Ezo was in a horrible mood, and it was showing. Since their journey began, everything caused him to overreact. The closer they traveled towards his former home, the more the saddle caused him to ache, and the sun was too hot, or the nights too cold, or Kammon was just too Kammon.

They were four days out of Tam's Flat, and no matter where Kammon stopped, Ezo complained. Now, they were resting on the shore of a small, slow-flowing creek beside the road with plenty of shade. It was a well-used resting place, but Ezo kicked at the logs that set around an old fire pit.

"What's wrong now?" Kammon asked. He didn't look up from where he filled his waterskin at the creek's edge.

"I didn't say anything."

"You've barely said anything at all today."

"Are you complaining?" Ezo demanded.

Kammon stood up and dusted his pants with one hand as he looked up at Ezo, who had the higher ground. "Normally, no, but something is upsetting you, and we both know it."

"I don't want to talk."

"Good. I don't want to hear it anyway," Kammon grumbled.

"You're infuriating!" Ezo yelled at him. "You want me to talk, but you don't. Which is it? It's not like we're running headfirst into your destroyed childhood looking for something that will prove your life is even more of a lie than you knew!"

He walked away from the riverbank and, more importantly, from Kammon. It wasn't like Kammon didn’t understand why he was upset. Kammon didn't deserve his lashing out, but he seemed to try his best to cause it.

"Ezo."

There was nothing soft or consoling in his tone as he called Ezo's name. When Ezo turned, he realized his lover wasn't looking his way. A dust cloud rose softly behind them from the road they were heading down. Ezo offered Kammon a hand up from the small bank. Ezo was in no mood for company, but if someone interesting came to keep his mind from his worries, it might be a welcome reprieve.

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They waited in silence for the travelers to reach them, but Ember came back and screeched once over Kammon's head before she disappeared into the open sky.

"What does that mean?"

Kammon watched where she'd disappeared, but when he looked back at Ezo, he was frowning. "It was a warning. It's too late to move now, though. They'll see us no matter what we do."

"She couldn't have given us more time?" Ezo asked.

"Apparently not. I think she's avoiding me."

"Why would she do that?" And how could she? She was a part of him and his magic.

Kammon let out a snort. "She doesn't like it when I'm in a bad mood. She likes it even less when you're in a bad mood."

Ezo glared at Kammon, but didn't say anything. The dust cloud dissipated as the winds shifted around them. As soon as the riders were in sight, Kammon let out a string of curses that Ezo had only heard from the kids he'd met on the streets of Dezra. Kammon walked over to his horse and shrugged off his cloak, pushing it into a saddlebag. "Kammon?"

"Don't tell them any more than you have to, Ezo. And keep your hand hidden from them."

"Who is it?"

"The Imperium has sent someone from the university," Kammon said. "You can tell by the red cloaks."

“I don’t think hiding your cloak will keep them from recognizing you, Kammon. You’re hard to forget.”

“I can’t work out if that was a compliment or not.” There was a slight tug at the corner of Kammon’s lips as he said it.

“It wasn’t the damn jacket that made me think of you after Mason Creek.”

“No?”

“Shut up,” Ezo was smiling as well. “In all seriousness, though, why hide it?”

“The university is a big place, and there are a lot of people that come and go. Hopefully, it’s just someone passing by, and it has nothing to do with you or me.”

Ezo snorted, but Kammon continued speaking without addressing his interruption.

“If they’ve come for us, we could be in for trouble.”

“Nothing we haven’t faced before.”

“If they know who we are, they won’t have sent idiots and charlatans to take us in. And Ezo, I am sworn to follow the Imperium’s orders, Disavowed or not.” Kammon looked at him. “You aren’t, though. You can run. You don’t have to follow.”

“Thought you knew by now,” Ezo said as he grabbed Kammon and pulled him close. “Where you go, I go.” He pressed a kiss to his lover’s lips and was surprised by how Kammon deepened it immediately. There was desperation in his kiss, though, and it worried Ezo more than any words his lover had already spoken.

“We’ll manage whatever they throw at us, right?” Ezo said.

Kammon nodded, but as they waited for the men to arrive, Ezo wondered why Jacob had been so determined to keep him from the halls of learning. What hid behind the polished halls? And how much did Kammon know that he had yet to reveal to Ezo?