He leaned his head over hers. "What?"
"Need shelter… we could be…" Gales stole the rest of her words.
"Be what?"
"Hurt," Lily said.
Vyrl clenched the reins. Inside his gloves, his fingers had gone numb. Had he brought his love out here only to lose her to the fury of a blue storm? No! He would never let it happen. He would die first — yes, he would — before he allowed anything to hurt Lily. Not that he was sure how his dying would help matters, but that was how he felt.
Lily was right, though; if they didn't locate shelter, they could find themselves in serious trouble. He couldn't see much of anything. Moonglaze's head was barely more than a shadow in the swirling flurries. The lyrine had slowed to a walk, stepping carefully along the trail.
"— down," Lily was saying. "We're probably safer on foot."
"Yes, I think so." Vyrl reined in the lyrine and dismounted, then steadied Lily as she slid down next to him. Clutching the reins, he put his arm around her shoulders. Darkness whirled around them and wind ripped at their cloaks. His teeth chattered with cold.
Their best hope was probably to take refuge within the clumps of boulders that dotted the meadows on either side of the trail, if they could find some. He took a cautious step, drawing Lily through the swirling storm, almost blind in the darkness. Moonglaze followed, crowding them, his body too close.
"Don't do that," Vyrl muttered at the lyrine.
"He wants to protect us," Lily said.
Vyrl swallowed, recognizing she spoke the truth. What if his rash decision to run away ended in tragedy? Steeling his resolve, he took another step into the icy dark. "I can't see a blasted thing."
She spoke with reassurance. "We'll manage. We've been through worse."
"That's true." He said it to comfort her. Although he had experienced bad weather up here before, he had been part of a well-equipped caravan then. They had simply set up enviro-tents and sat out the weather in comfort. Right now he had nothing but his.palmtop; his already stuffed pack hadn't had room for much else. The palmtop could do little more than tell him they were in trouble, which wasn't exactly a great revelation.
Lily tugged on his arm. "Over here!"
He squinted into the darkness. "You see something?"
She pulled his hand forward until it hit rock. "This."
"Little ones, but that's enough."
He groped along the wall with one hand, drawing Lily and Moonglaze with him, all of them faltering through the storm, their progress slow. Snow dusted Vyrl's eyelashes, making it hard to see, and he shivered constantly despite his heavy cloak. He had checked the forecast twice that afternoon. It had predicted chill weather in the mountains, yes, but it had also claimed the night would be calm, with only a dusting of snow.
Suddenly he stumbled into an open space. He regained his balance with ease, never losing hold of Lily or the reins. Mercifully, the storm had quit tearing at them. He drew in a ragged breath, his first full one since they had dismounted.
"You did it!" Lily hugged him hard, as if he had just performed a great feat instead of lurching about in the dark like a dolt. He smiled, his heart warming even if his body felt half-frozen.
When he pulled her close, he felt her shaking. "It's all right," he said. "I think I know this place." He drew her farther into the cave, waving his hand in front of them. The lyrine moved at his side, a large presence in the dark.
His knuckles hit a wall with painful force. "Ah!" Grimacing, he shook his hand. "I found the back."
Lily's cloak rustled as she felt the wall. "We can wait out the storm here."
"Yes." Vyrl reached around for the lyrine, with no success. Dropping his hand, he brushed its back. "Hey! Moonglaze is lying down." Although it wasn't unheard of for a lyrine, it was unusual enough to startle Vyrl.
Lily turned in the small space. "Are you well, Moon?" The lyrine nickered to her.
"He made a wall for us," she said. "He's going to sleep that way, I think."
"He's warming the cave." Although Vyrl still felt cold, he was no longer shivering. He scratched the base of Moonglaze's horn. Although lyrine would let people ride them, the animals rarely showed much affinity for humans, especially the great beasts like Moonglaze. In rare instances, a war-lyrine would decide it liked a particular human, though Vyrl had never figured out what made them choose a person. He wondered if the Ruby Empire biologists had tried to breed loyalty into them, but it either hadn't fully taken or else millennia of genetic drift had changed its manifestation. Whatever the reason, he was glad Moonglaze accepted his company and seemed to approve of Lily.
Lily put her palms against Vyrl's chest. In the darkness he could just make out the pale oval of her face. "Do you think the snow will trap us here?" Her voice quavered.
"Don't be afraid." He curled his gloved fingers around hers. "If this is the place I think, it's under a shelf sticking out from the cliff. It would be almost impossible for snow to block our way out."
"It will be an adventure."
He bent his head and brushed his lips over hers. "I do so love you."
Complete silence.
"Lily?" When she remained silent, alarm surged in Vyrl. She couldn't have been hurt, not in the few moments—
"Hai, Vyrl," she murmured. "And I do love you, too."
He gulped, comprehending what he had done. Caught up in their predicament, he had spoken his love aloud for the first time. Embarrassed, he started to stutter, but she put her finger against his lips, rescuing him from the need to answer.
Vyrl tugged her close, and they sank down onto the rocky ground, wedged between Moonglaze and the wall. He wrapped his cloak around them both, drawing her inside the warmth. But when he tried to kiss her, she ducked her head.
"Lily, let me," he coaxed. "We'll be married tomorrow."
"Goodness, be patient." She stroked his cheek. "Would you have us grapple in a cold, hard blizzard instead of having a proper wedding night?"
Grappling with Lily anywhere sounded just fine to Vyrl, but he could tell this wouldn't be right for her. So he made himself say, "I guess not." He still held her close, though, settling her body against his.
For a while they just sat, listening to the storm. Vyrl imagined how the snow must look, drifted in great blue swells. Eventually he said, "Do you know, snow isn't blue on other worlds."
Lily stirred. "What color is it?"
"White."
"White? How dull."
He laughed. "Their clouds are white, too, or gray."
"People must like coming here to have good water."
"Actually, the water makes them sick."
"But why? It tastes so good."
He kissed her temple. "We have nanomeds in our bodies, little biological machines to deal with the impurities that turn our water blue. Our ancestors were engineered that way. Most people don't have them. My mother had to receive treatments before she could live here."
"It must be strange and wonderful, to live above the sky." Her voice had an odd sound now, as if she feared her own questions. "Don't you ever want to go there?"
"Not really."
"Not at all?"
"Not at all." Lowering his head, he slipped back the hood of her cloak and nibbled at her ear. "Everything I want is here."
"Even if you could marry a great off-world queen?"
Ah. Now he understood. "Even then."
Her relief flowed over him. "She does seem awfully old."
He laughed. "I must seem awfully young to her."
Mischief danced in Lily's voice. "But you are so very fine, especially when you are falling over after running in the plains."
Vyrl glowered. "I'm not clumsy."
She snuggled closer. "If I tell you a secret, you must promise to tell no one."
His interest picked up. "All right."