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I’ve got a pretty decent sleeping
arrangement. You’ve put yourself through a lot for me already, even though I
don’t know why. The least I can do is offer you a dry bed.”
    He shifted and exhaled. “I’m not trading, Evie. I’m made of
tougher stuff than you.”
    “I’m not talking about trading.”
    “But you said—”
    I gestured for silence, slicing my hand through the air. “I’m
talking about sharing. I’ll put my cloak down as a pallet and the blanket is
large enough to cover us both.”
    “I don’t think that’s a good idea.”
    “It’s a great idea and you know it.”
    After spreading my cloak on the ground, I stretched the
fabric, so I could lie on it without touching damp ground. Then I pulled out the
blanket under Nonnie’s saddlebags and flicked it a few times, freeing it of
excess hair, but I couldn’t relieve it of her sweat and general horsey smell. Good
thing I like the smell of horses .
    Reclining, even on the hard ground, felt as good as a
feather mattress. I curled up on my side, waiting for him to make up his mind,
but even if he didn’t join me, I suspected I would sleep well. As I edged
toward the semi-conscious moment between asleep and awake, Gideon shifted and
swore. “Move over,” he grumbled.
    I smiled, knowing he couldn’t see my self-satisfaction in
the dark. Together we stretch my cloak, making room for his large frame. He
settled close to me and his body heat under the wool blanket felt like a giant
version of the hot water bottle Gerda sometimes stuffed at the foot of my bed
on the coldest winter nights. I was too tired and too grateful for his warmth
to let his proximity bother me.
    “Why do they want to hurt me?” I thought the question had
sounded in my head, but it slipped out between my lips before I realized.
    For once, Gideon didn’t hesitate to reply, didn’t make
answering my question seem like a chore. “You’ll inherit your father’s throne
on your eighteenth birthday.”
    “And they don’t want me to do that.” It seemed an obvious
conclusion.
    “Mostly they see opportunity. You are young, still a girl in
their eyes. That makes you easy to defeat. If there was ever a time for a
revolution, it is surely now.”
    “Revolution? What are they revolting against? Was my father
really such a horrible king?” I swallowed back my loathing for my father’s
faceless subjects, not wanting to accept Gideon’s words as truth.
    “Do you really want to know everything, now, at this late
hour, when we’re exhausted and hungry and hiding from certain danger? Is this
the best place for me to diagram the history of the Stormbourne family for you?”
    I considered Gideon’s point for a long, silent minute and
resented his sensibility. “No. It can wait. But, you will tell me.”
    “Mmmph,” he said in reply.
    I lay silent for a long while, fluctuating between anger and
frustration, defeat and hopelessness. At some point, fatigue took over, and the
relief of a dreamless sleep released me from futile contemplations.

Chapter 4
     
    I awoke before Gideon, unable to ignore the rocks jabbing
into my backside any longer. The palest light of dawn stole over us, and my
companion resembled a lumpy boulder under his dun colored blanket. I quieted
the whoosh of my breath and listened for sounds that might suggest the
proximity of our pursuers. Hearing nothing, I relaxed.
    The horses had drifted away and nuzzled the barren ground,
looking for green bits wherever they managed to poke through the rocks and mud.
Their heads were down, ears forward, indicating they also heard nothing
suspicious.
    As I rose, my rustling brought Gideon awake. He rubbed his
eyes and looked at me with a silent question.
    “I don’t hear anyone,” I said, hoping he would agree.
    He paused and seemed to quiet himself as I had done. “No.”
He shook his head. “There’s no one close by, but if we take the road we’ll find
them soon enough.”
    “So, what do we do?”
    He exhaled and his