There was a crowd waiting for us in the West Draulin port. I could see Tannix's mother and sister, standing with a group of guards in front of an elegant covered carriage. Other important lords and ladies had gathered, as had plenty of regular people from the city. Sailors or merchants who saw the commotion and wanted to know what was going on.

The first person to climb onto the ship, before the gangway was even properly in place, was Acen. He didn't greet any of us, just made straight for Tannix.

"Your mother—"

"Livid, I know," Tannix replied. He gave the crowd a wave, then turned his back on them. "Anything I should know? Anything besides the fact that my mother wants to lock me in a cell for the rest of the war, I mean."

"There are mixed feelings about you, and what we did," Acen said. "But most of the army and the navy admire that you put yourself in danger to help innocent people. And news about Navire joining us has swayed some of the less impressed nobles."

"Well, can't say I didn't expect that," Tannix said, making his way for the gangway. Acen fell back to exchange a few words with Jalor and Mandell. Evrik followed Tannix and I trailed after him, wanting to stay close.

Tannix smiled and waved at the crowd, but he didn't slow as he walked towards his mother and sister. Evrik and I stopped at a respectful distance. For a moment, Tannix and Lady West Draulin just looked at each other. Her anger didn't show on her face, but there was a tension in her when she reached out to pull Tannix into a hug. It was brief, and when they pulled apart it was Tairia's turn.

Tairia greeted Tannix the way Ninavi always greeted me, by throwing herself into his arms. But where Ninavi and I were close enough in size that her leaps nearly knocked me over, Tannix easily caught his sister. He held her for longer than he had hugged his mother, until finally setting her back down on her feet.

Tairia looped her arm through his. "We brought a carriage, so you won't have to suffer through people staring at you the whole way up to the fortress."

"So mother can lecture me," Tannix whispered back.

Tairia smiled, but Lady Clairia was very good at keeping her feelings from showing on her face. "West Draulin needs a lord who isn't going to throw himself into battle at the first opportunity." She whirled around, and stepped up into the carriage, knocking away the hand of a guard who had reached out to help her.

Acen stepped past me and Evrik. Tannix turned to him. "Can you tell—"

"They're on leave for the night, I know. Joen's waiting at the fortress, and I'll meet you as soon as I can."

"Atricen's on top of things. Come on." Tairia tugged on Tannix's arm.

Tannix's eyes found me in the crowd. He might have wanted to say something, but Tairia pulled on his arm again. With a smile, he turned to his sister and held out his hand to help her into the carriage. As soon as he had climbed in, one of the guards closed the door. The driver flicked the reins, and the carriage began its slow journey to the fortress. The crowd of guards marched on either side of it.

Acen, after watching the carriage for a moment, said, "Well, let's gather everyone. I have an announcement."

"—as if I was a child. I know what we did in East Draulin was risky, but we saved people and I'd do it again. Then she said that if I—"

We were in Tannix's chamber, watching him pace back and forth. Acen stood with his arms crossed, one eyebrow raised. I sat cross-legged on my bed, which was probably the most I had ever used it, given that I always slept in Tannix's. Joen, who had followed Tannix into the room, still stood near the door.

"—but no, Tandrin can do no wrong. Maybe she'll change her mind when he rides off in a few weeks to join the fighting at the Tol. No, probably not. Tandrin's always been—"

Acen was the first one of us willing to interrupt. "She was worried about you, and she'll worry about the King when he's with the army."

Tannix's pacing paused. He sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "I know that. But I can't just idly sit by in West Draulin. My mother knows everything about leading West Draulin, and she's better for the city than I am. I'm not ashamed to admit it. But that doesn't mean she can baby me and ask me to stay here. What message does that send? Oh, everyone, send your sons off to fight and die. I wish them luck, but my mother has decided that I can't go. I'm sure you also love your sons, but you aren't allowed to stop them from fighting."

"Are you done?"

Joen and I exchanged a look. Tannix just sat down at the end of his bed and waved his hand, lazily giving Acen permission to continue.

"Lady West Draulin did not tell you that you aren't allowed to fight, she said you have to be more cautious. That's a fair request. She's worried about you as her son, and as Lord West Draulin. Now, how long are we going to be in West Draulin?"

Tannix shrugged. "A month or two, I guess. Until Tandrin calls on us to take the navy to East Draulin."

"That's months of meetings and waiting. Plenty of time to talk to your mother and have an actual discussion about your role in the city, and in the war. And what's coming up in a few weeks?"

"The Changing of the Year."

"The Changing of the Year?" Acen repeated dryly. The answer wasn't incorrect, but it obviously wasn't what he had been fishing for.

