“What are you thinking about?” Inva asked, standing up from getting the evening’s fire going. “And you still look cold. Should I get a blanket from the cart?”

“No, I’m fine,” Sonia said slowly, even though the bases of her horns were cold enough to give her a headache. “I’m thinking about Gedon. About the Ordian Civil War. Back in Cavenze, the war had been so far away, even though I was just a kid.”

Inva plopped down next to Sonia and tossed the other woman’s hood up over her horns. “The war never really reached me, either. Too young for conscription. Also, don’t keep quiet when you’re uncomfortable Sonia.”

Sonia blushed and fidgeted, messing with her hood until she found the fur-lined holes and slid her horns through, careful of their jewelry. “Sorry, I get that from Dad. Wait—what do you mean by conscription?”

Inva laughed nervously. “Oh, uh, my… brother got conscripted. Yeah. Brother.”

Sonia tilted her head at her close maybe-more-than-a-friend and had just opened her mouth when she heard a twig snap. Hands went for weapons until the pair looked up to see Paula coming back out of the snow-laden trees holding a bloodied hare by the feet, its white winter coat staining with blood.

“Caught us dinner,” the dark-haired woman said simply. “Can either of you skin?”

Sonia shook her head.

“I was told how to once, but it was a long time ago,” Inva admitted.

Paula shrugged. “I’ll take care of it then.”

“Thanks again for traveling with us, Paula!” Sonia chirped.

Paula grunted. “I told you to stop doing that. We all have a common goal—we all want to talk to that outrageous demon woman. You’d have hired someone capable if you didn’t have me… right?”

“Right!” Sonia nodded.

Paula sighed and fished the carving knife out of her pack and gestured with it. “I don’t want to go out there again so close to dusk, and I don’t want to risk the wind changing, so I hope you two are ready for the smell of charred hare guts.”

Sonia’s smile disappeared.

Inva only laughed. “Won’t bother us in the slightest.”

Speak for yourself, Inva, Sonia thought. She pulled her cloak a little tighter against herself and watched Paula stoking the fire hotter. The metal of the blade gleamed in the dark, and the demon-blooded woman looked away and plugged her nose while the mercenary cleaned the rabbit carcass.

***

This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

A few nights later, the trio had camped again, this time with rations from a nearby town and a gorgeous view. With the stars shining down, they could see for kilometers around, including faint twinkles of light in the valley below the road.

They were sitting around a campfire in a spot that’d been used by other travelers, her and Inva sitting on a log and Paula on a flat stone across from them The mercenary was dressed in her usual dark hunting leathers, face lit up orange by the light of the fire.

Fresh snow, fallen earlier that day, blew like smoke off the tops of trees, and Sonia shivered in the breeze. “We’re almost there, right?” She turned to Inva, thankful the paladin had put her tabard between Sonia’s shoulder and the other woman’s cold metal pauldron.

“We are,” Inva replied. “Just a few more days to Linthel.”

“Do you think she’ll be there?”

“She’d better be,” Paula cut in with a sigh. “Don’t wanna waste my time coming all the way down here.”

Sonia almost stopped herself from asking, but something about the night’s chill and Paula’s guarded expression made her decide to risk it. “I know you’re not the type to talk about yourself, Paula, but why do you want to—”

“To apologize.” Her answer was swift, and she poked with her stick at the fire in the silence that followed, speaking only after the burning wood gave a loud pop. “When I met her, I immediately didn’t like her; she tried to be too friendly. Then suddenly she was a demon, and I thought I had her figured out: she’d been nice as a ruse, strong because she was cheating. I…”

“What made you change your mind?” Inva offered the mercenary a way out.

Paula took it, nodding slowly. “Time, I guess. Talked to people that’d been close to her, Firalex mainly. She saved a whole bunch of people one night, and the Church didn’t even try to take her out. Then, she’d left.

“I think that was what did it. Realizing she was actually just leaving, leaving the house she’d gotten for free to her friends, and moving on. I couldn’t figure out why she’d done it then, if she wasn’t going to milk the reward.” Paula poked at the fire again, and the trio listened as it crackled softly.

“So, you want to ask her why then?” Sonia guessed, tilting her head.

“That’s not what I said,” Paula replied curtly.

Sonia nodded knowingly. “If you say so.”

Paula groaned. “Dhias, it’s like you’re her again sometimes. Always so sure you know what someone’s really feeling!”

“Oh…” Sonia’s head drooped. “Sorry, I—”

“You’re right, by the way.” Paula spat out the words like they’d personally hurt her. “And fuck you for making me say it.”

“She didn’t make you say it,” Inva said.

Paula chuckled. “Fine, whatever. I guess it’s not a big deal or anything. You two act like you’re Dhias-damned disciples of her or something.”

Inva blushed and looked down at her feet. “No, I just want to thank her for… introducing me to some fine people.” She wrapped an arm around Sonia.

The demon-blooded priestess looked from Inva into the fire, then back up at the sky, searching the trees for the hidden moon. “I don’t think so. Not in the same way I follow Dhias. There’s just… I want to work with the woman I feel can change how demon-blooded are viewed, you know.”

“I get that. I’d have called you a lot of nasty things not even a year ago. Now, I honestly think your horns suit you—even if they’re a little heavy-looking.”

“They’re not heavy!” Sonia puffed out her cheeks.

Inva chuckled. “I don’t know if that’s what Paula meant, Sonia. Your horns are lovely and important and everyone should know so!”

Sonia’s stomach did a little flip at Inva’s unexpected words. Sure, she thought so—and her dad thought so—but she was still nervous.

Paula blinked. “What did I mean, Inva?”

The paladin deflated. “Oh… Never mind then. I guess I was reading too much into it.”

Sonia giggled; the sound made Inva smile, and it flipped Paula’s frown into a smirk.

As the three of them turned their heads toward the sky, a crimson star shot across it, low and burning bright.