Minutes later, she was lying on a rock carefully not quite watching as Alvaro and then Jonas ran up from behind her and leaped, naked, into the swimming hole. She’d decided not to join them, despite Alvaro’s pleas. He came up first, standing chest-deep and shaking the water from his hair. Jonas stayed under for a little longer, finally emerging near the water’s edge. When he stood, the water level nearly left nothing to the imagination. Llew would have admonished him for teasing her yet again, but she was awestruck by the huge tattoo curling up the left side of his torso. A collaboration of swirls in varying lengths and thicknesses contrived to fool the eyes into seeing a gryphon rising up and wrapping about his ribcage, the beak just sitting over his pectoral muscles and the wings sweeping down his back.

Alvaro looked up to see if Llew had been watching the display and his expression turned dark when it was clear she had not only seen it but was failing to hide her appreciation. Then a smile touched his lips.

‘Hey, Llew. We were all scrawny teenagers once.’ Llew turned to see Cassidy running straight at her, naked as the forest critters, but with no fur or feathers to cover anything. ‘You got no excuse!’

‘What—’ She gasped and rose to move from his path, but he extended an arm, grabbed hers and pulled her with him – off the rock and into the air above the water, backwards.

Any other time, she might have enjoyed the moment of flight before she plummeted down. She fell deep into the water and had to put all her effort into suppressing the need to take a panicked breath while still under. She floated for a moment gaining her bearings, and then kicked and clawed her way to the surface. Exploding out of the water, gulping air and scraping hair and water from her eyes, she tried to move to where her feet reached the bottom. She fought blindly across the current, figuring that would take her closer to one of the shores.

Still gasping for air and fighting to regain her temper, but with her feet now safely supported underneath, she stood and wiped her eyes clear. Alvaro was off to one side, a finger wiggling at his ear.

‘That was a scream, alright,’ he said.

‘It certainly was,’ Cassidy agreed, mirroring his cousin and squinting in exaggerated discomfort.

Anger flooded through her. Now what was she supposed to do? If she left the water, her clinging clothes would give her away immediately. But she didn’t feel like staying in the water, not now. Evening was coming on and she would freeze as soon as the sun lowered . . .

There was nothing for it. She simply could not enjoy a swim in the mood she was in. She turned for the bank and, letting herself feel as incensed as she thought she deserved to be, waded to the shallows, water cascading from her.

‘Llew!’

She chose not to acknowledge Jonas and kept pushing her feet through the last few watery yards.

‘Aw, come on, Llew. It’s just a little water,’ said Cassidy.

She turned, and must have looked a sight because both cousins drew back. ‘Just a little water? Just a little water?!’ Cassidy leaned forward again and glanced at Alvaro. Alvaro smiled. Her wet shirt clung to every bit of her. It was white, too. No doubt they could see everything. She might as well have been as naked as them. ‘Happy, now?’

‘Llew—’ Jonas took a step closer.

‘Don’t you dare come near me until you have pants on!’ She turned on her heel and exited the river. She really wanted to go back to the camp and see if Aris and the women had got the fire started because her stomach was protesting, and she hoped dinner wasn’t far from ready. But she didn’t want to return to camp in her wet, clinging clothes. Aris would see her. She’d had enough old men ogling her to last a lifetime thanks to her father’s drinking buddies. So she turned from the direction of the camp, storming through the undergrowth. Now everyone would know. Aris would wonder what they needed her for, another useless girl. They probably wouldn’t let her keep the horse, even if he hadn’t been theirs to start with, because how else could she pay for the clothes Aris had bought her?

Rage was turning to tears when Llew found herself face to face with a dark-skinned, black-haired man carrying a spear; his body, naked but for a skirt, was covered head to toe in black swirls. The tattoos were like the one Jonas bore, except that they didn’t hint at any sort of animal. That made them no less impressive, nor the man any less intimidating. His pectoral muscles protruded further than Llew’s breasts.

He looked her up and down, until his eyes settled on her wet shirt. A smile crept onto his lips. Llew folded her arms across her chest, but her forearms were too long to cover her small breasts without being, and looking, decidedly uncomfortable. She didn’t know where to look, other than not at him, looking up, then down and finally settling on somewhere past his left shoulder. He spoke, but she didn’t recognize the language. Then he laughed.

