Terrin felt like he had never eaten so much in his life. They knew they should ration their food, but they quickly went through half their stores before Snow forced them to stop.

“We will need to locate some more food at the rate we are going through our supplies.”

Terrin shrugged.

“I know how to hunt and find every edible plant in this forest. We may not be feasting, but we won’t starve,” he promised as he chewed on some dried meat. “I’m more concerned about where we’re going next.”

“I know my aunt is going to make her move soon assuming she had not already set her plan in motion.”

“Her move? To do what?” he asked. Abruptly, his eyes widened as he blurted out, “What’s your real name?”

She averted her gaze.

“Terrin, there are a few things I have not told you.”

“I’m listening,” he said as he pushed his long mop of hair out of his eyes.

Snow focused on the motion. Without a word, she grabbed a knife from nearby and approached him. Terrin recoiled.

“What’re you doing?”

“You need a haircut, and I do not know where to start my story, so it would be easier to talk about if I had something else to focus on.”

He let out a displeased grunt as she pulled on a chunk of his hair and roughly thwacked it off with the blade. She repeated the action a few times in silence before she spoke.

“My aunt is trying to start a war with Amora.” Terrin was going to comment, but he grimaced instead as she roughly chopped off another chunk of his hair.

“She enchanted that spider to bring me here and force me to kill myself with an Amorian weapon so she could accuse Amora of an assassination. Because I survived, she will need a new plan.”

He cringed as she aggressively sliced off another long strand of hair. Thwack! Thwack! Thwack!

“Start a war? Why?”

“Because she wants to take over Amora and expand the Lur Alavian kingdom, most likely,” Snow theorized. Thwack.

“How would she benefit from that? Is your family one of the four noble houses? Would you be entitled to a portion of land and resources from conquest? But even then, there’s a new ruler after the deaths of...” the end of his sentence died on his lips. “What’s your name, Snow?”

Snippets of conversations from town abruptly flooded his mind.

“Did you hear? People have been sayin' the king and queen in the Land of Snow were murdered.”

“Aye, and their beloved princess has vanished. Ran away out of grief, I reckon.”

He couldn't believe how stupid he’d been. The way she talked, her pale skin, everything she knew. She couldn't be anything but royalty. The little details clicked into place as she took a deep breath.

“Elurra Isálte,” she answered softly.

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Terrin felt like the ground had unexpectedly dropped out from under him.

“You’re the princess of Lur Alava.”

She nodded bashfully.

“And your aunt, who sent that assassin to kill you, is the current Queen Regent of the North.”

“Correct. And if we do nothing, she will conquer all of Incari, or die trying, along with hundreds of innocent soldiers.” She stepped back to look at her handiwork in the firelight. To Terrin’s dismay, she grimaced. “Well....you do not look that bad.”

Terrin groaned and touched his uneven hair. He glanced over at her again, and the absurdity of her identity washed over him anew.

“I saved a princess," he stuttered.

She rolled her mesmerizing blue eyes, which were still visible in the waning firelight.

“We need to figure out what my aunt is going to do next. Your homeland depends on it.”

“She seems to enjoy assassinations. Maybe she will try to kill someone again.” He started to prepare for bed by pulling out their sleeping mats and clearing a spot on the forest floor

“Very probable, but who? She may blame Amora for another important assassination or try to assassinate someone of importance here.”

Elurra helped store the rest of their food by hanging it in a nearby tree like Terrin had taught her so, if a bear or another wild animal came along, it would be safe.

“Another Lur Alavian dignitary? Someone who doesn’t like her rule?” Terrin proposed.

“She will not want to undermine her authority. If people in her way keep mysteriously disappearing or dying, it will be hard to get support for her war.” She was silent for a moment before she added, “I think I was convenient. She needed me gone, and she wanted a war, so she was fulfilling two goals. Since she has gotten rid of me and has had a chance to build up her forces, I bet she will want Amora to attack her. That would give her the upper hand, especially because the Amorian Army will have to cope with the Lur Alavian cold.”

“If that’s the case, she will be trying to assassinate someone important here in Amora.” Terrin burrowed into his bedding, and Elurra nodded as she joined him. They’d found over the last week of travel that snuggling together starved off the biting chill during the night.

“That makes sense. But who is important enough to incite a war? Who is going to be her target?”

Terrin found that, although it had never bothered him before, he couldn’t seem to pry his attention away from how her breath felt against his neck and the warmth of her body pressed against his side. He wasn’t sure what was wrong with him, but everything about her was suddenly overwhelming. He chastised himself mentally and forced his mind to focus on her question. An idea came to him.

“Snow, err, I mean Princess Elur...Your Highness?” he stuttered helplessly.

Elurra emitted a peal of laughter.

“Keep calling me Snow, and never use my title, please. It is safer that way.”

She nuzzled her face into his shoulder. To his dismay, Terrin felt his heart thunder in his chest.

Why is my body acting like this?

“Snow, I think I might know where your aunt is going to strike. Prince Kai, the first prince of Amora, is holding his birthday celebration sometime soon. I heard some of the townsfolk discussing it. It’s supposed to be a three-day event with every noble in the five kingdoms in attendance.”

Elurra sat up beside him, her eyes alight.

“You are brilliant! That is a perfect place for her to pick her target. When is it?”

“I think it was supposed to be by the no moons this season?”

“The no moons?” she demanded as she glanced upwards. It was hard to see through the thick foliage, but Terrin was certain both moons were waning and would soon be gone. “That is only a week or so from now! Can we make it to the capital in time?”

“I’m not sure. If we follow the roads, we are going to miss it. We would have to backtrack towards Glan’ak before then going southwest toward Unérith.”

He drew a map for her in the dirt, which depicted their approximate position and the capital. He added roads, which wound along the border before finally turning south toward the capital.

“However, if we cut straight through the forest,” he continued, “we could theoretically make it there in time. But I don’t know the way, and the forest is never straightforward,” he said as he drew a straight line between their location and the capital. Elurra pondered their options.

“We have to try though,” she stated, looking at his drawing.

“But how will we get there if we don’t know the way? And what will we do once we arrive? We can’t simply stroll into the prince’s ball.”

Elurra yawned and laid back down.

“That sounds like a tomorrow problem. Do not fret, we will figure something out.”

Despite his exhaustion, her soft breathing and supple body pressed against him made it impossible to sleep. His heart was racing, and his blood felt like it was flowing to all the wrong places.

This new body is going to take a long time to get used to, he realized with resignation.