Tannix dragged his gaze up. "My birthday."

"Your birthday. So what you're going to do is properly celebrate your birthday, something small, but proper. So that when we go join the army, your mother and Lady Tairia will have a nice memory to cling to."

"I don't want a celebration. Not when Tandrin's at war and father's gone."

"How do you think the ladies will feel when you're also at war?" Acen asked. "You'll have the benefit of being near Tandrin. You two will know exactly how the other is doing. Your mother and sister will have to wait for letters or reports, and they are going to be worried, constantly. You sent me and Joen home to spent extra time with our wives. You did it for them as much as you did it for us. So apply that reasoning to yourself."

Tannix's left hand moved as if he was trying to touch the pommel of a sword he wasn't wearing. "Do you ever get tired of being right?"

"That's why I'm here."

Tannix sighed heavily. "All right. A small birthday celebration. But next time I feel like whining, I'm going to send you outside."

Acen broke the tension with a laugh.

A few weeks passed by, filled with more meetings. When news came, it was encouraging. The Navirian army arrived and joined our men at Triben and the Tol River. Tandrin and Queen Navire rode for the front and led the armies on a push across the Tol. Steadily, but slowly, they moved up the coast. West Draulin and Navirian ships followed them along the shore, but most of the navy was still near the island. It felt like the whole city was waiting for the orders to sail for East Draulin.

Then the Changing of the Year and Tannix's birthday arrived.

I wasn't used to birthday celebrations. Growing up, most of us hadn't know our birthdays. We barely even kept track of what day it was. Even if we could have afforded celebrations or gifts, we wouldn't have known when to give them. Native Zians didn't really celebrate the Changing of the Year, either. We knew it happened, and we used the years the Telts had invented, but they weren't our years. Zianna was much older than 424 years.

I thought the Changing of the Year celebrations might be subdued, given the war, but I was very wrong. On the night it happened, we could hear people celebrating in the city even from within the fortress' walls. In the fortress people were more cautious, but there was still a huge bonfire and a feast laid out in the courtyard. The fortress guards and servants visited it in shifts—singing, dancing and eating until their breaks were over and they went back to work. Drinks were not allowed at the fortress celebration.

We didn't visit the bonfire until later in the evening. Tannix and Tairia wanted to make an appearance. The knights were back from leave, and they all accompanied us. The food was good, and I was happy standing back with Jalor and eating while he watched Tannix and Tairia dance around the fire. Seeing them really cheered up the soldiers and servants who were there, and it wasn't hard to understand why. If their leader could spend some time dancing with his sister, the war couldn't be going too badly.

We stayed through a few cycles of new guards coming on their breaks, just so more people could see Tannix and Tairia. The knights enjoyed themselves, too. Acen danced with a pretty blond woman who must have been his wife, and I recognized Joen's wife when she arrived, their two daughters in tow. The twins and Evrik managed to talk servants into dancing with them. Like me, Mandell was eating. Jalor was the only one truly on duty, although I sensed they were all keeping an eye on Tannix.

The first day of the new year was Tannix's twentieth birthday. Just as Acen had suggested, Tannix spent the day with his family. With Acen, Jalor, and a handful of the ladies' guards, they went out for a ride through the nearby farmlands. He apologized to me before leaving, but I didn't really mind. I needed the time to set up my surprise.

The twins helped me, even though they had no idea what I was doing. Over the course of the afternoon, they helped carry a few mirrors into Tannix's room and position them around the window. I couldn't perfectly set everything up while there was still daylight, but I placed and angled the mirrors to my best estimates of where I would need them later. With that done, the twins made me go down to the knights' courtyard, where Evrik had me practice throwing my new knives. I suspected Acen had told them to keep up my training.

Tannix, Tairia and their mother returned shortly before sunset. They had dinner in their private dining room, and stayed long into the evening. I wanted to be there, but I understood that the family needed time alone. Besides, my surprise wouldn't work until later in the night. So, I ate with the knights, and stayed with them playing card games. After a few rounds of Commandeer, they decided to stop betting with actual money, and poured most of their effort into simply beating me.

Shortly after Evrik went upstairs to replace Jalor on duty, Jalor strolled into the courtyard. "Finn, he's ready for you."

"Wait," Kor waved at him, like he could take back what Jalor had said. "Not yet." His eyes darted between his cards, and the ones Ender was holding. Sitting on Kor's other side, Mandell tilted his hand so Kor could see his cards, as well.

"Normally people don't share their cards," I pointed out.

