Yann wrapped a gar-fur cloak around Eliska’s shoulders and tied it under her chin. He spent way too much time adjusting it around her and checking the collar to make sure it didn’t cut into her neck.

He also looked way too deeply into her eyes while he did it. “How’s that?” he asked.

Her cheeks turned bright red. “It’s very toasty. Thank you.”

He bit his lip to stop himself from grinning and turned away. “Let’s go—and you tell me if you start to get tired. I’ll bring you back.”

“What will you do—carry me over your shoulder?”

He shot her a smirk over his shoulder as he walked out of the cabin. “Don’t tempt me.” He waited for her to come outside and yelled through the door to Wesh before Yann pulled the door shut. “We’re going, Wesh!”

“Take care of Eliska, my boy!” Wesh called back.

Yann pulled the door shut. He would not stop grinning at her. “Oh, I’ll take care of you, all right.”

She forced herself to look away. So it was going to be like that. “Or I’ll take care of you—one or the other.”

“You can take care of me anytime you like,” he returned. “Just say the word and I’m there.”

“Stop it,” she muttered.

They set off through the snow. This was the first time Eliska had left the house since she woke up.

She stopped a few yards from the door when she saw Marine sitting in the snow at a distance from the path.

“What is she doing out there?” Eliska whispered.

“She never does anything except sit there,” Yann murmured back. “She doesn’t come any closer or go any farther away. She’s been over there in almost exactly the same spot since we moved down here from the mountain.”

“Don’t you even invite her inside—or give her anything to eat? I can’t believe that.”

“It isn’t because we haven’t tried. She moves off if anyone goes near her. Neils leaves food out for her and he says she eats it. She never comes close enough to come inside. We would be glad to have her if she did.”

Eliska could only stand and stare at the girl. Whatever happened between Marine, Anríq, and Eliska affected Eliska.

It connected her to Marine in ways Eliska didn’t understand yet. It opened a door that had been closed before.

Marine wasn’t a shade of Eliska’s past. She understood that now. Marine was a completely different person with a completely different relationship to her magic.

Eliska never would have dared to commune with the Dark the way Marine did—and yet she remained as powerful as ever. Her madness gave her access to a dimension of magic Eliska couldn’t even dream of.

Yann got her attention by touching her elbow. “Come on. Let’s keep going. She’ll be there when we get back and I don’t want you to tire yourself.”

He set off down the well-beaten path. The light coming through the treetops lit up the snow even though the sun didn’t break through the cloud cover.

Eliska followed him. The fur on her new gar-skin boots made her slip on the ice. She had to pay attention to every step.

She only walked a dozen yards before her weakness caught up with her. Walking through the snow took more energy than she realized.

Yann kept stopping to wait for her. She hated slowing him down. He was obviously used to walking much faster out here.

He turned off on a side path leading away from the main walkway. “This is one of the places we usually collect wood,” he told her over his shoulder. “I’ll cut it for you. Then you can carry one or two sticks back to the house. I’ll take the rest.”

“Thanks a lot,” she grumbled. “Just tell the truth. I’ll be carrying one stick if I carry any.”

He laughed at her and stopped next to a huge tree that had toppled over in the forest.

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The branches had died and the needles had completely fallen off. The branches were completely dry and brittle.

He took out an axe Eliska had never seen before and started chopping the dead branches away from the trunk.

“Where did you get that axe?” she asked. “You didn’t have it when we landed on the mountain.”

“We found another abandoned cabin deeper in the woods—a much bigger cabin. We got some tools and blankets from there.”

“Why didn’t you stay there instead of building this cabin here?” she asked.

“The roof had completely collapsed—and we’d already built this cabin. We’d been staying here for almost a month before we found it.”

“A month!” she gasped. “Was I out for that long?”

“You weren’t the only one. Anríq only woke up three days before you. You were both out the whole time.”

She looked away, but just then, he came over to her holding a handful of short, chopped logs. He put them in her arms and started loading her up.

She scanned the woods while she waited. He only gave her a few logs before he started cutting some more for himself.

These woods sure looked bleak in the snow, especially considering how the men of the Black Watch had been living while she’d been out of her senses.

