He didn’t know what to say but he wasn’t going to disappoint her. He cleared his throat. “I’ve been having this dream since we started sleeping together up in the trees. I’m in this grassy plain. And there’s this blue sky stretching out over me. No Aether in it at all. And the breeze is moving the grass in waves, stirring up bugs. And I’m just walking, my bow sort of combing the tall grass behind me. And there’s not a thing I’m worrying about. It’s a good dream.”

She squeezed him. “Your voice sounds like a midnight fire. All warm and worn in and golden. I could listen to you talk forever.”

“I could never do that.”

She laughed at him. He brought his lips to her ear. “Your scent is like violets in early spring,” he whispered. Then he laughed at himself because though it was true, he sounded like the worst kind of fool.

“Was Vale a good Blood Lord?”

Aria was too eager to learn about her Sense to sleep so they walked into the night.

“Very good. Vale is calm. He thinks things through. He’s patient with people. I think . . . I think if it weren’t a time like this . . . he would be the best man to lead the tribe.”

Maybe that had held him back from making a challenge for Blood Lord, as much as his fear of hurting Talon, Perry realized. He still couldn’t believe his brother had been captured. “He wasn’t going to go after Talon,” he said, remembering the last time they’d been together. “Vale said it meant risking the tribe’s safety. It’s the reason I left.”

“Why do you think Vale changed his mind?”

“I don’t know,” he said. Vale had never put anything above the good of the tribe before, but Talon was his son.

“They’re together. Will you still try to bring them to the outside?”

He looked at her.

“Talon is being cared for,” she said. “You saw him. He has a chance to live in there.”

“I’m not giving up.”

Aria slipped her hand into his. “Even if it’s better for him?”

“Are you saying I should let him go? How could I do that?”

“I don’t know. I’m trying to figure out the same thing.”

Perry stopped. “Aria . . .” He was going to tell her he’d rendered to her. That nothing was the same anymore because of her. But what difference would it make? They only had three more days together. And he knew she had to go home. He knew exactly how much she needed her mother.

She took his other hand. “Yes, Peregrine?” After a moment, she smiled.

He found himself smiling too. “Aria, I don’t understand how you can be so chirky right now.”