"Shh. Oh, look." Kor pointed at one of Ender's cards. "If you traded this one with me, you'd have a—"

"A pair of ships?" I guessed. "You could give Ender your sailors. But he would also need Mandell's to make a set of five. Even then, he won't get full points unless he also has a captain." I flicked one of my cards. "I have a captain. The other one was discarded when Joen folded four turns ago."

Jalor leaned over the three knights, taking in the cards they had available. "Mandell has a really good hand."

"It isn't good enough," I said.

"Your hand can't possibly be good, either," Jalor said.

I shrugged. "Maybe it isn't. But they aren't supposed to be planning out what to trade. That isn't how the game works."

Jalor plucked some cards from each knight, rearranged them nicely in his hand, then reached between the twins to lay them out on the table. A king, a princess, a lord, two ships, four sailors.

"A ship doesn't mean anything without a captain," I said.

Jalor shook his head. "Once a captain has been discarded, a lord can function as a captain. He isn't worth as many points as he usually is, but he does make the ship and sailors valid cards."

Kor smacked the table. "Yes!"

I tossed down my cards. "All right. Jalor won by specifically picking out cards he wanted, and using a rule that wouldn't be accepted in any Zianna tavern."

Jalor smiled. "It's a West Draulin favourite. We call it the Tanden trick. But it only works if one of the captains is discarded, which you so helpfully let me know. Now, Tannix is waiting for you."

Ender reached across the table to scoop up all the cards. "Good luck with... whatever those mirrors are for."

"And the other thing," Kor added cryptically.

I shot Kor a glare, but smiled at Ender. "Thanks. Good night." I hurried up the private staircase that led from the knights' quarters to the Tandran's living quarters.

Evrik was already standing guard in the hall. "Who won?"

"Jalor cheated," I said, and I slipped into the room. Tannix was moving around behind his changing screen, so I crossed the room and began to fiddle with the mirrors.

"Are you going to tell me what those are about?" Tannix asked. He stepped out from behind the screen, holding a shirt instead of wearing it. When I glanced at him, he flashed me a grin. "I have a perfectly good mirror behind the screen. I know what I look like."

"It isn't about you." I looked out the window, and shifted one of the mirrors slightly to the right.

Tannix pulled on the tunic and sat on the armrest of his couch. "No? But it's my birthday."

I tilted one of the mirrors. "Did you have a nice time with Tairia and your mother?"

"Yes. We needed the time away. And it's been a long time since I went riding. What are you doing?"

There was one more mirror I needed to adjust, but I left it and turned around. "I couldn't think of a gift for you, and I know that's part of birthdays. But then I thought that maybe a gesture would mean more than a gift. So..." With my foot, I nudged the bottom of the last mirror. It tilted up, and my plan came together perfectly.

The largest mirror, the one angled towards Tannix, was filled with a reflection of the night sky. The starry sky, and right in the middle, the full moon.

Tannix approached the mirror. "It's beautiful. But I don't understand. Is this instead of dragging me onto the roof to look at the moon?"

I shook my head. I hadn't thought of any sort of speech, all I could do was hope Tannix would remember. "In Deorun, I told you that if you asked me to, I'd—"

"—steal the moon," Tannix interrupted softly. "Come here," he said, holding out his hand.

I took it, and he drew me into a hug. I rested my head against his chest and looked at the reflection I had captured. "I thought that when you're with the army, you can look up at night and see the moon and remember this."

"I love it," Tannix said. "I love you."

"I wasn't sure if it was a good idea," I admitted. Nervousness flickered in my stomach and I tried to ignore it. "And actually, there's something—"

"I have something for you, too."

I didn't think Tannix meant to interrupt me. I looked up and caught the excitement on his face. "Why?"

Tannix slid one hand down my arm to take my hand. "You don't know your birthday, so I thought maybe we could celebrate it on the same day as mine. So I got you a gift. Well, Joen helped. I mean it was my idea, but he had to help me... it'll make sense. Come here." He tugged me across the room, to the nook where his desk sat. I expected him to take something from a desk drawer, but his attention was on the bookshelves.

The bookshelves were crowded with books, but also little models or bookends. Tannix reached behind a tiny model castle and pulled out a small key.

"That's the first place I'd look for a key."

"Good thing I'm not trying to hide it from you." He unlocked a pair of sliding doors on the middle shelf, and slid them aside.

I dropped his hand without meaning to. Tucked onto the shelf were statuettes, easily recognizable by their outfits and poses. I reached for the Zianesa and picked her up, surprised by her weight. She was made of fired clay, with painted details so fine they were hard to see in the candlelight. It took me a moment to realize Tannix was talking again, and to actually understand what he was saying.

