"I go to my room now," she said unsteadily.

"Certainly." He opened the door on the landing and ushered her into a stone hall. After a short walk, they reached an arch with a curtain strung from tiny iridescent bubbles. The beads jingled as he pushed aside the strings. He escorted her into an antechamber with a cushioned bench running around its wall.

"This is where people wait who come to see me," he explained.

Roca peered at him. "I thought we go to my room."

"Well, maybe you could say that."

She stopped and folded her arms. "I not sleep with you."

"You could come in for just a moment," he coaxed. "We can learn each other's culture. Garlin always says I must do that with your people."

"Men," Roca grumbled. "You are same everywhere. I not go in there with you."

"Why not?" His mischief flashed. "Do you fear you can't control yourself around me?"

"Hah. You have ego as big as this mountain. I have no worry about me."

Eldri leaned closer to her. "I think you should prove it."

She poked her finger against his chest. "That trick is old as this castle. Almost as old as getting girl drunk."

"Just come in to talk. I won't grab."

"Pah."

"Really."

It was hard to resist when he looked at her with those big eyes of his. She cleared her throat, wishing she could clear her brain as easily. "Eldri, you have no interest in talk."

"Yes I do."

"Pah."

"Come in just for a few minutes."

"Famous words."

"Famous?"

"We go in, you say 'just a few more minutes' every few minutes." Her finger was still against his chest, so she ran it around in a circle, aware of the muscles under his shirt. "Many 'few minutes' later, woman is in bed."

He smirked. "You think about only one thing, Roca."

"Me! Never."

He grasped her finger, which she suddenly realized had been rubbing his chest, more slowly now, like a caress. "Always."

She pulled her hand away. "Never."

"Come on, Roca," he murmured.

So tempting...maybe she shouldn't have drunk so much wine. "I don't believe you just talk a few minutes."

"I promise."

She meant to refuse, but somehow instead she said, "Oneminute. We see how well you keep promise."

He grinned at her. "Come on." Then he led her across the foyer to a purple gla.s.swood door. It let them into a bedroom with stone walls, floor, and ceiling. Across the room, flames leapt in a fireplace. Throw rugs softened the floor, but the walls were bare except for two crossed swords above the hearth. To the right, in an alcove, tall windows looked out over the mountains, or they would have if their shutters had been open. On the left, quilts and embroidered pillows were piled on a large bed.

"Here." Eldri drew her into the alcove with the windows. "Be comfortable. The benches are cushioned. I will be right back." Then he took off across the room.

Roca squinted at him, then settled onto the bench and relaxed against a shutter. The cold from outside seeped through the gla.s.swood. Had she been sober, it might have bothered her, but right now everything seemed warm, even the cold, though if she thought about it too hard, that made no sense. Better not to think.

Eldri reappeared with a carafe and two goblets made from ruby-red gla.s.swood. He gave her one of the cups.

Roca turned the goblet over in her hand. "Pretty."

"Very." His voice had gone husky. He poured wine for both of them, then leaned the rim of his cup against hers. "May we weave many profitable and mutually agreeable relations between your people and mine."

"Yes." Roca tapped her cup against his, which had nothing to do with any of his customs or hers, but seemed a good idea. Then she took a swallow of wine. "Hmm. Good."

"Here. Have some more." He filled her goblet.

She gave him a dour look. "You know, Eldri, is not so easy to make me drunk."

"You already are drunk, my ice queen." His grin was so wicked, it was a wonder he didn't get arrested, though she wasn't exactly sure who would do the arresting.

She spoke with dignity. "I drunk not. Not drunk, I mean."

He took her goblet and set it on the floor with his own and the carafe. "There. Now neither of us will be drunk." Scooting closer, he slid his arm around her shoulders.

Roca pushed off his arm. "We have done our talk. Now I go."

He put his arms around her waist. "You know, other women long to kiss me. They dream about it."

She c.o.c.ked her eyebrow at him. "Your humility astonishes me."

"Ah, but it is an honor to kiss the Bard..." His voice trailed off as he brought his lips to hers.

Roca fully intended to push him away. But somehow instead she put her arms around his neck and molded her body against his. As his embrace tightened, his kiss became more urgent and his hands wandered to her b.r.e.a.s.t.s. Nudging her backward, he stretched her out on the cushioned bench and lay on top of her.

Roca turned her head to the side. "I'm crazy," she muttered. Then she rolled him off of her body.

"Ai!" A loud thump reverberated through the alcove.

