“The truth. Fie, I promised I’d do everything I can to help you. I brought this on your family. I owe you a debt. And my life will be my own to give, as long as you would have it.” He raised his scabbard, and something frighteningly near hope rose in his voice. “Again.”

Fie tried to order her whirlwind thoughts and couldn’t even see where to start. Tavin’s arm moved through the dark.

He truly meant to vanish.

Block.

He meant to help her. To do everything he could. But she’d thought—

Step in.

She’d told herself he only had a tourist’s interest in her. That he found her at best a useful ally to woo, at worst the makings of a lurid boast to scandalize the other Hawks.

Not someone worth everything he had to give.

Some distant side of her unspooled Jasimir’s words short hours ago: He saved your life.

Strike.

Tavin did not step back. Neither did she, lingering too close, far too close, locked in their makeshift duel.

“When you said you don’t do what you want…” She trailed off, knowing stark what she asked, too unsteady to say the words aloud.

He bent his head to her, near enough that his hair dusted her brow. Fie didn’t mean to turn her face up, but her chin had a mind of its own.

“You know what I mean,” he whispered.

Fie’s traitor heart thundered its assent, even as her mind rattled through its protests. She ought to run, to cool her head, if only her feet would cooperate—she had to run, she couldn’t have what she wanted—not the way she wanted him—

Yet Tavin moved first. His breath caught; she felt its absence on her cheeks.

And then he stepped back.

Something old and familiar slid across his features easy as a paper screen, hiding any sign of the unpolished, unpracticed boy of a moment ago.

“It’s late,” he said, voice fraying at the very edges. “You should rest. I’ll take watch.”

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

WOLF COUNTRY

The humming woke Fie, as it had near every morning since Cheparok.

Tavin sat with his back to her, humming quiet into the dark. She couldn’t tell if he meant to rouse her by it, or if he’d been at the song awhile. He never seemed to be at the same place when her eyes opened.

Gray-blue gnawed at the eastern horizon. Her watch had come.

Fie rolled up onto her knees, yawning. Tavin glanced back at her, nodded, and folded himself to the ground near the prince.