Page 62 of Fortress of Ambrose
“What?”
“My shower has no soap. I was going to see if—”
She snorted. “Sure, just a second.” She grabbed the soap from her shower, which was still wet, and brought it to him. He took it from her, and their hands slipped over each other, trying to prevent dropping it.
He thanked her and walked away. Then he stopped. “I was thinking of lighting the fire. Would you like to—”
“I’d love to!”Clothes. She had no clean clothes. “Um.”
“It’s fine if you don’t want—”
“No, I do. I just. I’ll have to wear this.”
“I’ll be on my best behavior,” he said, and she giggled.
After he showered, he threw on his same clothes, not bothering to fully button up. When he slipped back out onto his deck and headed toward the firepit, she joined him. He sat on the stone ring’s edge, and she sat on the opposite end as he worked on the fire. He jostled around the logs and struck a match, but the flame kept dying out.
“Try giving it more air,” she told him.
“Are you counseling me on how to build a fire?”
“Yes. Does that offend your masculinity?”
“No, I’m happy to sit my butt down.” He handed it over to her. Nore shifted the logs and struck a match again. Then she blew on the glowing flame. Yagrin watched her with a grin.
“What?” She blew the fire again, harder this time. The flame flickered but resisted latching on to the log beside it.
“How’d an heir learn to build a fire?”
“My brother taught me.”
“Sorry I asked.”
“He also taught me to fish, to string a bow. I’ve chopped my own wood and skinned a rabbit.”
“He likes to hunt.”
Her brother did love hunting. The thrill of something running for its life. A shiver ran down her spine just as the flame swelled. “I think that’s good.”
“Does he know you don’t have magic?”
“He found out when I was little. My mother wasn’t happy about it. She would try to do terrible things tomake mehave magic. And my brother usually got in her way, on purpose.”
“So what happened? Why are you at odds now?”
She shook her head. “I wish we had marshmallows.”
“Did you not check your cabinets? BecauseIdid.”
“No way! You have some?”
“No crackers. But there was a half bag of marshmallows and chocolates in the small cooler.”
She galloped past him and dashed over to his deck. “Find sticks!”
They met back at the pit, and the flames had settled nicely. Yagrin handed her two knobby sticks, and she shoved a stale marshmallow on them. He held both over the fire, while she opened squares of chocolate.
“What kinds of things did your mother do to you?”
