"Have you ever bitten off more than you can chew?" I ask Nortus running my hand down his black mane while staring up at the intimidating mountains looming over us.

I was warned that the trek ahead would be grueling. The blistering cold, the rocky, overgrown trails, and the ache in my thighs from riding a horse for hours, but that was nothing compared to the monstrosity towing above. Why would any living creature climb this mountain to hide a stone? It would have been safe buried in the sand along a beach or in the tall grass of a meadow. Hiding it in one of the highest mountains in the five kingdoms is the work of a sadist.

Nortus lifts his head from the clear stream and bristles.

"Trust me, friend. I don't want to climb it either," I say, leaning against his side and taking in the clearing where we chose to set up camp for the night.

He grunts and rips a clump of grass up, smacking his lips as he chews. It must be nice not having a care in the world. Eat, sleep, and carry people around—it sounds like a good life right about now.

Samson nuzzles his wet nose against my neck. I laugh and swat him away, but he doesn't give up. His warm breath brushes my cheek until I run my hand down his muzzle.

"Sometimes I wonder who is the real king; you or Kyron," I say, scratching behind his ear.

He leans into my touch and closes his big brown eyes.

"You want to come and get warm with friends, or are you going to spend the night having one-way conversations with horses?" Terro asks, placing a pile of wood next to the fire Greer built.

Samson kicks his hind leg back and Nortus snorts. They are smart, and I've never felt like they don't understand to some degree. Terro is right though. I can't spend the night standing between two horses. I give them each one last affectionate stroke and join the others.

Kyron sits with his back to one of the logs they placed around the fire, rummaging through a satchel filled with food. He tilts his head toward the empty space beside him, and I sink down on the dirt. He removes a cloth filled with dried fruit and another of beef jerky. We each take what we want and pass it around the circle of our friends.

I can't recall ever seeing Kyron as excited as he was when we learned about the Imperium. He was so eager to leave the temple and get moving. The closer we get to the mountain, his enthusiasm seems to transform into something more serious. He's in general mode... quiet, alert, and brooding. It doesn't sit well with me.

"Are you all right?" I ask, keeping my voice low while the others carry on with their conversations.

He takes a bite of jerky and stares into the fire. I wait patiently for him to answer, watching the muscle in his jaw flex as he chews. It feels like minutes pass by before he says, "I'm having a hard time with the notion that you have to do this on your own. I don't like the thought of letting you out of my sight and leaving you to face the Statera only knows what without me. It scares me to think I have to stand by while you risk your life. It doesn't feel right."

His confession yanks at my heart, sending a painful ache through it. It's ridiculous to think he is never scared. No amount of bravado or stern commands can hide the truth—we all have fears. To hear him say it though, it's jarring.

"I can do this. You don't have to worry," I say, resting my head on his shoulder and watching the flames reach for the night sky.

He grunts and wraps his arm around me, pulling me into his side. "Maybe you would like to tell me not to breathe while you're at it. You would have a better chance of that happening."

I poke him in the ribs, and he jerks away from my finger. "Not funny," I say.

"But true."

I understand his worry; I really do. The last thing I want is to let him out of my sight. We haven't even started our life together. From the beginning, it has been one obstacle after another. We will never get the chance to experience our normal if I fail. I will never feel like it is typical to wake up in his arms. We won't get to learn those tiny habits that drive the other insane. He'll never know that I hate melons, and I won't have an embarrassing story about him to tell our loved ones. All we have is right now—this moment with friends to create something special.

"Greer," I call, and she looks at me through the flames crackling between us. "Tell me your favorite story about Kyron."

"My favorite story about Ky." She looks past me to him, and a bright smile consumes her face.

"Don't tell her that story," he says in warning.

"Oh, I'm going to tell her that story."

"Greer, if you—"

I clap my hand over his mouth and smile at her. "Go on with your story."

Terro and Ulric exchange knowing glances and snicker. Something tells me this is one of their favorite stories as well. Ashavee must sense the same thing. She sits up and places her arm over her bent knee, giving her full attention to the general.

Kyron removes my hand from his mouth and says, "I'd like to preface this by saying this wasn't my most shining moment."

"Of course not. That's what makes this such a great story," Greer retorts. She clears her throat and straightens her spine. "Kyron was the last of us to... enjoy the pleasures of the flesh."

"Fuck," he groans, resting his head on the log behind us. "Are you sure you want to hear this?" he asks me.

"I am. Continue, Greer."

"Being the strategic mind he is, he set a date to lose his virginity. He had it all planned out. We had just started officer training and were not permitted to leave Basecamp. But he decided he didn't want his first time to be with anyone at camp. The plan was to sneak out to a pub at the nearest village and proposition a sex worker. He wanted nothing more than the act and then he would return home before dawn."

"Mistake number one: he told Ulric and me the plan," Terro says, holding up a finger.

"Biggest fucking mistake," Kyron grumbles.

