Tonight, Mariella thought. If we’re alone, I’ll do it tonight.

  She had expected and planned to go to her wedding night as a virgin. It wasn’t abnormal for noblewomen to have affairs before marriage. Some even continued that afterward too. There were all manner of strange arrangements among the people with power in Niet.

  But Mariella’s family had always taken a more innocent view, at least on the maternal side. Her mother had been completely chaste until marriage and had still only been with Mariella’s father. On the other hand, her stepmother Lena had given her maidenhood to Mariella’s father when he was her commanding officer, before they were wed or even engaged.

  Mariella had decided to emulate Lena’s example. Tybalt was special to her, and if he lived through the next few days, she felt certain that they would be married in the future. He had pursued her ardently, behaved honorably—and apparently even the fox maiden who said she was destined to be with him believed that Mariella was fated to be a part of their lives too.

  Even if he dies, I would raise his child proudly. She had to clasp her hands together to keep them from shaking at the thought. She didn’t want to consider the possibility. She had faith it wouldn’t happen. She would be strong if it did.

  The way Lena described it, she and Dad got drunk together. That allowed her to throw herself at him with plausible deniability. If either of them regretted it in the morning, they could call it a mistake. I can see why that would make her feel more secure.

  Mariella took deep breaths and tried to banish the blood that rushed to her face.

  She glanced to the side, but Tybalt didn’t seem to have noticed how flushed she was. He’d been focused, spending more mental energy on navigating than talking. As she looked at him, she could tell he was searching for the next landmark to bring them closer to the beastfolk village.

  She hoped he wouldn’t find the beastfolk yet. I just want to be alone with him for one more night. Before we meet the beastfolk. Before we run into the foxgirl who says she’s also destined to be with him…

  Another couple of hours passed. They navigated the meandering route up the mountainside. But it seemed the gods were with her. They saw no huts, no manmade objects, no signs of human or beastfolk habitation whatsoever.

  “Pretty sure we’re close,” Tybalt said. The sun was setting, but he continued searching for the next familiar sight.

  “We should find somewhere to sleep for the night anyway,” Mariella said, trying to keep a quiver from her voice.

  He looked at her and raised an eyebrow. “You know we’ll be a lot safer once we get to the beastfolk village, right? When we have Vidalia by our side, and the others finally know we’re not their enemies? Then we can act a lot more freely. We could make it before sunset… maybe.”

  “I’m not afraid,” she said softly.

  Tybalt looked slightly confused, and she realized she had been talking more to herself than to him.

  “What I mean is that I’m not worried about one more night outside. I don’t think the beastfolk or the Army are going to discover us, and I kind of want to celebrate us making it all the way up here.”

  “Celebrate?”

  Mariella held up her flask. “I brought some pretty good wine, and like I told you the other night, I’ve barely touched it. I want to drink it with you. Only you.”

  He smiled. “All right.”

  The next hour passed in a blur. They found a cave and explored a bit to make sure nothing else was making its home there. Tybalt mentioned the mountain had a predator called the death’s head leopard that sounded rather dangerous. His knowledge of the natural world was always impressive. She didn’t know how much he had apparently explored this mountain range.

  They ate cold rations. That was when, her heart pounding in her chest, Mariella opened her flask and began drinking. She had a few large sips before she passed the flask to Tybalt. He tentatively joined her.

  “Oh, that’s pretty strong,” he said under his breath.

  Mariella didn’t need to be told. She already felt the familiar heat in her stomach.

  “Are you sure you want to do this?” he asked, swallowing a lump in his throat. “Um, drink with me? To celebrate? Such… strong wine?”

  “If it’s with you, it’s all right,” she said in a very quiet voice, her face completely red, eyes averted from his.

  He looked at her for a long moment. When she turned to face him, she found his face fixed in an expression she couldn’t read. Finally, he nodded and said quietly, seemingly half to himself, “I understand. You can trust me.”

  Uh oh. What does that mean? What does he think…?

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  She had another hit of the wine, and the world grew a little blurry around the edges.

  “Tybalt, what I meant was…” She heard herself slurring her words. Slurring his name.

  When did that happen?

  She also realized she couldn’t finish the sentence. The drunkenness was for plausible deniability, so that if either of them thought it was a mistake in the morning, they could blame it on the alcohol. If she said she was getting drunk with him so that they could sleep together, that completely nixed that possibility.

  I can’t do anything un-ladylike, she thought sluggishly. But he might be worried that he’s taking advantage… taking advantage of me. When that’s exactly what I’m trying to get him to do! Not that he’s taking advantage, but that I want him to do the thing… the thing that would be the act of taking advantage. If I wasn’t inviting it.

