiet when we get to the city,” she brusquely orders. “And for gods’ sakes, if you say the words Ancient One again, I swear I will clock you straight in the head.”