Leaves rustled behind her, much to her relief: one of her party had caught up.

The man spoke again. Another man answered in the same tongue behind her and Llew’s nerves constricted. Then the head of the man before her swiveled on his huge neck and his face went from angry to surprised to guarded in moments.

Jonas appeared beside her, now wearing trousers and carrying the dry clothes Llew had stolen on her way out of Cheer.

The man said something, but Jonas didn’t seem to understand either.

‘She’s with me,’ he said. To Llew he added, ‘Zaki.’

The man repeated himself, more angrily, gesturing at Jonas. Jonas stood listening, and then straightened to his full – not particularly intimidating – height and placed an arm across Llew’s shoulders, pulling her into him.

The man bristled, making himself look even bigger. Biceps and triceps bulged, thigh muscles heaved, neck and temple blood vessels swelled.

‘Alright.’ Jonas removed his arm from Llew, unbuckled his knife belt, and handed it and the clothes to her. He started to turn away and then turned back, as though gaging whether he could trust her. Then he nodded and faced the man, indicating that he should put aside his spear. The man’s lips twitched and then he laughed an open-mouthed hearty laugh. If Llew had been hoping for a different outcome, she might have found the fact that Jonas was half the man’s size funny too. But Jonas merely gave the man a nod and crouched, ready for combat.

With a quick, confident glance at Llew and then past her to his companion, the Zaki leaned the spear against a tree and mirrored Jonas’s movements. Llew moved to the side, leaving as much of the small clearing to the men as possible as they circled one another. Llew didn’t know which had moved first but, at some cue visible only to them, both men lunged. Jonas twisted, the gryphon writhing, and the Zaki flew over his shoulder and into a tree. He made it look easy.

Jonas turned and waited for the man to right himself. He appeared calm and relaxed, though every muscle in his body seemed to have a life of its own, constantly moving under his skin, making it seem as though even the black gryphon was alive and ready to pounce.

Growling through his teeth, the Zaki lunged again, his powerful legs launching him at incredible speed. Llew gasped and flinched, ready for the crack of flesh on flesh, bone on bone. But it didn’t come. Instead Jonas simply caught the man, guided him over his head and sent him into another tree. Blood trickled from grazes inflicted by the tree bark and the man looked dazed; but he wasn’t ready to give up yet.

This time the Zaki feinted one way but went the other, swinging a huge arm around. Llew bit her lip, unable to tear her eyes from the huge fist aiming for Jonas’s head. Jonas managed to spin out from the fist’s trajectory, but both men went down, Jonas on his back, crushed by a mountain of Zaki warrior. Llew looked at the other Zaki who grinned from ear to ear. But Llew didn’t want to be a Zaki prize. She pleaded with whatever deity might listen to do something to push the fight in Jonas’s favor. A dead branch from above . . . anything.

Animalistic grunts came from both men. Muscles pressed and strained. What more did those muscles have to give against a vastly superior opponent. She looked down at Jonas’s knives, balanced on the clothing in her arms. She could use them if she must. But when was the time? When Jonas was beaten to a bloody pulp?

She didn’t see what Jonas did, but suddenly the Zaki went flying again, hitting a tree trunk with a crunch before sliding to the roots with a dull thud.

The second Zaki moved to attack Jonas, but the first stopped him with a short, breathless command. He stood stiffly and, a hand pressed to his bruised head, he conceded the victory, before giving a puzzled, appraising look at Jonas and then at Llew. He collected his spear, and he and his companion left the clearing.

Jonas hadn’t even broken a sweat. Llew had. Her own muscles tensed, as if it had been her in the fight.

‘You alright?’ he asked.

‘No.’ Llew pouted, all the tension she had held during the short battle flooding out, leaving her feeling crabby. She supposed she shouldn’t feel so bad about a little water, nor needing to be rescued from the Zaki, but she was beginning to realize that it wasn’t all that was upsetting her. It hadn’t just been Cassidy pushing her out of her depth; she had been out of her depth ever since Kynas pointed his finger at her in the streets of Cheer. She no longer had a home. The closest thing she’d had to a friend was dead – and served him right, the bastard. She was surrounded by strangers who didn’t know who, or what, she was – and her new friend would kill her if he ever found out. And he wouldn’t even admit to being her friend first.