  She shook her head lightly. Her thoughts weren’t quite making sense even to herself. She saw him looking at her with an expression of concern, and she had another sip.

  No, no, I’m fine… I think.

  “Do you want some more?” she asked, holding out her flask.

  I don’t think I slurred much that time.

  “Uh, thanks.”

  He took the wine from her and just looked at the flask for a moment before he took a small sip, capped it, and placed it on the ground by his foot. He was very pointedly not giving it back to her.

  Well, I guess I’ve probably had enough. I don’t want to be too drunk to remember what happened tonight. My… first time.

  She rose to her feet—the ground was moving quite strangely, but she still managed to find it—and half walked over to, half fell into, Tybalt. She landed halfway in his lap, ass a few inches above the ground, upper half draped over his thighs.

  “What’s this I feel?” she asked. She was trying to be coy, but as the words escaped her lips, she realized they were far too suggestive. Of course, what she felt was his hardness jutting up into her stomach. But it wasn’t ladylike for her to notice such things unless he was trying to show her. Considering that she had literally fallen into his lap, he obviously wasn’t trying to do that.

  “Mariella,” Tybalt said. His voice was rough and low. “You—you need to get off of me.”

  “What if—what if I don’t want to?”

  She looked up at him and gave her best attempt at a shy smile. She imagined it probably looked ghoulish, because his face became very tense. He muttered something about “being tested,” then grabbed her under one armpit with one hand, and by the seat of her pants with the other—his breathing seemed to deepen a bit with the latter movement, to her satisfaction—he lifted her and then carefully placed her down against the wall opposite him.

  He let out a low, shaky breath as he started to pull back from her. She saw a nervous look on his face for what might have been the first time ever, and she couldn’t resist. She popped up and planted a kiss squarely on his lips.

  She felt his body shake slightly as their mouths separated. He clenched one fist until the nails dug into his palm.

  “Not tonight,” he whispered very quietly, clearly to himself. “Not when she’s like this.”

  Yes, when she’s like this! Mariella thought. But she couldn’t throw herself at Tybalt any more overtly than she already had and still maintain her noble lady facade. And she was starting to get the feeling that a softer approach would be better.

  “I’m sleepy,” she said. That was true. “I don’t think I can use my powers to keep myself warm tonight. My control won’t be very good.” That wasn’t true. Probably. Hopefully. “I should have thought of that before I started drinking. Keep each other warm again?”

  “All right,” he said slowly.

  She turned to face the wall, patted the ground behind her, and waited for Tybalt. A few seconds passed, and then she felt his weight behind her. He had managed to calm himself a bit, so she barely felt his manhood pressed against her.

  Mariella pulled an arm inside her gambeson and clumsily fiddled with her clothing for a minute until she managed to remove her undershirt without taking off the outer layer. She pulled it out of one sleeve and then gently tossed it over her shoulder, accidentally letting it land near his head. That silken fabric that was still warm from her breasts.

  “Don’t need that if you’re keeping me warm,” she said quietly.

  He groaned softly.

  “Put your arm around me?” she asked.

  “Yeah. Better to share body heat that way.” She felt him shudder slightly as he hooked his arm around her waist.

  “That feels right,” she said. She rubbed her lower body against him and felt him grow in response.

  “I need you to be still, please,” he pleaded quietly.

  “Why?” Her voice had adopted a teasing tone she couldn’t remember having used since she was a teenager.

  “If we’re trying to go to sleep…”

  “Oh, right, that.”

  Tybalt groaned again. Then, to her surprise, he pulled his arm away, turned, and faced completely away from her. Their backs were still touching, but nothing suggestive could pass between them.

  “This way will be better,” he said quietly.

  He’s trying really hard to be a gentleman, she thought. I really wish I hadn’t done this… at least not without having some kind of conversation where I dropped really heavy-handed hints that this wasn’t some kind of test…

  His behavior was sweet. But she wanted Tybalt right now, like she had wanted very few things in her life before.

  She turned her body, wrapped her arm around his waist, and curled up against him. He seemed to react slightly to her bosom pressed against his back, but he remained mostly still. She waited for something to change, for her to think of some move that would make him abandon his reserved behavior, turn around, and rip her clothes off.

  But she didn’t think of anything. She had consumed more wine than she realized, and her mind only grew foggier as the alcohol’s effects fully set in.

  The warmth of him, and his musky odor, were comforting.

  I’ll just close my eyes while I think… maybe that’ll help.

  Before she knew it, Mariella was asleep.