The pack dispersed the way a storm does, in rumbling clumps, muttering and glancing back. Isolde was the first to vanish, a pale shape gliding up the stone steps without a word. Ariana stayed where she was on her knees, listening to the strange second heartbeat in her chest, and waited for someone to explain that this was a joke.
Nobody did. Kael crouched in front of her again and took her wrists, turned her palms up, and swore under his breath. They were torn raw from the forest floor. He drew a strip of lining from the hem of his cloak with one tug and began to wrap them himself, his hands careful and slightly unsteady.
Where his skin met hers, heat shivered up her arms. She yanked free so hard she nearly fell.
“Don’t touch me. Where I come from, you can’t just say a thing in front of