Trying to focus her blurred sight, Roca turned on her side and hung on the edge of the bench, peering down. Eldri was lying on the floor, looking annoyed. He sat up, wincing as he rubbed his shoulder. Then he glared at her. "You are colder than a rain of ice and hail."

"Hailisice." Roca also sat up, wishing she didn't want so much to go to bed with him. It was wrong for so many reasons, she couldn't count them. But that was hard to remember when faced with his tousled, appealing person. "We are supposed to talk about relations between our peoples."

His grin came back. "Wewereexploring relations."

"Pah. I give you doubt benefit." She paused as her node corrected the idiom. "I gave you the benefit of a doubt. Now I go."

"Doubt benefit?" He folded his arms around his torso. "You know, it really is cold in here."

"Maybe snow still come down outside."

He stood up and unlatched one of the shutters. As he cracked it open, snow blew into the room. He shut it hard, grimacing, his shirt already covered with blue powder. Roca crossed her arms and shivered.

Eldri dropped onto the bench next to her. He wasn't smiling anymore. "I am very, very sorry." He looked very, very guilty.

She regarded him uneasily. "Why?"

"We cannot go down the mountain in such snow."

"No." He couldn't mean that. "We must leave tomorrow."

"It is too dangerous."

Roca swallowed. "Is only snow."

"Up here, snow can kill you."

She had traveled in every type of weather, but always with modern protections and the knowledge that if the unexpected arose, she would soon have a fix for the problem. Here she didn't know what to do.

"Maybe it stop soon."

"It could." He pushed his hand through his hair, pulling it back from his widow's peak. "It never snows in Dalvador."

"We can manage the path down." Roca schooled herself to calm. She had a good cushion of time, over a day before the ship arrived. She could fool with some of the chips in her clothes to see if she could send a message to the port, though she doubted any had the range she needed. But Brad knew her location, a.s.suming he had received her last message. If he could fix the flyer, he could come for her. But no matter what, she had to find a way back even if snow kept falling.

Eldri was watching her, a strand of hair curling across his cheek. He trailed his fingers over her lips. "Can you not stay longer?"

She took his hand in hers. "I wish it is possible." The depth of her regret surprised her. "But I must go back. Tomorrow, or morning of next day."

He turned sideways on the bench and extended his leg behind her. While she was trying to figure out why he had done that, he slid his arms around her waist from behind and pulled her close, her back against his chest. Roca knew she shouldn't let him take liberties, but he felt so very fine. His mind suffused hers with warmth, and she had been lonely for so long. Leaning against him, she told herself it would only be for "a few minutes."

"We need a plan," Eldri said.

"When snow stop, we go."

"The path could be dangerous."

"Can we manage it?"

"I don't know. I've never tried under these conditions." He paused. "If we dress warmly, take animals that know the path, and go slowly, I don't see why we cannot try."

Roca closed her eyes with relief. "Good."

He twined her curls around his hand. "I've never seen hair this way, like metal but soft. So many hues.

Gold, copper, bronze, platinum."

"Is metal." Roca paused as her node updated her grammar. "It has metallic components."

"Why?"

Good question. She tried to remember the answer. "My ancestors make themselves that way. My father, even his skin look metallic."

"Yours does a little." He pressed his lips against her temple. "Iwillfind a way to take you back tomorrow." With difficulty, he added, "After the memorial for my friend."

"Yes," she said gently. "After."

Eldri laid his forehead against her head. He was silent for so long, she wondered if he had fallen asleep.

His mind felt quiet, his mood shrouded. Then she felt moisture soaking through her hair, and she realized he was crying.

Eventually he lifted his head. "Perhaps we should sleep."

It was the first time Roca thought he actually meant sleep. "I go to my room."

"Don't leave." He tightened his embrace. "I will sleep here, on the floor, with a quilt. You can have the bed."

"You will be cold."

He tried to regain his earlier mischief. "You could keep me warm." But his bantering sounded forced.

Roca turned and cupped her hands around his face. "I stay tonight, if it helps. But please, Eldri, no more love play. I know you feel my mind, even if you say you do not. I cannot hide my loneliness. You must not take advantage."

"Let me ease that loneliness."

"It is wrong."

"But why?"

"I cannot give you promises."

"I don't ask for promises."

"But you will."

His mouth quirked up. "Now who has no humbleness?"

She flushed. "Is not what I mean. We have...ach, I have not the words. A link of empathy. It make us become too close."

"Empathy?"