Greer gives a cheeky grin. "It worked out perfect for me. Ky and I were rivals at that time. We had it out for each other so badly. I was on guard duty that night, and he had slipped out of the stables without me noticing, but these two fumbling idiots weren't so quiet. When I caught them, they told me what they were up to and why."

"Aye, we were hoping to catch Ky making a fool of himself with a lady," Ulric says.

"I told them I wouldn't turn them into Abrum if they took me with them. They agreed."

Kyron sweeps his hair back from his face and shakes his head. "Assholes sold me out to save their own hides."

"So, did it work out? Did he find someone to show him the pleasures of the flesh?" I ask, through a fit of laughter.

Kyron slides his hand under my tunic, and his fingers tickle along my ribs. I squirm in an attempt to get away, but his hold is too tight. He pulls me over his lap and places me between his legs, pressing his chest to my back. "What does it matter? I don't hear any complaints from you. It's quite the opposite," he whispers in my ear.

I look at him over my shoulder. "I just want to know if there is a woman in a small village I need to send flowers and a thank you card."

His cheeks burn red, and he purses his lips to combat a smile. Greer saves him from combusting with embarrassment as she continues the story.

"He found a very beautiful woman who was scantily clad at the pub. From our lookout in the far corner, he seemed the perfect gentleman. He bought her a drink and held a conversation with her for a few minutes. I thought he chickened out to be honest. It was taking him forever to drag her up to one of the rooms on the second floor. Ky and the woman hadn't been gone for more than two minutes when the base commander of north camp came charging through the door looking for his wife."

"Ky's second mistake of the evening, he was too much of a gentleman to ask the woman her price. He would have learned then and there she was a lonely officer's wife looking for a bit of attention," Ulric says.

I whip around with wide eyes. "Your first time was with a married woman?"

He shakes his head. "Let Greer finish the story."

"Please do; we are getting to the good part," Greer says, rubbing her palms together. "So, it wasn't long before a patron pointed the commander upstairs. Ulric, Terro, and I raced out of our seats and chased after him. We stood back as he kicked in the door, but we got a peek of what was going on inside. Let's just say Ky had his britches around his ankles, and she was on her knees. I've never seen a person with their pants down run around a bed and jump across a mattress quite as gracefully as he did. Ky came barreling out of that room with his cock still out and fumbling to cover himself. He almost got away, but he tripped and tumbled down the last five steps. He ended up sprawled out on the floor, face down with his bare ass out."

"Oh no," I say and clasp my hands over my mouth. I'm not sure whether to laugh or comfort Kyron. It couldn't have been easy being a young man and enduring such a humiliating moment in front of an entire pub of strangers and friends.

"So then what happened?" I ask.

"The commander broke his nose and dragged him back to Basecamp. Abrum put him on trash detail for two months," Greer says like this was a regular occurrence in her life.

"Don't forget stable duty in the mornings," Ulric adds.

"And my all-time favorite assembly presented by Lieutenant Kyron LeFur." Terro stands, holds his arms behind his back. The flames flicker across his face, creating deep lines that are not normally there. He covers his mouth with his fist and clears his throat before saying, "The Dangers of Spending Less Than an Hour Getting to Know Your Sexual Partners."

Kyron snorts, holding back a chuckle. He shifts behind me and rests his chin on my shoulder. "And the real lesson I learned that night was to never share your sex schedule with your friends."

"Good idea," I say.

Greer, Kyron, Terro, and Ulric spend the next hour sharing stories with Ashavee and me. She is just as enthralled with the tidbits of their past as I am. We laugh at the way they banter with one another and join in with our own commentary when we can. To an outsider, we would look like longtime friends, enjoying each other's company, instead of a king and his closest advisors on a quest to save his land.

When the fire dims, Ashavee throws two more logs on top, and drifts off into the trees. The rest of us settle in for the night. Greer and Terro lay at opposite ends by themselves, each with their back to the fire and facing the forest. Ashavee returns in her Jaguar form and curls up closer to where we tided up the horses. I don't miss the way Ulric casually takes a spot near her. Kyron rolls out a sleeping mat for us and we cuddle under a thick wool blanket. I rest my head on his chest, listening to the steady beat of his heart. The soft thump relaxes me. My eyes grow heavy, and my body goes limp, molding into his. Sleep weighs down on me, pulling me under. Down. Down. Down.

Snap.

My eyes spring open, and I stop breathing. The silence is deafening. I strain my ears, listening for anything suspicious as I scan the cropping of trees around us. The search for something or someone comes to a halt several times when I swear I see movement in the brush. I squint to make sense of the shadows, concluding they are crooked branches and swaying leaves. My fingers curl around Kyron's tunic, ready to shake him awake at the first true sign of a problem. But time creeps by and nothing solidifies.

I loosen my grip on the fabric of Kyron's shirt and press closer to him. It's just my imagination playing tricks on me, I chant over and over in my head. No matter how many times I say it, or how close I come to believing it, I can't get past the feeling that we are not alone out here.