Ethan didn't react right away. He simply waited.
"I'm just thinking," Valerie continued softly, "about what my life will be like from now on. Where I'll live. How I'll raise my child. Simple things."
She smiled faintly a smile shaped more by resolve than happiness. "I want a life where I don't have to keep being afraid."
Ethan looked at her for a long moment, then gave a small nod. "That isn't too much to ask."
Valerie stood slowly. She adjusted the blanket around her shoulders, then turned back once more. "Don't sit out in the cold for too long," she said.
Ethan smiled faintly. "I'll follow soon."
Valerie stepped into the tent. The canvas closed again, leaving Ethan alone with the night.
He stared at the nearly extinguished embers, his thoughts crowded with things left unsaid about Valerie, about the danger that loomed, and about a duke who might even now be moving closer.
Inside the tent, Valerie lay awake, her eyes open.
She said she wasn't thinking about Demian.