In a way, the very harshness of this Island gave it its unique appeal. No one else would choose to live like this. It was the best protection the group could ask for.

It didn’t offer unlimited protection, though. Whoever or whatever was looking for the Watch wouldn’t just give up because the party landed in this Island.

Yann came back over to her carrying his own load. “Don’t tell me you want to go running back to Anríq so soon,” he chided. “We just got here.”

“I was just….” She spun around to stare at him. “Why do you mention him? He isn’t here.”

“That’s the point, isn’t it? Everyone can see how you look at each other and how you act around him. It’s pretty obvious how you feel about each other.”

“What are you talking about?!” she countered. Then her jaw dropped. “Are you jealous?!”

“Well, who wouldn’t be? He’s bigger, stronger, and better looking than I am. You’re obviously a lot more attracted to him than you are to me.”

She tried to hold eye contact with him, but she wound up looking away.

Any woman would be attracted to Anríq for his looks alone. His pure heart and soul shone through it all. It made him irresistible.

She headed back in the direction from which they’d come. “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she told Yann over her shoulder.

He followed her. “You can admit it. He’s everything I wish I could be but I’m not. He has you practically eating out of his hand…..”

She spun around to confront him even as she saw herself reacting overly emotionally to his comments. “He does not! I was worried about him. That’s all.”

“You said it yourself,” he countered. “The men of the Black Watch swear an oath of celibacy and never marry. We’re forbidden to take wives or to raise our own children….”

“Have you taken the oath?” Eliska asked. “You never said.”

Now it was his turn to look away. “I haven’t yet, but I will.”

“Why would you if you want to marry and have a family? It isn’t too late if you haven’t taken the oath.”

“I couldn’t let the Watch down. I couldn’t turn my back on everything my father has done for me. I never asked for this, you know. I never asked to be born into the Watch.”

“Then leave it. Your father will understand. I’m sure he will.”

He cocked his head to study her. “Would you give me a chance if I did?”

She spun away and started walking again. “You don’t understand. It isn’t like that.”

He dogged her footsteps every step of the way. “Is it not like that because of me—or because of Anríq?”

“Will you stop talking about Anríq?!” she snapped over her shoulder. “This has nothing to do with him.”

“What does it have to do with, then? Everything was going fine between us before he showed up.”

“Stop it, Yann!” She heard herself screaming at him. Could everyone else hear her—including Anríq?

She summoned every ounce of resolve she possessed and turned around to face him. She fought her voice under control, but it still quavered with buried emotion.

She couldn’t even identify what emotion she was feeling right now. Yann was right. Everything had been going so well between them before Anríq turned up.

She couldn’t even say she felt something for Anríq—not anything that could draw her away from Yann.

Anríq was in a completely different class of human being. He was so far out of her reach that she never even thought of him like that.

Yann was not out of her reach. He was very real and right here in front of her.

She’d always known she could get together with Yann if she chose to. It never crossed her mind before that she could get together with Anríq.

It didn’t cross her mind now, either, because she already knew it was impossible.

She took a deep breath and tried to steady herself.

“Listen,” she breathed. “Anríq is a Servant. He’s dedicated himself to serving humanity.”

“I know that,” Yann countered a little too venomously. “He’s a better man than I am. He’s better at everything than I am—and he’s a magic-user. You have that in common with him. You don’t have it in common with me.”

She held up her hand to steady herself as much as him. “I’m sorry you feel that way about him—and I’m sorry if anything I did gave you the impression that I was interested in him.”

“You are interested in him. Do you think I’m blind?”

She had to shut her eyes to stay calm. “I’ve always been alone…..”

“I told you it doesn’t have to be that way,” he interrupted. “You could change.”

“I can’t change. You don’t understand what I am. You wouldn’t suggest that if you did.”

“Would you change for Anríq if he asked you to?”

She looked away—mostly to think about how to answer that. What if….?

Yann misunderstood her silence and snorted at her. “So you would change for him but not for me.”

“He doesn’t think of me that way. He doesn’t think of anyone that way. That isn’t part of what he thinks about.”

“Would you like him to? Of course you would. Any girl would.”

She opened her mouth to argue back, but he didn’t stick around to listen. He sidestepped around her and took off walking back up the path toward the cabin.

End of Chapter 33.