"Are you nervous?"

It was early evening, just minutes before we planned to leave to find Faust, rescue Archer, and hopefully end this war once and for all. Grady and I dressed in my room, having spent most of the day in bed. We'd been whittling more arrows, of course, among other things.

"No," I answered truthfully, buttoning up a second flannel over the first.

Grady stepped closer and nuzzled my ear, his palm flat against my belly. "I was hoping you'd ...