Jonas tilted his head, giving a sympathetic grimace, and put a hand on her shoulder.

Llew broke down. She lowered herself into a crouch, hugged her knees, and let the tears come, soaking into her already drenched forearms. She sensed Jonas crouch beside her, but didn’t look at him. She kept her head bowed until the tears subsided and her head cleared a little. She rested her chin on her arms, catching her breath, and shared a small, wet smile with him.

‘Come on. Put these on.’ He pressed the dry clothing at her, then stood and stepped behind a tree.

Llew sighed, and began peeling the wet clothes from her skin.

‘You think Aris will let me go on with you all once he knows?’

‘I’d say he already knows. And why wouldn’t he?’

‘Because we’re meant to be keeping Anya safe. And I’d be just another girl.’

‘You’re not just another girl, Llew.’

Llew caught her breath and swallowed. Her initial reaction, What did he know? gave way to pondering just what else he might mean. Llew had no time for romantic temptations. She had to get to Phyos, strike out on her own. Then again, there was more than romance between a man and a woman . . .

She wondered what he might be thinking now that he had seen her almost naked. She certainly knew what kinds of thoughts she was having after seeing him.

‘You ever seen a woman before?’ she asked when she finally had the dry trousers up around her damp waist. She wished she could lounge around in a sunny patch to dry before getting dressed, but this wasn’t her Spot back in Cheer, and she wasn’t alone.

‘A woman, yes,’ he said. ‘I was married.’

She stopped, the shirt halfway over her face. It wasn’t that he wasn’t old enough to have married. But to have been married? Past tense. A year ago . . .

‘What happened?’ She pulled the shirt down, and re-strung the trousers, trying to get them to stay up.

‘She was murdered.’

She stepped around the tree to stand before him. ‘I’m sorry.’ She almost surprised herself with her sincerity.

The briefest smile indicated his appreciation before it broke into a full grin.

‘There’s a difference between a woman and a girl, though.’ He stepped around her and began the trek back to camp.

Llew’s jaw dropped. She ran after him, intending to begin her assault with a poke in his side, or, perhaps cold, soaking, clothing on bare skin, but his arm flung out and wrapped around her waist, lifting her from the ground and swinging her across him. Then he plonked her back to earth on his other side. He put an arm across her shoulders and drew her close, making it difficult to maneuver into a position of attack: not that she felt inclined to all of a sudden.

‘What does it mean?’

‘What?’

‘The gryphon. It’s on your knife, the carving and your . . .’ She waved a hand at his torso and, once again, found herself having to study the forest canopy, fearing that to look at or speak of the battle-hardened muscles might send her tumbling into the undergrowth.

‘It’s a family emblem, of sorts.’

‘See? That wasn’t so hard, was it?’ She smiled at him. He returned a half-smile and they continued in silence.

Everyone turned to watch as the pair emerged from the trees. Anya was wide-eyed, and Llew couldn’t tell if it was because of her own revelation or the sight of Jonas’s bare chest. Emylia was more difficult to read. She tried to discourage Anya’s stares, but she was not immune to assessing the pair herself. Cassidy gave them a brief grin and a suggestive nod and continued tying his shoe. Alvaro watched them, eyes narrowed. Aris, too, watched with a flat, unreadable expression. Under the latter’s appraisal, Jonas removed his arm from Llew’s shoulders and took a step away from her.

‘I think you and I need to have a word,’ Aris said, approaching Llew.

‘Surprise. I’m a girl.’ She smiled, weakly. ‘Sorry I didn’t tell you sooner . . .’ Her voice trailed away. She folded her arms, trying to make herself small, and failing. She was the same height as Jonas, slightly taller than Aris.

Jonas chuckled. Llew resisted firing a glare at him. Aris didn’t.

He looked back to Llew and she waited for the onslaught of accusations and reasons why they should leave her behind to start, but it didn’t come. Instead Aris folded his arms and looked her up and down. ‘I suppose I can understand a girl not wantin’ to look like a girl travelin’ on her own.’ He pursed his lips. ‘No more secrets?’

Llew considered and dismissed telling him she could heal a scratch in little more than an instant. She shook her head.