We stayed by the river for an entire day. Dante and I took turns keeping watch, allowing Yoko to sleep as much as she needed to replenish her energy, and when I woke at dawn the next day, she had already risen and gone to the river to wash.

"Good morning," I whispered, eyes raking over her to assess her for any injuries I might have missed.

Pleased to find her unharmed and her ocean eyes bright and alert, I cupped my hand around the back of her neck and drew her in for a kiss. The damp ends of her hair dripped cold water over my knuckles, but I hardly noticed it, too lost in the taste of her.

"Good morning indeed," she said, breaking the kiss. Her ocean eyes were bright and alert. Not a hint of fatigue shadowed the blue.

"What you did yesterday was amazing, but that was so risky."

A rosy blush brightened her tan cheeks, and I had to hold my fingers against my chest to stop myself from reaching for her again at the sight. She knew what it did to me when she blushed, and it was something she usually only did in intimate moments.

"I told you," Yoko replied, tucking one of my silver braids behind my ear as she lowered her head to claim another gentle kiss. "That was not the day we died."

I scraped my teeth over her bottom lip, earning a sharp intake of breath that made me ache in my center. This was not what I had intended to start when I saw her awake, but now that her touch and scent overwhelmed me, I desperately wanted to fulfill the other promise we had made to one another.

Yoko chuckled. "I know exactly what you're thinking right now."

"You did tell me we had plans last night, and then you fell asleep on me."

"Our third wheel makes that a little trickier," she replied with a hard edge to her tone that confused me, but her roving hands under my tunic made it impossible to dwell on too long.

"He's walking the perimeter of the camp right now, and based on my calculations," I glanced at the sky to gauge where the sun sat. "He won't return for at least another twenty bells."

"That's plenty of time to make you scream," Yoko said, pushing me into a small copse that would conceal us on the off chance Dante returned earlier than expected.

A pang of guilt shot through me at the thought of him catching me with Yoko like this. It was one thing for him to acknowledge my love for her, and an entirely different thing to witness it playing out. Especially when we both held onto the unspoken truth of what the future held for us.

But guilt wasn't enough to stop me from taking this moment with the woman I loved. Not when I'd almost lost her. Yoko seemed possessed by the same sentiment...or maybe simply possessed.

Something snapped behind me. A twig or leaf crunching. And then her hands and lips were everywhere. Wild and driven by one purpose. Never had it been like this in all our many times together. I could not gather my wits about me long enough to return the favor, and finally I surrendered to her, letting her own this moment.

And own it she did. She dragged my hands above my head and held them there with one hand while the other parted my thighs. The back of my head banged against the tree as she drove her two middle fingers inside of my body. Pumping fast and hard, she made sure her palm ground into my clit with each stroke.

"Yoko," I gasped, back arching off the tree and against her as she leaned into me with her entire body. She had me pinned. "I can't... oh gods. I'm so close."

"Say my name louder," she demanded, increasing the pressure until I saw stars.

My lashes fluttered. I was seeing literal stars. My skin burned with them. Bright enough to blind, but Yoko kept her gaze locked on mine.

"Yoko!" I screamed as I came apart, bucking and thrashing as she continued to pump into me as my body clamped around her fingers.

She kissed me again and let me go. I sagged forward, hands reaching for her to return the favor, but she shook her head as she stepped away. Her eyes flicked to something behind me, and then she walked back to the river.

I looked over my shoulder, and through the cracks between the trees, I spied Dante's dark cloak fluttering behind him as he walked over a hill. Shame washed away the pleasure lingering in my limbs, and then anger pushed away the shame when I saw Yoko's smug smile.

"You knew he was there? How long?"

She shrugged. "Long enough to see who you belong to."

"I am not property," I spat, straightening my clothes and pulling up my trousers. "You didn't see me spreading your legs in front of Hyllie to make sure she knew who you belonged to."

Yoko flushed, but this time the red was from rage and not lust. "You didn't have to sit there and listen to us talk about our time together as children. Or to talk about how we thought we were going to marry one another. And you won't lie awake tonight and every night after wondering how many more nights we will have together before you choose him."

My heart constricted. She wasn't wrong. Not completely. Perhaps I was property. Estrellum's property, and because of that, there would come a time when I had to choose Estrellum's needs over my wants.

Still... "What happened to you telling me we were going to die together in one another's arms? Have you lost faith so quickly?"

She surged toward me. "No, I haven't lost faith, but I was worried you had. That maybe you were forgetting what it's like between us."

I softened and offered her a tentative smile. "Well, you certainly reminded me."

Her answering grin was almost feral. "We seem to be alone now. I could remind you again."

"Yoko..." I backed away, heart breaking as her expression fell. "I need to go talk to Dante. He probably won't want to talk about it at all, but I have to apologize."

She turned her back to me. "Fine."

"Yoko–"

"I said, fine."

Dante hadn't gone far. He sat on a half rotten log at the edge of a clearing. Sprigs of green grass shot up through a light dusting of snow, and on the opposite side of the clearing, a small herd of silver horned deer grazed.

"I forgot how beautiful they are," he said quietly as I joined him. His eyes tracked a female and her two young offspring as they moved to a thicker patch of grass. The two young fawns pranced around their mother, occasionally kicking out with their silver hooves.

"We had a domesticated herd at the Winter palace, and at Solstice, Mother would put bells around their necks. They would drive my little sleigh around the grounds. I loved the sound of the jingling bells."

His lips twitched in a reluctant grin. "I remember that."

"Dante–"

"Astreia, please don't. I knew what you two were to each other, so it wasn't a shock."

I touched his leg, and he finally looked at me. My brows raised as I replied, "Do you want to try that lie again?"

"Okay, it wasn't a complete shock?"

I laughed, and my skin shimmered, casting a silver glow across his inky black skin. He pressed a finger over a point of starlight, and now I was the one caught off guard by how nice his touch felt.

"I have to admit something to you, though."

"What?"

"I could have walked away without seeing more than a few kisses. Yoko saw me before she pushed you into those trees. She gave me plenty of time to run."

"And you didn't take it?"

Dante shook his head. "No. I couldn't see much of anything through the trees, just so you know."

"Then why did you stay?"

"Because I wanted to hear you. I wanted to know what you sounded like in the throes of passion."

"Why?" I swallowed hard and begged my heart to stop racing.

Dante rose from the log and offered his hand to help me stand. The deer lifted their heads and watched us warily for a few moments before returning to their meal. As he leaned in to put his lips against my ear, I wondered if that's what I looked like to him. A deer caught unaware.

"You know why. Your heart may be hers, but one day, it will be my hands on your body, and I intend to use them well."

With that, he walked away. I waited several moments before following him on wobbling legs. When I finally returned to camp, he and Yoko had packed up our meager belongings. They did not speak to one another, and when Dante handed me the small bag he'd put together for me, Yoko huffed.

"We need to get moving. Sunlight is being wasted," she snapped.

"Vyta is in the mountains near the Winter palace, which means we have to go back the way we came," Dante said, jutting his thumb over his shoulder. "It will take us a bit longer, but if we follow the river a few leagues before crossing back, we can avoid the shifters."

"Works for me," I said, slipping the straps of my pack over my arms. "Yoko?"

She didn't respond verbally. Instead, she turned on her heel and started walking north along the riverbed. I sighed. Dante shrugged and gestured for me to walk ahead of him. This was going to be a very long journey indeed.