“Nice,” Otto said.
Arcen laughed. “I’m not sure we can take all the details after all, son.”
Tayel laughed along with the rest of them, but only barely. The day — hell, the last two months — was catching up to her. Her muscles hurt. Her mind was foggy. She’d cried a good lifetime’s worth of tears. Jace was right where he was supposed to be, where she wanted him to be, and maybe it was the after effects of hearing about Mom, but Tayel felt tired, disconnected. Like her part was done.
Across the field, a woman walked toward them, away from the crowd. Tayel didn’t need more than a glance to know it was Shy, whose black hair and bare arms stood out against the snow.
Tayel nudged Otto. “I’ll be back in a minute,” she whispered.
Without a word to anyone else she slipped away from the conversation at a brisk walk. She couldn’t do much else. Nothing short of another Rokkir siege was going to push Tayel past a stroll anytime soon, not even Shy, despite how eager Tayel was to talk with her.
That realization slowed Tayel a little, that the airiness she felt was excitement. It was a complete one eighty from when they’d met for the first time after that magball game in camp. Shy the Arrogant Banshee and Shy the Bossy Raider Princess seemed like entirely different people — people Tayel would never mistake for the woman in front of her.
“Hey,” she said.
“Hey.” Shy’s breath fogged the air. “That’s Jace’s family?”
“Yeah.”
“Why do you look so defeated?” she chattered. “This is everything you’ve worked for. I thought you’d be happier.”
“I am happy,” Tayel said. “Just tired and, well, I guess, I found out my Mom is gone. For certain.”
Shy stiffened; even her shivering stopped. “I’m so sorry.”
“I didn’t think she had much of a chance.”
“Do you, I don’t know, do you need some time?”
“No. No, I’m okay, but thank you.”
“Okay.”
“If I seem off, it’s probably just because…” Tayel managed a weak laugh.
Shy smiled small, a sad, maybe even sympathetic gesture that matched her resigned tone. “Pick a reason?”
“Any one of the several, yes.”
Their laughter dwindled into the wind as the crowd at the end of the field made way for two snow rovers. They parked on the city streets, and whoever came out was lost in a swarm of people.
“Survivors from the trip here?” Tayel asked.
“It’s more of the evac crew from Kalanie, looks like,” Shy said.
“Oh right. How’s Fehn?”
“Went off in the first rover maybe a half hour ago. He looked good.”
“Like he’s going to make it ‘good’?”
Shy nodded. She hugged her arms to her chest.
“When do you think we can see him?”
“I don’t know. When we get back, I guess.”
“Any news from your brother?”
“No, but the communications center at Kalanie assured me the outpost was fine. So unless he ran outside swinging his cane, I think there’s a good chance I still have a sibling.” She rubbed her arms like she was trying to set fire to them. “Xite! Sorry, it’s just so fragging cold.”
Tayel grimaced. Of course Shy was cold, with the shivering, chattering, and no coat. And Tayel just stood there like an oblivious cob.
“No need to look so guilty,” Shy said. “It’s not like I’m dying.”
Tayel’s apology was ready to say, her jacket ready to be offered when she remembered Shy’s “offer” for the shield prototype that morning. She grinned.
“You know,” she started, “I’m a much more experienced cold dweller than you.”
“And?”
“In almost every way.”
“What are you…?” Shy stopped mid-sentence to sigh.
“I’m saying—”
“Oh you’re the worst.”
“—That if you wanted my coat, I’d understand,” Tayel chided. “I might not be as vulnerable to ending up in situations where I’ll freeze my ass off.”
Shy crossed her arms. “You think you’re hilarious.”
“Plus,” Tayel said, stripping out of her coat, “I’m wearing a thermal under here.”
“So you are.” Shy stared at the fur-lined jacket. “You’re sure?”
“Shy.”
She took it, and it was over her shoulders and zipped in what had to be record time. “Thanks.”
“No problem.”
Tayel brushed a falling stream of icy silver off her shoulder. Not a big problem, anyway.
Shy frowned.
“What’s up?” Tayel asked.
“What now?”
“What do you mean?”
“Where are you going now? I assume you’re going with them somewhere.” Shy nudged her chin toward Jace and his family.
“Actually, I was hoping I could go with you.”
Shy straightened. Her eyes widened.
“I love Jace, and — and I hope he’d be willing to come, too, but if his family wants to go hide, I can’t go with him. Even if hiding is, you know, justifiable at this point. I want to help stop the Rokkir, maybe help the Varg if I can. The best place to do that seems to be with you. If that’s okay, I mean.”
“Of course!” Shy grinned, an ear-to-ear smile that brought the airy feeling in Tayel back to the surface. “Gives me time to think up revenge for turning my phrasing against me.”
“Oh good.”
“I’m surprised is all. I expected you to go once you found them.”
“I’m a little surprised, too.”
“Is it because of your Mom?”
Tayel picked the hem of her sleeve. “I think it’s for a lot of reasons.”
“Fair.”
“Yeah. So. Speaking of…”
Shy’s eyes narrowed in time with her lifting smirk.
Woman had a penchant for reading subtext, much to Tayel’s discomfort, but she pushed past the doubt barring her tongue. “Now that we’re done with all this, and it sounds like I’m clear to uh, stay with you, were we going to…?”
“To what?” Shy beamed with a wide-eyed look of pure, faked obliviousness. She was getting her revenge much sooner than Tayel could have planned for.
“Were we going to talk about what we discussed this morning?” she asked. “Before Jace woke up?”
“Talk? You mean you don’t just want to throw down right here?” Shy teased.
Tayel choked on a laugh. “Uh, I mean. Hm. Well I did give you my coat.”
“Such a lady.”
“And I saved you from Ruxbane.”
Shy scoffed. “Another couple seconds and I could have done that myself.”
Tayel couldn’t counter that one. It was probably true. But she saw the fun in it, felt how quickly her initial doubt vanished, replaced by the comfort she’d come to expect from being around Shy. It was the little things: Shy’s wry grin, her frazzled braid, the way the bandage on her jawline brought out just how dark brown her eyes were by contrast.
Tayel pushed past a whole new layer of doubt and took a careful step forward. She slid her arms under Shy’s, held her breath, and waited out three terrifying heartbeats before Shy pulled her closer. She breathed out in a rush at the sensation. At how close they were. Heat rose to her face in a dizzying wave. Her heart hammered. Every nerve was on fire, but she lifted her mouth to Shy’s.
Tayel relished the contact. She relished Shy’s tightening grip, how strangely good her cracked lips tasted, how cold and soft her nose was, the way her back muscles shifted under her coat. Tayel took it all in and tried to memorize every perfect second. Just her, the dissipating chatter, the falling snow, and Shy.
Chapter 31
Ruxbane had only been gone from the Floating Isle for three days, but it felt like a lifetime. Once empty, the thousands of stasis tubes built into the lab now housed the fruits of the Rokkir’s invasion: Varg. They floated unconscious in their individual containers, yellow-green liquid bubbling around their broad frames. Ruxbane sighed at the magnitude of his people’s triumph.