But anyone was safer surrounded by thirty Firenz warriors.

“Yes,” he said quietly.

“Then we will send messages to our families and stay with you. They can come to get us from wherever we go…with you.”

He knew there was no talking her out of it, so he did not try.

“All right, love,” he muttered.

She squeezed his hands. “Teddy.”

He focused on her again.

“I don’t care who you love, and I don’t care who loves you. I know the man you are. Do you understand?”

He nodded, so much happening around the region of his heart, he did not trust himself to speak.

“All right,” she whispered, and again squeezed his hands. “Sleep well and I’ll see you in the morning.”

“You too, poppet.”

She smiled at him.

He bent and kissed her cheek.

They let go and he turned, but before he unlocked the door, she called his name.

He looked over his shoulder at her.

“Thank you,” she whispered, then lifted a hand slightly at her side to indicate the warmth and shelter about her.

“We all survived,” he reminded her.

“Because of you.”

He gave her a soft look, she returned it, then he set about unlocking her door, leaving her room, and he heard it lock again behind him before he’d taken one step down to the chamber he would share with Faunus.

Saturn had the only other accommodation in the inn. Another single on the other side of Moira.

The rest of the warriors were either guarding the inn or hunkering down in tents around it.

He opened the door to his room, which was much larger, and saw both Faunus and Saturn at the table before the window, their big bodies sprawled in chairs designed for the Dellish, which meant they dwarfed them. A fire was raging in the iron in the grate, making the room warm.

And with a full belly, a clean body, seeing his friends sitting there, a bed but a few steps away, of a sudden, he was worn through and all he wanted was to climb in that double bed, pull the rugs over him and sleep for a month.

Alas, he could not do that.

“Sit here,” Faunus demanded, arising from his chair. “If you sit on that bed, you’ll fall into it and not tell us the words that need to be told.”

Teddy went to the now-vacant chair while Faunus sprawled himself on the bed, his head in his hand, elbow to the bed, close to the foot, so he could see better, Teddy in his chair.

It was altogether too pleasing of a view, but fortunately, Teddy was too exhausted to waste time appreciating it, and definitely could do nothing about it.

“Start from the beginning, il mio amore,” Faunus urged.

Teddy looked to Faunus.