"Joen told me people often keep shrines in their houses of a few important gods. He also found an artisan he knows from East Draulin, who managed to escape, and arranged for her to make these. I wasn't sure who you'd like. I got Zianesa, because I know she's Zianna's patron. Joen said that if West Draulin had a patron it would probably be Roe, so I got him. I've heard you mention Lukk before. And Lovi... well. I owe her quite a bit. But if there's anyone else, I'm sure Joen's friend would make more."

I carefully put Zianesa down. Roe, Lukk and Lovi looked just as intricate. They were beautiful statues, and they had probably taken weeks to sculpt and paint. Tannix had planned well in advance.

"Finn?" Tannix kept talking. "I didn't do anything wrong, did I? Joen said—"

"You didn't do anything wrong."

"Oh." He let out a relieved breath. "Good. Do you like them?"

"I love them." I turned to him, smiling widely. "I love you."

Tannix looped his arms around me. "Well, I'm glad we agree on that. So, what do you think of sharing a birthday?"

I snuggled into his arms. "It's a great idea."

"That means you're eighteen."

"More or less."

Tannix laughed. "All right. I interrupted you earlier. What were you going to say?"

The nervous flicker came back. "Oh, just that I have something else planned." I wiggled from his arms and caught his hand. Before sliding the doors to my little shrine closed, my eyes landed on Lovi and I offered her a silent prayer.

Tannix didn't catch on until I led him to the other side of the room and drew back the curtains on his bed. Then it seemed to click. His breath hitched and he froze. "Finn. Are you sure?"

I was sure. I was nervously excited, but definitely sure. I gave his hand a firm tug. "Yes."

Something about how he was looking at me changed in a way I couldn't describe. He stepped closer and kissed me. I stood on the tips of my toes to wrap my arms around his shoulders, trying to press myself as tightly against him as possible.

Tannix's arms slipped around me and nearly lifted me off the ground. His lips moved from mine, to my jaw, to my neck, like he was trying to kiss as much of me as possible. He had been passionate before, but this desire was new. It was so sudden, so uncontrolled. I tangled my hands in his perfect hair and wondered how long he had been keeping himself in check.

And why? Maybe it was his proper Teltish values about how courtship was meant to work. Maybe he had been trying to protect me. Maybe he had simply been waiting for me to say yes.

Tannix moved us both onto the bed. He leaned over me, one hand propping himself up while the other danced around the hem of my tunic. I helped him pull it over my head, then he went suddenly still. Without having to look at his eyes, I knew he was looking at one of my scars. Maybe all of them at once, eyes flickering across my collection of old wounds.

It wasn't as if he had never seen them before. He had gently rubbed salve on my back after I'd been whipped. He had wrapped my scraped wrists after the year in prison. He had tended to the arrow wound on my shoulder. None of them should have been a surprise, but he was looking at them like they were suddenly new.

"Tannix?" He was paying such close attention to me, but it wasn't the kind of attention I wanted. I didn't want him to think about how often I'd been hurt. "I don't blame you."

"You should." His left thumb brushed across the circular scar on my right shoulder, and I flinched. The little divot in my skin was still sensitive. His hand froze. "Did that hurt?"

I shook my head. I couldn't quite bring myself to admit that the tingling actually felt good.

Then Tannix lowered his head and kissed the scar, just the briefest touch of his lips on my skin. The pleasant tingling of before was more of a jolt, making me tremble. I tried to slip my right hand behind his neck to hold him in place, but he caught my wrist.

He pushed himself up, still holding my wrist. "You never told me that you consider it your bad wrist."

No, I hadn't. Which meant Acen had said something after our fight in Navire. "It's fine. Just sometimes it... I never told you be—" The excuse died in my throat when he pressed another kiss to the underside of my wrist. There were faint scars there, from the manacles I had worn in prison. He could probably feel the fluttering of my pulse underneath them.

Tannix wasn't done. He released my right arm just to take my left, and he kissed the scarring on my knuckles. Then the matching manacle scars on my wrist. He slid his hand up my arm and traced the T brand on my shoulder, which sent another jolt of tingling through me. He ducked down to kiss the brand, then the narrow scar along my collarbone, where one of the whip lashes had curled over my shoulder.

"These are all my fault," he whispered against my skin.

The ability to think in words had escaped me. I didn't blame him. I would never blame him. Every one of my scars was a symbol of something I had endured and overcome. None of them were because he had failed to protect me. In fact, I had broken my right wrist while successfully protecting him. But I couldn't figure out how to say any of that. I couldn't think while he kissed my neck and ran his hands across my skin.

Luckily, it didn't matter if I couldn't tell him how much I loved him. I was ready to show him.