Mira didn't say anything else that night. She banked the fire, checked the guards' watch rotation, and walked off toward the riverbed without looking back at Gad.
He didn't sleep much. When morning came, he found her sitting alone near the water, knees pulled to her chest, staring at nothing.
"You didn't answer me last night," he said, sitting a careful distance away. "About what Bellan said."
"I know I didn't."
"You don't have to."
"I know that too." She picked up a flat stone, turned it over in her fingers without throwing it. "I've already thought about it. Before Bellan even said the word mirrored seal."
Gad went still. "Thought about what, exactly."
"Binding myself to whatever's inside you." She finally looked at him. "I watched that thing almost take you apart in the courtyard
