Consciousness returned slowly, reluctantly, like a swimmer surfacing from deep water. I became aware first of the warmth—a deep, enveloping heat that seemed to come from everywhere at once, pressing against my skin, cradling my exhausted body. It was so different from the cold I had expected, so contrary to everything I had been told about the North, that for a long moment I simply lay still, eyes closed, trying to understand where I was.
Then memory crashed over me like a wave.
The gates. The courtyard. The staring faces. Kaelen's hand lifted me from the saddle, his voice rough with something I had not dared to name. The solid and real crunch of snow beneath my boots grounded me in a moment I had long dreamed of.
I opened my eyes.
