No one had the energy to hunt or to start a fire, but when they found a space that felt sheltered enough from the outside world, they stopped on the grass and began to remove their stolen weapons, allowing the heavy objects to clatter to the ground. Nox’s delicate silken dress had been torn, shredded by the scratching fingers of the forest. She was too tired to stand. Angry red welts lined her skin from the branches and brambles. She clutched at her shoulders where the gooseflesh rippled down her arm, pulling her knees to her chest. The reevers, still dressed in the court’s ridiculous garb, had no cloaks to offer her.

It shouldn’t have been this cold in the summer, but as night descended and numbing darkness settled over her, Nox felt as though ice pumped through her veins. She shivered, teeth chattering.

Beyond learning their names, she didn’t know these men, and they didn’t know her.

Though their tentative alliance was new, it was abundantly clear each party knew and cared for Amaris. Whatever emotional turmoil the reevers had faced upon seeing Amaris bound and gagged, Nox had suffered ten times over. She hugged her knees to her chest as her eyes darted between the men. They were in truly uncharted waters.

She stiffened a bit as one of them approached her.

Without waiting for an invitation, Malik sat beside her and put a warming arm around her. It took her all of ten seconds to transition from feeling hesitation and anger to dissolving entirely like paper in water. Though she hadn’t meant to, Nox let herself cry. She hadn’t realized she’d been holding back a dam of tears from the moment they’d dragged Amaris away. She buried her face in her knees, and her shoulders shook with her sobs.

Malik’s arm had undoubtedly been intended for warmth, but it stayed like a bandage, holding the pieces of her together as they threatened to spill into the world.

“I’ll gather the things for a fire,” Ash offered somewhat helplessly.

Nox sniffed, her face red and puffy from her sobs. She looked up, wiping her tears with the heel of her palm. Malik’s arm was still wrapped around her, protecting her from the chill of the evening, the welts of the forest, the pain of the world. Awareness gripped her moments before the young man disappeared from her sight.

“Wait,” she said quietly.

Ash paused as he turned to face her. His amber eyes met hers, face tense with a cautious question.

“I wanted to say I’m sorry.”

Ash’s red brows knit. “For what?”

She offered the ghost of a smile. “For trying to kill you in Yelagin.”