The Bartoq Mountains came into view just as the sun was a finger’s width from the western horizon. From this distance, they were barely discernible—only a slightly more jagged line between land and sky to the north. Gordy descended into a meadow close enough to another small traveler’s town that the trio could walk there before the last dregs of daylight washed away. They’d share a room in an inn tonight, then be across the mountains tomorrow.

They hadn’t stopped since their midday rest. Dante began the leg thinking about Sol in an attempt to not think about Bear and how she had been looking at him as she gripped his shirt, subtly tugging him to her. That manipulative little vixen knew what she was doing. He’d been too bewitched to even attempt to walk away.

But thinking about Sol made him think about the fact that the next—and last—time he would see the Lord of the Lawless, he’d be receiving three hundred thousand golds.

For capturing the princess and delivering her to her doom.

For capturing Bear and delivering her to her doom.

He hadn’t wrapped his arms around her, and she hadn’t asked him to. Though she still sat up pressing her back into his chest rather than duck low behind Adrina. Instead, Dante awkwardly gripped his own outer thighs, cursing the broken saddle.

The trio ate and washed up before obtaining a room. Dante remained in the tavern below, drinking alone, trusting Bear and Adrina to watch over one another. He’d see if either of them descended the stairs, anyway. And if he’d tried hard enough, he could probably focus his hearing on them, even through the voices of the other patrons and the floor that separated them.

But he didn’t want to listen. He didn’t want to hear Bear’s voice. He didn’t want to know one more single thing about her. She was a package and nothing more.

Hours later, Dante opened the door to find a room nearly identical to the one they stayed in in Sartu. Bear was back in the dress he’d bought her, though most of it was covered by a blanket as she was already curled up asleep. Her traveling clothes were folded neatly on the floor, his leathers folded and laying on top of them.

Tamar—no need to keep up the Adrina schtick with Bear asleep—sat at the table nibbling on some chocolate.

“Been rooting through my pack?” he said quietly, joining her. Too bad she hadn’t found those hot peppers. That would have made for an interesting night.

She rolled her eyes. “Your wife offered them to me. She said they were hers.” They were. Bear picked them out herself from that shop in Sartu this morning, winking at him as she added them to their tab.

Dante shook his head, resting his arm on the table. “You can stop with that newlyweds and lovebirds nonsense anytime.”

Tamar ran her tongue around her mouth in an attempt to clean chocolate that wasn’t there. “You’re really not taking her to Pregg?” she asked, sitting the piece of chocolate down and wiping her fingers on her pants.

Dante lifted his hand off the table in a gesture of annoyance. “Why the fuck would I take her to Pregg?”

“You’re not going to introduce her to…” Tamar glanced at the princess, Dante following her gaze.

“She’s asleep,” he confirmed.

Tamar was still for a moment, listening. Then she laughed quietly. “She does have cute little snores.”

Dante hated the smile that tugged at his lips.

“You’re not taking her to meet Delle?” Tamar continued now that she knew their conversation was private, tucking her short brown hair behind her ear and leaning back in her chair as if settling in for a long conversation.

Dante scoffed. “Again, why the fuck would I take her to meet Delle?”

Tamar had that knowing smile again. “I think she’d want to meet the woman who has you flustered and making the googliest of goo-goo eyes. You’ve never looked at me like that.”

Dante squeezed the bridge of his nose. He wasn’t sure which was more annoying: last night’s conversation with Bear about Tamar or this conversation with Tamar about Bear. “That’s because you practically are my cousin.”

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Tamar laughed again. “True. But gross. Don’t say that again.”

Dante allowed himself a laugh as well. Bear was asleep, after all.

He and Tamar weren’t actually cousins, not like Tamar and Delle. They weren’t related by blood at all. And every time they’d fooled around over the years had just been because they were bored with nothing else to do. Neither felt anything more than familial loyalty, friendship, and mild attraction--just enough to help the other scratch that itch when needed.

“Also, I didn’t give her goo-goo eyes, either.”

Tamar picked the chocolate back up and bit off another small piece. “You did. And she gave them right back, you know.”

Dante rolled his eyes. He knew. But he also knew that was part of her game, her plan, her manipulation, whatever it was. She wasn’t dumb, his Bear.

No. She wasn’t his Bear.

