The Housekeeper's Terms

Rain drummed on the canvas. On her side of the tent, Isadora counted the reasons this was a terrible idea. On the other side, Maren pretended to sleep and counted the same ones.

Captain Maren Vale had planned for resistance, for guards, for a chase across the border. She had not planned for the princess to critique her logistics.

By the third day they had stopped arguing about the route and started arguing about everything else, which was, Isadora suspected, worse.

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In the morning, there was a second cup of tea beside her bedroll, made exactly how she liked it. Neither of them mentioned it.

She did not reach for Maren’s hand when the bridge swayed. Their hands simply happened to be in the same place, which was a coincidence, and would not be discussed.

“You’re staring,” Maren said. “I’m assessing,” said Isadora. “You’re assessing my mouth.” “It’s said a great many foolish things. It bears watching.”