At first she didn’t respond and he feared that things were still broken between them, but then she arched her back, pushing her bottom against his crotch before reaching behind her and stroking the length of him through his clothes. Despite the cold they both quickly struggled out of their clothing — elbows and knees striking each other in the dark. They tried to be as quiet as possible, so as not to wake Zac, but when Katya mounted him neither of them could hold back. They made love urgently, almost clumsily, as though they had only just remembered how it was supposed to be done, and Silus came shortly after Katya.

Katya looked down at him and smiled. “Hello.”

“Hello,” said Silus.

“Gods, but I needed that.”

“Me too.”

“Almost as good as that first time, out on the Ocean Lily.”

“I’d only just met you. You shameless hussy.”

“Shut it, fish boy.”

“Ouch, hurtful.”

Silus wasn’t sure which of them felt it first — that absence — but it was Katya who leaned over him to check on Zac.

“Silus, Zac isn’t by you, is he?”

By the fear in her voice, she clearly already knew the answer to that question. After everything that they had been through, to lose Zac now, out here where there was nothing, felt unutterably cruel and unjust.

“Zac!” Silus’s call immediately alerted the camp. Bestion was already out of his tent and standing before them. “Have you seen him?”

The priest shook his head and Katya ran over to where Hannah’s parents were sleeping. They were struggling into wakefulness when she opened the flaps of the tent and when they saw Katya’s face they immediately looked around for their daughter. But, like Zac, Hannah wasn’t there.

Illiun stood outside the tent, one of the silver-eyed men by his side. “Katya, what’s wrong?”

“Hannah and Zac are missing.”

“You know the children?” Illiun said to his servant, who nodded. “Good, then take another with you and search the area.”