She was a package, and nothing more.

She was a monster, and nothing more.

Tamar pointed the chocolate at him as she continued. “I’m going to tell Delle all about our little friend, so you might as well plan on bringing Bear by after you’ve accomplished whatever mission you’re on. Her interest is definitely going to be piqued.”

Dante’s chest tightened. There would be no Bear after he’d accomplished his mission. Maybe the princess would live--depending on who he was delivering her to--but she would no longer be Bear. He swallowed the guilt and his internal protests at the thought. “For fuck’s sake, she can’t be trusted with our names. I would never let her meet them. Plus, at the end of our journey, she’s going somewhere else and I’ll never see her again.”

Tamar raised a brow. “So that’s what this is about?” She gestured over him. Then she blinked, realizing something. “She knows Gordy’s name already.”

That wasn’t a concern. Only dragon whisperers--or people they trusted completely, like Dante--would know who Gordy’s rider was, and they wouldn’t betray one of their own. But he should still cover their tracks as much as possible. “Don’t tell Delle or Marnie,” Dante said, shooting his hand out to grip Tamar’s. “I said you needed to be discreet. You never saw me and you definitely never saw her.” Dante pointed his thumb toward the sleeping princess.

Tamar pulled her hand from his grasp only to shove it lightly into his shoulder. “Where am I going to tell her the money’s from then, genius?”

Right. “Just tell her you stopped in Hogard to see me and got it then.”

Easy. All his money went back home, and Tamar herself had been the messenger on several occasions. There was nothing out of the ordinary about this, nothing at all for Delle to suspect. Nothing at all for anyone to question her about if something happened to him.

“How long have you known her?” Tamar asked, her gaze on the princess.

She hadn’t agreed not to tell Delle or Marnie, but Dante knew she wouldn’t, so he let her change the subject. “This is our fifth night.”

Tamar snorted. “You fell in love in five days?”

Dante’s first thought was that they’d actually only been together four days.

But it was his second thought that he voiced. “For fuck’s sake, Tay. I’m not in love with her. She’s my target.” He didn’t even mention she was betrothed to another man or in love with a woman or had been fucking someone the night they met.

Tamar’s amusement winked out. “You’re going to kill that poor girl?”

Though Dante had never told Tamar what he did, she knew. Delle did, too. But not Marnie. And now that he was on his last job, she’d never have to.

“No.” He wouldn’t. He couldn’t. “I’m delivering her somewhere. And I’m not deceiving her at all. She knows. She’s come willingly.” Sort of.

Tamar’s relief was palpable. “You’re just her bodyguard traveling companion.”

That was a nice way of putting it.

Dante sighed, running a hand over his face. He kept a grip on his chin as he looked at Tamar. “Can I sleep with you tonight?”

After all the fucked up feelings Dante had today, he needed the comfort of a body next to him. He needed a body that was not the princess’s. He needed to remind himself that other women existed and he didn’t need to give the package another thought.

And, while he only wanted Tamar’s presence as his friend and faux-cousin rather than as his lover tonight, he wanted the princess to see them sharing a bed. He wanted to make her hesitate before trying to manipulate him with her purposeful touches and lingering gazes. He wanted to make her think it hadn’t worked at all. That he hadn’t thought of her hands bunched in his shirt or her eyes dipping to his mouth a hundred times over already. That he was more than happy to slip between the sheets with Adrina without even considering how it would make her feel.

Tamar’s face softened. “Of course, D.”

The two sat in silence a bit longer before Dante rose and readied for sleep, then climbed into the empty bed, turning on his side so he could see his package.

Tamar followed and curled up behind him, wrapping her arms around him as she pressed her chest to his back. With her mouth close to his ear, she whispered, “Maybe she won’t have to go to that other place. Maybe she can stay with you.”

“Sleep, Tay.”

Tamar squeezed him once in a sign of refusal. “I’ve heard of couples who fell in love instantly. Like it was meant to be. Like their souls were already connected even before they met. Five days isn’t so short when you think of it like that.”

“Sleep, Tay.” Dante let his tone drip with annoyance, even as he thought that was a beautiful notion.

Utter bullshit, but beautiful. Just like the princess sleeping in the bed next to him.

He let her cute little snores lull him to sleep.