Marsh would be waiting for her, Winter knew. She hadn’t heard any rumors about the two of them yet, but it was only a matter of time.

Not, Winter thought, that I have any right to register a complaint. No sooner had she ducked into her own tent than Jane was kissing her, arms wrapped around her shoulders to pull her close. Winter was stiff with surprise for a moment, then softened in her lover’s arms, worming her fingers into the sweaty red tangle of Jane’s hair, which now nearly reached her shoulders.

“You really ought to salute first,” Winter said when they finally pulled apart.

“Sorry.” Jane snapped a crisp salute. “Sir! Permission to stick my tongue down your throat, sir!”

Winter put a hand over her face to hide a grin. “You want to shout a little louder? I’m not sure the whole camp heard you.”

“I’m pretty sure the whole camp already knows Captain Verity and Colonel Ihernglass are fucking.” Jane lowered her voice. “It’s the details of how we go about it that might surprise some of them.”

Jane’s hands descended from Winter’s shoulders to her hips by way of the small of her back. The feel of her fingers left Winter flushed and breathing fast, but she managed to disengage from Jane’s grasp and take a step back.

“Not now,” she said.

“Spoilsport.”

Winter rolled her eyes. “You’re incorrigible.”

“I’m sure if I took the time to look up what that meant, I’d be very insulted.”

They stared at each other for a second, straight-faced, then broke down in silent laughter. It was at moments like this that Winter felt her love for Jane most keenly. This was the old Jane, the Jane who’d lived with her at Mrs. Wilmore’s and taken the worst the old harridans running the place had to offer with a cocky grin.

Sometimes, though, the surface cracked, and something ugly showed through. Winter remembered the quay back in Vordan City where she’d only just talked Jane out of cold-blooded murder. There was a rage in her, simmering just out of sight, and Winter sometimes wondered if this semblance of the girl she’d known long ago was all an act for her benefit.

Jane, watching Winter’s expression, let her smile fade. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing.” Winter sighed. “I need to see Captain Sevran.”

“Uh-oh. Should I be jealous?”

Winter rolled her eyes. “I doubt he’s read my new edition of the handbook yet.”

“Are you going to get him to make that idiot Novus stop sending you complaints?”

“I doubt he can,” Winter said. “But I think we need to do some joint drill. My guess is there’ll be fighting in less than a week, and the Girls’ Own and the Royals are going to have to learn to work together at some point.”